César’s Approach to the Perfect Progression Just Won It Two Michelin Stars

Resy: You’re best known for melding European and Japanese flavors. Does your Mexican heritage play a role in your cooking?

I was born in Mexico and left when I was a kid in the ’70s. But it’s always been a place of inspiration for me, full of different regional cuisines, so many influences. I grew up eating Mexican food in Chicago, and my mom is an incredible cook. I still think that everything I do now is like my mother and grandmother: the onions and garlic, the bold, striking flavors I still try to incorporate in my food.

What made you want to become a chef?

I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid. I was born to do this, I feel.

You worked for nine years with the pioneering New York chef, David Bouley, who passed away earlier this year. What was it like, what did you learn?

I moved to New York City to join David in 1998 after cooking in Chicago at places like Tru, which is where I met David and first saw him cook, and before that, at the Four Seasons Hotel. I didn’t use Google back then or computers, so I didn’t even know who he was until someone told me, ‘Wow this is David Bouley, he is THE man in New York!’

When I arrived to work for him, I already knew how to cook, but he was the one who inspired me to think outside the box, to understand that yes, you can mix this with that. My experience with David also opened my mind to Japan, as he’d worked with a famous cooking school in Osaka called Tsuji Culinary Institute. David was the pioneer of Japanese French cuisine, and one of the first chefs in New York City to focus on tasting menus. I loved my time with him. It was all kinds of crazy, but I learned so much.

Tell us about your relationship with Japan?

We collaborated with Tsuji cooking school when David was working on his restaurant, Brushstroke; David loved Japan and it’s something we shared. I felt so lucky to work with Mr. Tsuji — an amazing man with incredible knowledge who I consider a mentor. Spending time in Japan, I developed a great admiration for the Japanese work ethic. What I mainly took away was respect for the products. And consistency, that’s something Japanese are amazing at it: turning out perfection time after time.

Any inspirations from Europe?

I was lucky enough to spend time in Spain’s Basque region and in Barcelona. France, too! I was married to a French person, so I went there a lot. But I’m not French or Japanese. I’ve developed my own style of cooking over the past 15 years. I didn’t invent the chef’s counter tasting menu concept, for instance, but I feel that I’ve really perfected this particular format and style.

Food journalists have been announcing for years that fine dining is dead — and yet it persists. How has it changed in New York City?

Fine dining is really the only thing I know how to do, and I never thought it was dead at all. But of course, things have shifted. With the pandemic, people’s dining habits have changed. They want to eat a lot earlier — or later. And New Yorkers want everything right away. They want their meal in an hour, they don’t necessarily want to sit at a restaurant for three hours. But now that people are back in the office, [I feel like] things are coming back to normal.

What’s the idea behind César?

I always envisioned a restaurant with a comfortable open space that would make people happy. And when the opportunity came to leave my previous spot, I embraced it. I wanted to do what I do, to answer just to myself.

Tell us about this current space.

It’s a 100-year-old building that was a printing factory, then a deli for maybe 20 years. We built the restaurant from the ground up. The design idea? Simple, clean, timeless. There’s a counter that seats about a dozen people, for those who want to be closer to the kitchen. But actually, there are no bad seats in the restaurant, you can see the kitchen from everywhere.

How do your dishes come about? What’s the process?

People always ask where I get my inspiration. And I say [Ramirez laughs] “from desperation.” I don’t think about how a dish will work. I envision dishes in parts, not as a whole, always tweaking and tweaking the product, trying to extract the maximum from it, thinking what sauce or garnish would work. I try to keep the product as intact as possible, to be able to taste each component either separately or as a whole. I’m always looking for cohesion. And trying to keep it as simple as possible. And simplicity is always so hard to achieve!

Any dishes come to mind that illustrate this approach?

The truffle uni brioche, of course. It’s a dish I’ve always had on my menus. It’s just a great brioche, the right truffle purée, and then the uni, which has to be absolutely exceptional — ours comes from Hokkaido. Oh, and the soy sauce! I age mine in house for months, keeping the same base for years. It looks so simple: uni, truffles, bread, soy. And it mixes flavors from Europe and Asia. When it all comes together, and you eat it — it’s magical.

Your opening salvo — the rillettes inside those super thin crunchy tuiles is another tour de force. How did this dish happen?

I think it was something spontaneous. I work with no recipes; everything is done by taste, sight. Recipes are meant to be broken. I usually change the fish for rillettes. It might be aji with nori. Now it’s this amazing California sturgeon with this fine, crunchy tuile shell around it.

Your menu is mostly seafood, with one game or poultry course towards the end. Tell us about your sourcing.

I get a lot of my fish from Japan, which comes in incredible, pristine condition, consistent and always high quality. But we also get Faroe Islands salmon, beautiful Norwegian langoustines, Dover sole or turbot from France. It’s a mix of Japan, Europe, and, of course, America — like the scallops from Maine that just came in, the best in the world, I believe. And West Coast Kumamoto oysters. We also get seasonal produce from very special American farms: beautiful root veggies right now, and corn in summer.

I remember you had this unbelievable quail on the menu …

It was from Wolfe Ranch in Sonoma, Calif., truly the best quail around. The owner is very selective about who he supplies. We felt very lucky to have convinced him to work with us. Now, I’m working with incredible ducks from Four Story Hill Farm in Pennsylvania. We serve the duck with wild seasonal mushrooms.

With a 13-course tasting menu, how do you build a perfect progression?

You start with some amuse and small canapés, then larger plates, then desserts. That’s the obvious part. To be honest, I just think of a progression from something cold you can grab with your hands to something you eat with a spoon. I’ve been working with the tasting menu format for years. It’s like driving a car for someone who’s a good driver, or shooting hoops after practicing over and over and over.

Tell us about your wine and beverage program.

Lots of Burgundies on the list, and rieslings from places like Alsace. Wines that work well with our food, so that together there’s magic. We do have a wine pairing menu, and a great by-the-glass list. We love Champagnes, too — who doesn’t? With our food, you can do bubbles from beginning to end. Our cocktails are classics: martinis, Manhattans, but most of our guests prefer wines. We have non-alcoholic drinks, too, working with a company in Australia that does fantastic sparkling and natural drinks. And teas. They can also work well with our food. So, guests have some variety.

And the sweet course?

I’m not a dessert person myself; I’d rather have savory. But we have a seasonal refreshing pre-dessert treat, and, of course, our signature frozen soufflés that we can’t take off the menu — ever. It started at Bouley and I took the recipe (with desserts, you do need a recipe) that we’ve kept developing. Now it really works. It’s seasonal. We did corn at the end of summer; it’s tonka bean now, it could be vanilla or buckwheat tea. Soufflés can be overwhelming but ours are light, clean, and refreshing.

Any new dishes we can look forward to?

We’re currently working on a dish featuring those amazing Maine scallops, foie gras, sunchokes, and a pinot noir sauce. We work with products that are available — we don’t really plan; we’re guided by nature. For regular customers, we might tweak things on the menu to provide some variety. Otherwise, we change our menus four times a year with the seasons.

Where do you think fine dining is headed?

It’s just going to keep going, it never left. Like any cooking, actually. Mexican was hot, then French, and Japanese. Korean is big now. But in the end, none of these cuisines are going away — just like fine dining. Great food? It will always be with us.

César is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 6 to 11 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 5:30 to 11 p.m.

Anya von Bremzen is a James Beard Award-winning book author and journalist based in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Her latest book, “National Dish,” was published last year. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.