Three Dishes with Chef Kevin O'Connell at Veranda

This new column by Anjali Kumar invites you on a monthly adventure to great restaurants around the world to meet the amazing chefs, mixologists, restaurateurs and sommeliers behind them and the foods that inspired their work today. She sits down with Chef Kevin O'Connell of Veranda in New York City to find out which dishes shaped his cooking style and outlook today.

Chef Kevin O'Connell was on the leading edge of the burger craze when he opened Union Square's Pop Restaurant in New York in 2000, which led to the two Pop Burger slider joints. The continued and growing popularity of his burgers, as well as his modern twist on thin crust pizzas, led to the creation of two restaurant concepts, Pop Burger and Pizza Bar in the Meatpacking District which opened in 2003 and 2005 respectively. In 2008, Kevin opened Wall Street Burger Shoppe in the Financial District, which earned him the dubious distinction of serving a $175 burger. But now O'Connell, who trained in France and Italy and has worked under Daniel Boulud, Patricia Clark and David Burke has moved on to head up Veranda in the West Village, boasting Mediterranean cuisine with an Egyptian twist.

What is the dish that:

1. Inspired your love of food?

Veal Saltimbocca. I was ten years old when I went out to an Italian restaurant with my father and had it for the first time. [It was my] first time tasting wine sauce, fresh sage, prosciutto, etc.

2. Is your signature?

Lamb Three Ways at Veranda [which consists of] chops, spicy sausage, and shoulder moussaka. Since we opened the kitchen in May, Veranda has become much more than a downtown lounge and Lamb Three Ways has become a signature dish on the Mediterranean-inspired menu with Greek and Egyptian twists.

3. You cook on your night off?

Pasta with chick peas, garlic and parsley.

— Written by Anjali Kumar

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