The guys behind Boca Raton's most anticipated restaurant opening will narrow down their chef pick for Kapow! Noodle Bar this week, says partner Vaughan Lazar (Pizza Fusion), one of three partners behind the Asian fusion concept, a joint project conceived by Rodney Mayo and Scott Frielich.
The pool of "hundreds" of applicants
has been narrowed to six candidates, each of whom will shop for
ingredients and cook for the partners next week in the final interview
round for the executive chef position at Kapow! Noodle Bar.
"We're
especially excited about this restaurant opening because it's the first chef-driven concept in our collective restaurants," said Lazar. "So finding
the right person who will take ownership of the concept and the menu is
really important."
Asian fusion dictates the current draft of the
menu, which will include pork buns, Korean-style volcano rock shrimp,
dumplings, ramen, udon noodles, and chow fun. Items will be locally
sourced; a handful will accommodate those with gluten allergies and
"Cross-Fit freaks on paleo-type diets," said Lazar.
The
candidate who lands the position will accompany the partners on their next
food-scouting trip to New York, which will, naturally, include trips to
restaurants in the David Chang empire.
As a cocktail consultant, Kapow! Noodle House has hired Freddy Diaz, who will draw up a drink menu and guide the
restaurant in recipes for house-made elixirs, including bitters. The
partners snagged plots from the soon-to-open Boca Raton community garden
to grow herbs for cocktails and dishes.
The partners designed
the 1,600-square-foot space using reclaimed wood, energy-sustaining appliances,
and other eco-friendly measures, says Lazar. "It means a lot to us to
leave a small footprint on the environment."
Lazar said he
embraced the chance to work with the "visionary" Mayo and Frielich pair:
"Not only are they passionate and laid-back, but nine out of nine
times, they have the focus and the resources to see things through. And
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that can be rare in the restaurant industry."
Kapow! Noodle Bar is scheduled to open November 1.
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