20 Questions with Dan Kluger of Loring Place and Greywind
In the Resy Questionnaire, we play a game of 20 questions with the industry folks behind some of our favorite restaurants. What’s your most memorable restaurant experience? Your favorite food movie? What restaurant would you want to time-travel for?
In this edition, we spoke to Dan Kluger, the chef behind Loring Place, Washington Squares, Greywind, Spygold, and The Bakery at Greywind.
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The Resy Questionnaire
1. Favorite thing you’ve ever cooked?
Linguine aglio e olio. It was the first dish I ever learned to cook at Union Square Café when I was unexpectedly thrown onto the line because of a call out. It was such a classic and simple dish that inspired me, not only to continue cooking, but has been an inspiration for many dishes I have made since then.
2. Kitchen tool or equipment you couldn’t live without?
A good set of sharp knives is the most important tool a cook can own. A few of my essentials are the Masanobu VG-10 Gyuto chef’s knife and a Zwilling serrated knife that’s perfect for slicing hard vegetables and bread.
3. What pantry items would you bring on a desert island?
California Olive Ranch Olive Oil: This is my go-to for everyday cooking at home and in the restaurants.
Lemons: I really can’t live without some kind of citrus.
Chiles: Most of my recipes have chiles, so I always make sure to have a few varieties on hand.
Burlap & Barrel spices: We use a variety of these at Greywind and Loring Place, and I especially love the royal cinnamon spice to use at home.
Chile crisp: We make our own for our mushroom pizza at Washington Squares but it’s one of my favorites as it goes great with everything.
4. What’s your favorite place to get a slice in New York?
Besides Washington Squares? It’s almost impossible to say as there are so many. A few favorites that come to mind are Patsy’s, John’s of Bleecker, and Joe’s. I recently tried Zillions and really liked it.
5. Favorite cookbook?
My cookbook, “Chasing Flavor,” is the obvious answer here! I also love Jeremy Fox’s “On Vegetables” and Tom Colicchio’s “Think Like a Chef.”
6. Your drink of choice?
A cold glass of rosé is my favorite drink of choice year-round, and some nights I can’t help but finish the day with a bourbon. Lately, I’ve also been excited about trying creative non-alcoholic cocktails.
7. Favorite food movie?
“Big Night” and “Chef.” I found both great, but I was especially inspired by “Chef.”
8. Your ideal dinner party guests, dead or alive?
Julia Child, Sam Kass, JG [Jean-Georges Vongerichten], Howard Schultz, Floyd Cardoz, Leah Chase, and Dan Barber.
9. What restaurant industry person do you admire the most?
My longtime mentor, the late Floyd Cardoz. He has, and will always be, one of the most important inspirations for me as a chef. He taught me about how to balance flavors and textures and a ton about spices and techniques, but most of all, he taught me about being a firm, yet empathetic and caring manager.
10. The greatest restaurant experience of your life so far?
That’s very hard to say as each dining experience and professional experience has taught me so many different things. One of the best experiences, professionally, was the opportunity to be the chef of The Core Club. I started the project with Tom Colicchio as the consulting chef, so I was always able to bounce ideas off of him and I learned a lot. I was also able to build a team and create a menu from start to finish. It was through this experience that I realized this was something I truly could do and wanted to do for the rest of my career. I was also fortunate enough to make so many lifelong friends along the way.
11. Your greatest professional achievement?
Opening Loring Place; having my own restaurant was a goal of mine and actually doing it from the ground up is one of my most proud moments professionally.
12. What single dish best describes your personality?
The date pizza at Loring Place best describes my personality as a chef. It has a great balance of textures and flavors which is what I try to accomplish with every dish: starting with dates that add sweetness, which are then are offset by a sharp local cheese and bacon, then topped with radicchio that adds bitterness, and finished with aged balsamic and market chiles. It’s only available for a few months each year when we are able to source these amazing dates we discovered from California.
13. If you could go back in time, which restaurant would you dine at?
La Caravalle. I absolutely adore Rita and André Jammet who were the former owners and there is also so much history for me at that restaurant. One of the chefs was Michael Romano, whom I worked with at Union Square Café, and my father also dined there regularly.
14. Your favorite meal from childhood?
In the summer as a kid, my father would cook chicken on the grill and he would often accidentally burn it, but I always loved the flavor. Eventually, his chicken inspired one of my favorite barbecue chicken dishes on the Loring Place menu.
15. What is your wish for the restaurant industry?
I have many different answers for this question, but I think overall, our industry needs a shift in resources; the costs to operate have become outrageous and there is only so much a guest should have to pay. Also, so much of our practices and standards at our restaurants focus around sourcing ingredients sustainably, but it is increasingly harder and harder to do based on what is required financially to run a restaurant in this city, which I hope will someday change.
16. What do you wish you did better? What do you do well?
I wish I could spend more time truly cooking, I feel like it’s a muscle that needs constant exercising and I often don’t “get to the gym” enough. I think I am good at seeing the whole guest experience and really caring about each part from the moment they walk in until they leave. I started my career in the front of house, which has helped give me the perspective to understand each side of the experience.
17. If you could eat through a city for a day, where would you go?
London, but mainly because I love it there! When I go, I will walk 10 miles in a day and not even realize it. I like to start my day off with a breakfast pastry, then start exploring, and end up having lunch somewhere in the center of the city. Then, I start working my way further toward Shoreditch where I will have dinner, and then somewhere along my trip back to my hotel, I will stop for candy like Revels or a Double Decker, and then most likely finish with a nightcap at the bar.
18. The one thing you can’t resist splurging on when you go out?
The whole menu. I always order way more than I can or should eat, but I love to see as much of the menu as possible.
19. What do you value most in restaurants?
The little things. The small details are what makes a restaurant experience unforgettable.
20. It’s your last meal on earth, what are you eating?
Loring Place is open daily for lunch and dinner.
Greywind is open Monday through Saturday for dinner starting at 5 p.m.
Spygold is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m.
Deanna Ting is Resy’s New York Editor. Follow her on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Follow Resy, too.
