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For Josh Eden, chef-partner of Shorty’s.32, there is no shame in comfort food. The New York native spent twelve years working for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, from whom he learned this vital lesson: “The day you cook for your customers and not yourself is the day you learn to be a chef.” Hence, the burger and steak-frites on his New American menu, the $19 roast chicken, and the desire to build a true neighborhood clientele. At any restaurant that ultimately succeeds, he says, “your customers live upstairs. They live down the street.” And to keep them coming back, he’s given straightforward dishes a dash of refinement, as in the roasted cod with Gruyère broth, the Riesling-poached pears, and the steamed black sea bass with quinoa and pickled beets. With this modest 32-seat restaurant, Eden has not only become a first-time restaurateur, he’s also embraced the none-too-flattering nickname given to him years ago by onetime JoJo chef de cuisine Didier Virot. “Shorty’s just sounds like a good place to eat,” Eden says. — Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

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