Tom Colicchio, the Craft impresario and Top Chef judge, has plans for a small, fixed-menu restaurant in New York this fall. He may not have signed a lease yet, but he'll be in the kitchen. Grub Street spoke to the chef today.

Why do you want to do this now?
I want to get back into the kitchen — I wanted to do something where I’m doing the cooking, not just the supervising. I want to do something small.

Would it be like Craft or the food you’ve done at, say, Gramercy Tavern?
Well, nothing is plated at Craft. This would definitely be more in the direction of the kind of composed dishes I’ve done at other parts of my career, such as at Mondrian and Gramercy Tavern. It wouldn’t be in the Craft style at all.

Like your version of Ko?
I think a lot of restaurants have had tasting menus before Ko! For example, both the French Laundry and Per Se have a straight tasting menu. But I’m not sure it would be just a tasting menu. That’s just something we’re kicking around. I can tell you there wouldn’t be a counter!