Good Food Favorites with Chef Bobby Hellen

After he wowed us with his lamb bacon, I knew we had to hit up Chef Bobby Hellen of the Belgian gastropub Resto for a Good. Food. Stories. Q&A. Bobby, a native New Yorker, has been with the Resto team since the restaurant’s 2007 opening, and now leads the kitchen as Executive Chef.

Though the restaurant is most well-known (along with the vast selection of Belgian brews) for its pork-focused dishes and nose-to-tail eating, Bobby also serves up heaping amounts of locally-sourced produce alongside his housemade charcuterie, meats, and poultry from New York-area farms like Four Story Hill. For the more adventurous, the Resto team offers the Large Format Feast, where a whole animal will be broken down and delectably prepared for your large group (they’ll feed up to 18 people).


You started as the sous chef at Resto in 2007–what attracted you to the restaurant?
What attracted me to Resto was the idea of a restaurant that would have food that cooks would want to eat, and that we could have some of the best farms and farmers working with us. Thankfully both ideas are still true today.

You’ve said that your love for cooking was deeply influenced by your grandmother–what is your favorite of your grandmother’s dishes? You don’t have to share the recipe, but you do have to share a story.
The dish is not something complicated or really out of this world, it’s very simple: half a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar. It didn’t seem like a mind-blowing culinary experience, but it made a big impact on me.

She ate it and shared it with me because it was the best time to eat a grapefruit–it wasn’t that the grapefruit was the best one out there, but that she showed appreciation for seasonal produce. We weren’t in Florida picking them off a tree in the backyard, but she got her point across.

What dish currently on the menu at Resto are you proudest of?
That’s a hard question–I am proud of it all and proud of being able to have what I want on the menu. I think the boudin blanc has come a long way; I have noticed a number of restaurants making a boudin blanc. It’s back in fashion now.

How many different kinds of charcuterie are in your walk-in at any given moment?
We have a rotation of about 10-12 different kinds of charcuterie from paté, rilletes, bacon, fresh sausage, and so on…. We try to always be working on something different.

What is your go-to meal when you’re cooking for yourself?
A bowl of pasta is my go-to meal. At Resto and at my house i always have some sort of dry or fresh pasta. Normally, I can find capers, anchovies, or garlic and olive oil in a cabinet, and that’s a meal I can always eat.

Seasonal availability and local ingredients play a big role in your cooking, but what’s the one ingredient you would absolutely be lost without?
Right now I would be lost without Tuscan kale. I am so looking forward to spring–this winter feels like it is never going to end.

What cookbook is currently on your nightstand?
The Professional Charcuterie Series. It’s all written by old French guys from the ’80s, but it’s the best book on charcuterie I’ve ever seen; it covers all the bases.

Find Chef Bobby Hellen in action at Resto, 111. E. 29th St. between Park and Lexington, New York. 212-685-5585 or reservations on OpenTable.