66 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • DECEMBER 2017 66 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 66 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
FOOD & DRINK
Chopped champ dishes new Hush American Bistro in Huntington
BY ERIC VOORHIS
Marc Anthony Bynum has over a
quarter century of experience in
the kitchen, but treats every dish as
if he’s competing for his next win
on Food Network’s competitive
cooking show Chopped.
The chef-owner is the mastermind
behind Hush American Bistro,
a soul-food-inspired restaurant
that started in his hometown of
Farmingdale three years ago and
moved to new digs in Huntington
this summer.
“Think of it this way,” he says, leaning
forward. “If you have a restaurant
that sells 600 dinners, and
every table is getting three courses,
that’s what, 1,800 plates that go out.
That’s 1,800 times your reputation
Chewing the fat
is on the line.”
Bynum has come a long way
from his first restaurant job at the
since-shuttered Margo and Frank’s
Mermaid restaurant on the Nautical
Mile. His resume includes stints
at the Melville Marriott, where he
Executive Chef Dan Doherty mentored
him before Bynum moved
on to other fine dining establishments
such as Tellers in Islip, Prime
in Huntington, the closed Four
Food Studio and Venue 56, among
others.
“I’ve been fortunate to work at a lot
of high-end restaurants on Long Island,”
Bynum says. “They’ve all been
creative — places where I can play.”
That playfulness comes through in the
motto of Hush: “The food speaks.”
Just before the dinner rush on a
recent Thursday afternoon, the chef
sat at a small table near the front
door of Hush and discussed the
challenges of running a restaurant.
Despite a thriving consulting
business that takes him around
the country, Bynum spends most
nights in the kitchen. It’s all about
quality control, he says.
The wall behind him is paneled with
repurposed wood and dotted with
white candles not yet lit for dinner.
Edison lights dangle from the
ceiling throughout the romantically
lit restaurant. Even at 4 p.m., Hush
buzzes with activity. The wait staff
mingles by the bar, trying a new
wine that had just come in while
prep cooks race around the kitchen.
Chef Bynum is well known as a
creative force in the Long Island
restaurant scene. But the notoriety
he gained from Chopped was a
game changer.
“It allowed me to go from local to
national overnight,” he says. “That’s
when I started to do more consulting,
I started to travel more. I put
up a website from the winnings. It
was huge.”
Bynum has gotten a lot of offers
to work in New York City, but remains
fiercely loyal to his roots.
“I will not forsake my island for
the city,” he says. “Long Island
can be a challenge because you
want to stick to your artistic
integrity, but then you have some
palates here that may not be as sophisticated
as the food you want
to produce. But I like to push that
boundary, I put out the food I
want to cook and I find that people
come around to it.”
Starters at Hush Bistro include the
WTF salad ($15), a creative mix of
watermelon, tuna, ginger sesame
vinaigrette and foie gras “snow,”
and cornbread and biscuits ($9)
served with maple brown butter
and wild berry preserves. Small
plates and entrees include ravioli
($16) served with ricotta, spinach,
egg yolk, short ribs and sweet
potato; Southern fried chicken
($14) with sweet potato puree and
pickled cabbage; and duck leg confit
($18) with fennel puree, broccoli
rabe, fennel pollen glaze and
pickled radish.
There’s one thing not found on the
menu at Hush Bistro: geoduck, a
large and unsightly saltwater clam
native to the West Coast.
“I’ve had to go up against it twice
on Chopped,” Bynum recalls. “I
guess geoduck’s just not a fan of
me. Every time I go up against it, I
just lose it.”
Hush American Bistro is located
at 46-G Gerard St. in Huntington.
They can be reached at 631-824-
6350 or reststarinc.com/hush-bistro
Marc Anthony Bynum, who won Chopped two times, serves up soul food at Hush American Bistro
in Huntington (Photo Courtesy of Food Network).