Chopped's Chris Santos on His New NYC Eatery, Expanding His Restaurants Nationally and More

By Kelly Dobkin

Food Network fans know Chris Santos as one of the judges on the popular chef competition Chopped, and New Yorkers know him for his two perpetually packed small-plates eateries, Stanton Social and Beauty & Essex. But here are some things about Chris that you probably didn't know: 1. He may be rolling out his two NYC restaurants nationally. 2. He's in the process of opening a third eatery on NYC's Lower East Side (which he hinted at during NYCWFF). 3. He's really into boxing. Check out our recent interview with Chris below to get the full lowdown on these facts and more.

Zagat: What new projects do you have on the horizon?
I've been working very hard for 2013 to be really sort of the biggest year ever for me. While I don't have anything solid to report just yet - I am pursuing another space on the Lower East Side for a restaurant concept. I would like to sort of take the Stanton Social and Beauty & Essex brands to other cities also. I've been traveling to other cities the last couple of months to see what's out there and there are a couple of deals that are starting to heat up. I could end up in a situation where I'm opening a new restaurant here in NY, a Stanton Social in another city and a Beauty & Essex in another city, which will be interesting because I don't know how to be in two places at once. 

The cookbook - that's always in the works but that's taking forever to come together. It's taking a lot longer than I thought it would.

Zagat: Exciting! What can you tell me about the new NYC project? 

I can't tell you really anything about the menu yet because I don't know. We have a space that we're trying to lock down right now. It's more about seeing a space that I love, trying to get it, and if we get it, we'll figure it out. I walked by where Beauty & Essex is now for months before, and I'd look at it. Once I got it, we sat down and were like, 'ok what kind of menu are we going to do?' At least with me, the space dictates the food to some extent. I don't say 'I want to do some iteration on a steakhouse and let's find the space,' for me it's kind of the other way around.

Zagat: Tell me more about expanding Stanton and B&E nationally.

You know if the right deal comes along, I'd definitely think about it. I'm very much a hands-on chef. I just recently moved. I lived in Brooklyn for 12 years, and I moved to the LES so I could be closer to the restaurant -  I'm in the restaurants every day. I'm not interested in being on a plane and popping into Stanton Social in Las Vegas and then just walking away from it. I have to figure out how to do it, but for years people have approached me to do Stantons in other cities. It's like almost weekly or biweekly that people call asking to do Stantons in other cities, and I'm just starting to think about it more seriously than I did before.

Zagat: And as far as the TV front - any new shows for you on Food Network?

Maybe. It does look like I'm going to be shooting a pilot in November for a show, and if that goes well, I could have my own show. I frustrate my agent because I'm constantly saying no to a lot of things because they require a lot of travel or time away from the restaurant. TV is amazing for the brand, and it does add customers to your restaurant. Chopped is amazing, and I can't say a bad thing about it. But I'm not pursuing a TV chef's career. So if the right show comes along and fits my personality and doesn't require a crazy amount of time away from the restaurant, then yeah, I'd do it.

I'm a cook first and I have a real camaraderie with my team and my chefs, and, as it is, being managing partner of this new restaurant I'm already stretched really thin. You know I'll do it if the time works but I don't feel comfortable stepping away from the kitchen and telling my guys you know 'you do this' and just taking all the credit and being famous. I always was like I want to be in here, as I get older and the demands on my time increase, it's been a process allowing myself to step away from the restaurants and kind of do that stuff. I'm getting better at it. If this pilot goes through, it wouldn't take an enormous amount of time away from me.

Zagat: Pete Wells of the NY Times recently knocked the small-plates trend, which is kind of the backbone of your two restaurants - do you think there are some dishes that are not meant to be split?

Sure, I mean you know, that's funny I have many, many thoughts on that comment. I think that if a dish can't be split then we shouldn't try to split it. What he's saying to some extent is correct but it's just because some chefs don't really get it  - like if you send one crostini out to a table to split four ways - that's just ridiculous. It's more in the execution. In terms of the philosophy of the small plates, he can complain about it but it's the way restaurant culture has moved in the last 10 years and it's the way people like to eat. You know my restaurants are packed every night until next week so people must like it. Would you buy a band's record and only listen to two songs? Sharing really lets you get to see what a chef has to offer.

Zagat: Did you always want to be a chef or did you consider other careers?

I worked in kitchens starting at 14 and all through school, and as a kid I kind of wanted to get into music. It took some time to settle in and to realize this is what I was going to be doing. It was a way to support myself, it just came naturally to me, but I have a serious passion for boxing - it's one of my obsessions - and I'm very involved in the sport. I've been training as a boxer for 16 years. I write for magazines, you know whatever, and earlier in my career before things picked up, I was always dabbling with getting into the sport of boxing somehow. Not so much fighting, but coaching or writing, but at a certain point things just got bigger and bigger for me as a cook. So I thought - I better stick with this. When I made the decision to kind of embrace it, then I went to Europe and I went to 14 countries. I worked with food for many years before I fell in love with food. And when that happens it just happens. 

Zagat: What are your favorite restaurants in NYC right now?

ABC Kitchen I love. I love to go to new places but I'm kind of a creature of habit and I like to go to places that do it right. Bohemian is awesome. I go there like twice a month, and I'm dying to go to Brooklyn Fare.