The Manhattan Sideways Team visited Cannibal Liquor House when it was still known as Resto NYC, before the renovation in 2016. Below is owner Christian Pappanicholas' story.
After graduating with a degree in business, Christian moved to Murray Hill and began his career. Perhaps it took a few too many years for him to realize that his passion was not in finance, but rather like his father's, it was in the world of food. Not relying on his experiences in his family's restaurants in Pennsylvania, he enrolled himself in the French Culinary Institute. Combining his business and cooking skills, along with an interest in Belgian cuisine and beer, he opened his first restaurant, Resto, in 2007. While the name outside belies an everyman casual approach to dining, the style inside was, in fact, unique. Taking a “nose-to-tail” approach, the chefs strove to use each part of the animals they cooked. This was most striking in their “large-format” meals, offered to parties of eight to twenty, in which an entire animal was cooked all at once with different portions serving as distinct courses. Lamb, pig and goat were always available this way, but on special occasions, diners could also order fish and wild boar. Christian cited his Greek upbringing and many lambs roasted on a spit enjoyed during childhood as inspiration for this menu feature.
It was not all about big meat, however, as executive chef at the time, Preston Clark, himself the son of a chef, preceded his work at Resto with many years of experience in some of America's top chef's kitchens. In addition to his expertise in the land of meat, he also creates scrumptious salads and sides - we were enticed by the faro salad and the kabocha squash. The menu at Resto changed seasonally, as the chefs tried to “explore and push the envelope.” Perhaps equally impressive was the list of more than 120 Belgian beers (including all of the Belgian Trappist beers currently in production), that could be drunk along side the slabs of meat. Many were served in enormous three-liter mugs.