BOULEY AT HOME — Restaurateur Club at NYU

On a recent Friday, a group of eager NYU restaurateurs gathered around Chef Daniel Drexler’s porcelain countertop to watch as he sautéed wild mushrooms, reduced plump figs into jam and shared culinary advice, acquired throughout his multinational journey to becoming a Michelin Star Chef de Cuisine.

For Drexler, awards were never a part of the plan. Instead, the Hudson Valley native has always been focused on the food.

“I love what I do,” said Drexler as he deftly turned over Chicken of the Woods mushrooms in a steel sauce pan. “If you have time to [be on TV] then you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing in the kitchen.”

Drexler often spends 12 hours per day in the kitchen at Bouley at Home, a French and Asian inspired restaurant in the Flatiron district. Since it opened two years ago, Executive Chef David Bouley’s eponymous eatery has offered New Yorkers an immersive dining experience. There are just 24 chairs available at each seating, and they are all placed within feet of the chef’s induction stove.

“One of the reasons it’s called Bouley at Home is because we actually use home appliances,” said Drexler motioning towards a quotidian convection oven and an orthodox fridge.

The food, however, was anything but ordinary. First off were confited Chicken of the Woods mushrooms, simmered in their own juices and oil. Each student was allocated a small wedge of the bright, orange-and-yellow mushroom that gets its name from its remarkable similarity in taste to chicken.

“That’s literally a vegetable,” said Kasthaub Vedanthum — an aspiring chef and a member of NYU’s Restaurateur Club — after devouring his portion.

Drexler went on to prepare Aligot, a cream infused mixture of cheese and mashed potatoes, which he served neatly on top of Kuzu Crisps (Kuzu is a highly expensive root flour that is commonly used in Japanese cooking.) Alongside the Aligot crisps, Drexler plated strips of Cinco Jotas Iberico Ham (a bone-in ham that was fed an acorn diet and cured for over three years.) The rest of the ham was opened up and skewered in the corner, for all to see.

Bouley at Home gets their ham from Spain, but their produce comes from right around the block at the Union Square Greenmarket. Drexler said he frequents the market and also takes trips to the Hudson Valley, where a lot of their meat is sourced.

On that Friday, Drexler sliced carrots that he had picked up at the Greenmarket and let them sautée alone in a pan. In a separate pot he combined peels and unattractive chunks with water to create a stock. After the juices began to flow, he blended the two parts together until they fused seamlessly into a golden yellow puree. It was soft, it was sweet and it was made up of only one ingredient: carrots.

As students peppered Drexler with questions, he topped off the tasting menu with a Black Truffle Dashi Flan with Dungeness Crab. The Dashi which consisted of kuzu, mirin, and soy showcased his aptness for Japanese cuisine, which he had picked up overseas as a part of an exchange program.

Three years later, Drexler, 26, is fully settled in New York City.

“This is my home,” said the chef in his kitchen. Drexler wasn’t referring to the City.