Macao Trading Co. is set to open in September and partner Jay Kosmas has taken steps to make his restaurant and lounge a notable addition to Tribeca. First, he brought on Chanterelle's David Waltuck, a lifelong student of Asian food, as executive chef. Kosmas and his fellow Employees Only partners also took a recent trip to Macao to research its hybrid of Portuguese and Cantonese cookery. “We had curried crab, garlic prawns, and African chicken with tons of spices — Africa was part of the Portuguese trade route,“ Kosmas explains. “There was a fantastic duck slow-cooked in its own juices. The sauces were amazing — they where homogeneous, like you see in Chinatown, but filled with visibly different kinds of curry and spices, and delicious bits and lumps in the texture. There are so many things that I can't wait to see on our menu.”

Update: Kosmas has just informed us that David Waltuck will be the restaurant's executive chef, not a consultant.

Earlier: Zeppelin Isn't Coming to Church Street, But the Macao Trading Co. Is