3 questions for...Peter Berley

The longtime Angelica Kitchen toque is the executive chef of Broadway East (171 E Broadway at Canal St, 212-228-3100), a vegetarian-friendly eatery opening next month.

1

What will we see on the menu at Broadway East?
We’re a locavore restaurant. The foundation of our cuisine will be products we’re sourcing within 500 miles.

2

I like the protein-oriented spin you took in your cookbook, The Flexitarian Table. A lack of it is a common complaint among veggies.
Most restaurants are not looking at vegetarian cuisine seriously. You’re a second-class eater. I’m starting from the point of view that vegetarian food is great.

3

You plan on serving both meat and vegetarian dishes. Why? And how will you prevent mixups?
We color-code our pans. Green ones are vegetarian; red ones they can cook meat in. [The chefs] are not going to grill veggies where there was bacon. We’re clearly labeling things that have chicken stock in them, etc.… I’m extremely into vegetarian food; happy to cook it but not completely happy. It’s like saying you can paint with the colors green and blue but can’t use red. For me, vegetarianism is very adolescent and very sentimental. What’s the word when you project onto an animal human traits? Anthropomorphize. A lot of people anthropomorphize animals—“They have the same feelings that we have”—but they don’t. A fish is perfectly happy to die for you, because it’s fulfilled its fishdom.