Bonne Nuit Chef to Join Basaran at Picador
Anxious food lovers of New Canaan concerned about the activity occurring behind the covered windows of 15 Elm Street, (the building that formerly housed Harvest Supper), can rest easy. CTbites is pleased to announce that Alan Basaran, owner of New Canaan’s Carpe Diem, is the restaurateur behind the changes. Next month Basaran will open Picador, a Spanish themed restaurant offering both Tapas and entrée sized dishes. Overseeing the kitchen will be a long time New Canaan favorite, Chef Kender Urena, from Bistro Bonne Nuit.
Chef Kender will bring his Latin heritage to the kitchen. Born and raised in Costa Rica, he worked in his parent’s restaurant before enrolling at the French Culinary Institute where he received a Culinary Arts degree as well as degrees from its International Bread and Pastry Arts program. He honed his culinary skills at some of the New York’s finest restaurants including Le Cirque and Barbetta. He relocated and opened Bistro Bonne Nuit in 2002. The Picador kitchen will also include Pastry Chef Lisbeth Rawls, who joins the team from the kitchen of Gramercy Tavern in New York and most recently as chef-owner of LuLu’s Bakery in Atlanta.
The menu will showcase Chef Kender’s extraordinary culinary talents and highlight a wide range of flavors focused on specialties from Spain, the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. A sneak peak indicates that Picador’s menu will emphasize the region’s incredibly bright and vibrant flavors while maintaining the Mediterranean tradition of seafood, hams and paella, plus a smattering of meats and poultry.
Interior renovations are currently in process to complement the Spanish influenced menu. In addition, for those who enjoy al fresco dining, Picador will also offer several tables on its newly renovated back patio.
Stay tuned as CTbites covers another exciting restaurant opening in New Canaan and samples the delicious cuisine of Chef Kender and Chef Lisbeth.
Chef Talk, New Canaan, News
Reader Comments (6)
Any idea who will replace him at Bonne Nuit. It is one of my favorite places in New Canaan. Would hate to see it decline.
His has a partnership in Bonne Nuit. His a extremely talent chef I think he can handle both places, plus one is French and the other Spanish . If anything it is very exacting to me as food lover to see what Chef Kender going to show with this new restaurant.
Just to clarify...Kender will be exclusively at Picador. Not sure who will be replacing him at Bonne Nuit.
After eating at Picador, I can say it was a terrible disappointment. My wife and I got croquettes that were clearly cold - when she sent them back, they came back after being tossed in the microwave. I'm a huge fan of paella and was hopeful that there would be a good paella dish in NC. Unfortunately, the paella we got was incredibly watery, with no crust on the bottom at all. We sent it back and it came back virtually the same. Later, the manager stopped and we mentioned to him that paella should have a nice crispy crust on the bottom. He proceeded to tell us that meant we wanted it 'overdone' and 'dried out' and he could 'burn it' if we'd like. He obviously has no idea what paella is supposed to be, and his attitude was horrible.
Wow this is news to me being he is my partner and still over sees at the Bistro Bonne Nuit which is what executive chefs do.
RD
You are correct and I apologize for not posting a follow up to this article when things changed from last October.
The chef at Picador is Regis Saget.
Again, my apologies for not posting a correction earlier.