Secrets from the world’s toughest dining scene
By Amy E. Treadwell
Thursday, June 30, 2016, 6:00 AM ET
Photo: Steve Galfe/RedUX
Founded in 2005, the Dining Academy is one of the leading culinary schools in the country. But don’t think that means they are always right.
“This restaurant was not built overnight,” said Jason Wiles, who took over as head chef last year after previous chef Bill Wiles stepped down following the death of his wife, Karen. The Wiles family has been the owners of the Dining Academy since 1992.
Photo: Steve Galfe/RedUX
“It was an evolution. We needed to find the right person to carry this thing forward.”
Jason started by revamping the food and menu based on what he was seeing in the country. He also introduced new courses every few months. And he wanted “to make sure we weren’t repeating ourselves — to challenge ourselves to be better.” The result: a modern version of the classics in an American-style space in a residential neighborhood.
Photo: Steve Galfe/RedUX
The Dining Academy, located in Queens, New York, was the first new restaurant to open on the Upper East Side in many years. When I interviewed Jason about the process, he said, “It was a challenge, but it was an essential one.”
“We were thinking about the restaurant for a long time. It was a very long process to really figure out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go,” he said.
Photo: Steve Galfe/RedUX
“The people who work here, the people who’ve had the privilege of working with me, were the right people for the job…. I didn’t go in here with any preconceived notions about what the restaurant should be. Everything I thought about the space, the menu, the customers — everything was put into a spreadsheet.”
Photo: Steve Galfe/RedUX
“We were really fortunate that our clients started this restaurant