Veranda’s George Mendes Shares His Favorite New York Spots for Some Down Time
Where do chefs go and, more importantly, where do they love to eat? In Resy Regulars, we ask Resy chefs to tell us where they’re regulars.
Chef George Mendes first made a name for himself as the chef and owner of Aldea and Lupulo, where he drew inspiration from his Portuguese heritage with buttery egg tarts and crispy pig’s ears. Lupulo closed in 2017 and, at the height of the pandemic, Mendes closed Aldea after a 10-year run.
The following year, Mendes became executive chef and partner at Veranda, located on a lush outdoor deck inside the ModernHaus hotel, working alongside serial restaurateur, David Rabin. The menu at Veranda is global — you’ll find chickpea miso, grilled naan, and burrata — but traces of Mendes’ Portuguese cooking influences remain: He coats his charcoal-grilled chicken in piri piri sauce and serves salted cod croquettes with a smoked paprika mayo.
When Mendes has the rare moment to sit back and enjoy a meal out (he and his wife are parents to a toddler), he loves heading to a few favorites in his back pocket.
Here’s a look at how he’d spend a day off from Veranda, and all the places where he’d like to call himself a regular, if his schedule allows for it.
1. Chez Ma Tante
Greenpoint
I always wake up around 7 a.m. The first two hours of every morning are concentrated on being a father and taking care of my little boy. I grind my own coffee beans, and I’ll have that with sourdough toast from Veranda, smothered with almond butter and a little bit of strawberry jam from Sarabeth’s. I head outside with my son with his scooter, and usually go down the boardwalk along the East River into Domino Park. I’m back home, and I drop off my son with the nanny. Then I go for a run.
Around 10:45 a.m., I head back home to shower. Usually, after a run, I’m starving again. I make an omelet with some Portuguese cheese, spinach, toast, and sometimes, a bowl of oatmeal. I’ll have another cup of coffee.
But if my son is OK with it, he and I will go out to Chez Ma Tante. I’m a traditionalist. I get a steak-and-egg dish.
We might also go to Two Hands for a toasted everything bagel with sausage, egg, and an aioli spread.
2. Sunday in Brooklyn
Williamsburg
There’s also Sunday in Brooklyn; it has one of the best burgers. It has a beautiful, soft sesame seed bun, a four or five-ounce patty with cheddar and bacon. They have great pickles, and their French fries are killer. They’re dusted with dried tarragon.
3. Ume
Williamsburg
Around noon, we take a stroll around the neighborhood, and [my wife] Suzanna and I just converse. We have crazy busy careers. So we try to just catch up on world events. We head back to the apartment for our son’s nap time.
I hang out on the couch to read. I’m really into cookbooks and self-help books. Atomic Habits is a good book. I also bounce back and forth between Missy [Robbins’] Pasta book and the Frantzén book. I really just love getting inspired by other chefs around the world and locally, as well. It’ll trigger ideas.
For lunch, we usually do a meal plan called Gobble because they’re really quick meals in 15 minutes. Or it’s usually a simple pasta dish that myself or my wife will put together like a penne or a rigatoni with marinara sauce, burrata, and basil. Really simple.
Telling you this story is making me realize how boring my life has become –it’s just been taken over by so much of my kid’s time.
Or we order sushi in from Ume in Brooklyn. They’re prix-fixe meals. You get eight pieces of sushi and one roll of your choice. I usually gravitate to the spicy salmon roll.
4. Fulgurances
Greenpoint
When my kid wakes from his nap, I take him swimming in the pool in our building, then back to the park, and then the playroom in our building. I give him dinner and a bath.
If we do go out, and we have a nanny for the night, we are kind of frugal nowadays. My wife and I like to go to this place in Greenpoint that does a lot of pop-ups called Fulgurances. One of the highlights recently was chef Aaron Rosenthal from Paris. That was a special evening.
5. Crown Shy
Financial District
Another spot that I’d love to go back to is Crown Shy, where we recently celebrated my wife’s birthday. The short rib dish there is amazing. It’s got a nice char on it, and it’s meltingly tender. It comes with a chimichurri-type sauce that’s very herbaceous with nice acidity.
By 9 p.m, we’re back home, watching a series on Netflix or Hulu or HBO. We’re into the HBO series called Winning Time about the Lakers dynasty. We have ice cream. We love Jenny’s cherry vanilla or pistachio flavors. And I’m really into this cacao beverage made by a company called Plant People out of the west coast. It has a lot of adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms like lion’s mane and Reiki and magnesium and a bit of cinnamon. It’s kind of like drinking hot cocoa in the night and it puts me into a really chill, relaxed mood right before bedtime. And then we’re asleep by 11 p.m.
