FOOD 28 | BOROMAG.COM | MARCH 2014 ALOBAR Not many small, privately owned restaurants in New York City can survive all of the changes that come along with the replacement of an Executive Chef, especially when those changes mean you will have to literally rebrand your entire restaurant concept, hoping to retain the former regulars, meanwhile acquiring new ones. In a city like New York, after all, no excellent chef would be content stepping into the role merely as a replacement, executing the same dishes as his predecessor with the same nesse, enthusiasm, and integrity. at requires nothing more than a welltrained parrot. is dilemma is precisely what faced Alobar in Long Isand City last year, when their previous chef left the space he had built as a snout-to-tail porcine sanctuary. What was left was a menu with loads of bacon, guanciale, and pig tails with no leader to cure the pork in the basement any longer. is little piggy had gone to the market, with no plans of returning. Husband and wife owners Je‚ Blath and Lisa Kalik, MD were left with an exquisitely crafted rustic wooden restaurant with stained glass windows, with no executive chef to match the prior one’s abilities. e maple bacon popcorn stayed, and so did a few of the entrees, but the restaurant’s future seemed a little hazy, even if for just a brief moment. Story + Photos BRADLEY HAWKS Chef Greg Profeta Jeff Blath
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