Phil Suarez On Turning A Gut Feeling Into A Restaurant

The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed Phil Suarez, longtime business partner of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, about the attitude that's brought the team so much success. Together, the two have opened some of the most important restaurants in New York City and around the world (30 so far) including Jean Georges, ABC Kitchen, Spice Market, The Pump Room, and Mercato, among others.

"It's the way I take shots," Suarez said of his success, "push it all back on the table and say, 'Roll 'em.' "

He eventually met a young Jean-Georges Vongerichten, then the chef at the Drake Hotel, who was "working magic."

"One day, out of the blue, he called and says, 'Phil, would you be—' Before he finished the sentence, I was at his door," says Suarez. "He wanted to open his own place. I wrote a check for $250,000. Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom. We opened JoJo. The food was utterly new."

Since then, the team has established a restaurant empire on which "the sun never sets."

How does he know if a particular location is right for the next restaurant? "Gut feeling. Smells right. Then we talk." 

Read the full interview over at The Wall Street Journal.

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Karen Lo is an associate editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @appleplexy.