64 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MARCH 2018 64 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 64 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
PRESS MAIN DISH
The Sound Bite heralds
Cajun-fusion joint’s debut
Southern, Italian cuisines mix at news-and-jazz-themed restaurant
By ERIC VOORHIS
A newsman-turned-chef and his jazz
singer wife are cooking up a plan to
make blackened chicken as popular
as Buffalo wings with the Port
Washington couple’s new Manhattan
restaurant, The Sound Bite.
The name is a play on the term
for a short quote in TV news and
the fact that the restaurant also
regularly hosts live music. Chef
Julian Phillips, a former Emmy
award-winning journalist, picked
the décor and menu with news
puns aplenty, but the headline is his
unique blend of Cajun, Southern
and Italian cuisine.
“I’ve been working on this idea
for a quite a while,” he says, while
prepping for the lunch crowd
on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. “I
started to experiment with the
fusion of Southern and Italian and
blackening techniques, and voila –
here we are.”
Phillips is perhaps best known
for a stint as co-host of the Fox &
Friends Weekend morning news
show from 2002 to 2006. More
recently, he served as host of Arise
Review, a weekly political talk show
on the Arise News Network. But
these days, Phillips has traded the
newsroom for the kitchen, where his
new focus is making mouths water.
“Of course I miss it,” he says of
his former career. “If you’re a
journalist, it’s hard not to be in
the mix. But right now, I’m just
enjoying blackening up wings,
plain and simple.”
Along with his successful news
career, Phillips has roughly
three decades of culinary
experience, working
as a private chef on
occasion, catering events, and, of
course, cooking for family and
friends. He’s also the house chef
for Hopscotch Air, a private airline
that offers flights up and down
the East Coast. Despite his busy
schedule, Phillips says he always
makes time to cook at home.
“Everybody’s got to eat, right?” he
says.
Phillips has a talented partner in
the new endeavor: his wife and
accomplished jazz singer Barbara
King. He says it’s been a longtime
dream for them to open a restaurant
together that celebrates their two
passions: media and jazz. Along with
a soulful menu, The Sound Bite offers
live jazz and blues performances
three nights a week, with King
herself getting up on occasion.
“We’re one of the only spots
in Hell’s Kitchen that has live
music,” says Phillips over the
clatter of a busy kitchen. Things
were beginning to pick up as
guests began to arrive at the
1,600-square-foot restaurant.
“Well, hello. How are you?”
Phillips says abruptly
when he spots a regular.
“Now, how do you
manage to look so good in all this
rain? Not a drop on you.”
Although he’s enjoying the steep
learning curve, Phillips says
opening a restaurant in New York
City is no easy task.
“It’s been a somewhat daunting and
eye-opening experience,” he adds.
The Sound Bite’s signature
wings are coated with a blend
of blackening spices and then
seared in a hot cast-iron skillet
before finishing off in the oven.
They’re served with an assortment
of “Southern-meets-Italian” sauces
including a puttanesca, Cajun
remoulade, and garlic pesto. Another
staple on the menu is chef Phillips’
Southern smoked mac and cheese
that can be topped with andouille
sausage, blackened chicken, shrimp,
lobster or alligator sausage.
The cocktail list, designed by
nutritional biochemist and author
Alex Ott, continues to play on the
news theme with drinks such as
The Live Shot, The Crash & Burn,
The Headliner, and The Kicker.
Eventually, Philips says he’d like to
open up another location on Long
Island.
“That’s my dream,” he adds. “I’d
love to have a nice waterfront
restaurant on the Island.”
The Sound Bite is located at 737
9th Ave. in Manhattan. They can
be reached at 917-409-5868 or
thesoundbiterestaurant.com
Chef Julian Phillips
is cooking up
mouthwatering blackened
chicken.