Was the menu at Onera conceived the same way?
Michael Psilakis: When I thought about Onera, I said to myself that we’re going to separate food into 2 different categories. One was going to be something that was going to be revisited. And one was going to be something that was inspired. Revisited meant that I was taking a very traditional dish and revisiting it. So moussaka and changing it to become a representation of moussaka through my kind of experience and how I looked at it, how I could capture the essence of it and yet make it something that was going to be new. NYRI: What are some of the things you like to achieve with your dishes? Michael Psilakis: The thing that’s the most interesting to me is when you have the ability to control the entire evolution of that particular dish in the palate at one time. So if you can get somebody to eat one bite of something that’s composed, then what will happen is you start to eat it, and things happen and you start to taste everything. Then you continue to chew and then all of a sudden, i
