JACKSON HEIGHTS — Chef Stewart Wadden has whipped up meals for international leaders, celebrities and royalty, but he hopes his next menu will entice locals to a restaurant on 37th Avenue.
Wadden inked a deal last week to take over the former Biryani Pointe at 76-05 37th Ave., and he's started working with designers and an architect to get the space open by September.
His goal is to renovate the space and open a 43-seat restaurant serving food inspired by his travels around the world and his training with famous French chefs.
“I’m so excited,” he said Wednesday. “I can’t wait. I’m hoping to bring something new, fun and dynamic.”
Wadden, 49, has hired a production and stage designer to decorate the restaurant, which he said is unorthodox but should hopefully bring a new style.
“Having not done restaurants before, he’ll have a fresh perspective,” he said.
He wants to focus on the freshest food, and has reached out to vendors at the neighborhood’s farmer’s market to make connections.
“I don’t want to buy a box of salad,” he said. “I want to grow my own mix.”
A Canadian citizen, he spent two years in France training under chefs that include Alain Ducasse and Michel de Matteis, and came to New York City to work as a chef for the Canadian government at the United Nations in 1998.
He continued working as a personal chef in the city, and has cooked meals for the queens of Belgium and Norway, United Nations secretaries General Ban Ki-Moon and Kofi Annan, celebrities including Lorne Michaels and Tom Wolfe and countless other members of different royal families.
Wadden moved to Jackson Heights in 2001 and splits his time between the neighborhood and the quiet town of Trouty Brook, Newfoundland, where he began cooking classes called Kitchen Sessions.
He said he never dreamed of opening a restaurant in his years working in kitchens, but he changed his mind in the last few years as many of his other chef friends embarked on their own businesses.
He began searching spaces around the city about a year ago, he said, and was lucky to find an available location close to home.
“I love this neighborhood," he said, pointing to its convenience near a busy subway station and a parking garage and the connected, supportive community.
And despite cooking for royalty, the idea of a restaurant with regular people excites him more.
"What’s exciting to me is that the other people never had a choice to come to dinner when I cooked," he said.
"I think it will be nice to see who will choose to come to dinner."
