Stephanie Zubiri’s Atelier 317 moves to ‘Backwell’

Stephanie Zubiri finally has her very own restaurant.

When she moved back from Paris in 2008, she had always had dreams of putting one up. Since the cost of overhead was high, she put up a catering business, Modern Epicurean Kitchen (MEK), instead. After two years of full-on catering, Steph realized she missed giving personal attention to clients, and turned a private home in a residential area of Makati into a kitchen. She called this Atelier 317, where the clandestine location was disclosed only after a reservation was made.

Inspired by Vietnam: Cha Ca La Vong at the newly-opened Atelier 317

Today, it is no longer limited to only 14 persons at a time, but has expanded to house over 50, as she has turned Atelier 317 into a full-service restaurant and relocated into a new home in the rising Poblacion neighborhood, also known as “Backwell” — the back of Rockwell — last November. (It is in the same area as Rajo Laurel’s House of Laurel and Nix Alañon’s Phoenix Home).

The ‘CAFÉ Du Quartier’ in Makati

The interiors were done and handpicked by Stephanie herself: black and white tiles, brick walls (kept dusty on purpose), brass chandeliers, artworks both from Paris and painted by her mother, Vicki Zubiri, and her pièce de résistance at the previous Atelier, an Edwardian-inspired hand-painted long table. “I wanted it to feel homey and authentic,” she says. “It’s not mismatched on purpose but each individual piece I liked. I wanted it to be that when you turned your head, each piece would look interesting.”

Her favorite? A sewing machine table which she had custom-made in Bangkal. “It’s one of those things where when a person drops a napkin, notices it when bending down to pick it up.”

Plates were sourced from Vietnam and Hong Kong, cups from Germany and France. “If something catches my eye while traveling, I’ll buy it.” Steph also proudly announces that some of her items are segunda mano, and from Japan Home Center, and Landmark. “By the bar, we put something simple — a cork painting. I wanted it to feel like the café du quartier in Paris — the café in the corner where you have breakfast every day: croissant and coffee in the morning, and then come back after work for a drink and dinner.” You can find Steph here almost every day, doing her work by the bar in between service hours.

No barriers to cuisine

“I love being here,” she says. “I like the look, I like the music — which can range from The Beatles to Portuguese music to lounge to jazz on any given day — and the food,” which is of course, the primary reason to visit. “I didn’t want to be restrained with the barriers of cuisine. This is what I like and what I cook at home.” She also incorporates dishes that inspire her in her travels. “It’s always comfort and not so complicated — easy to comprehend. As long as they are done well, they will come together.”

She retains her bestselling MEK catering staples, Balsamic Beef Adobo (P650/ solo; P3,500/ good for six), Truffle Mushroom Lasagna (P350/ solo; P550/ to share), and her Pumpkin and Ginger Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (P150), but she has also expanded her menu.

Inspired by her trip to Vietnam, the Cha Ca La Vong (P450) is dory fillet sautéed in turmeric and lemongrass, served on rice noodles, and topped with fresh herbs and crispy shallots. “I like the lightness, texture and taste of all herbs together; the mixture is an Asian citrus flavor. Some people don’t get it because they push the herbs aside, thinking they are decoration. I come to the table and encourage them to mix them all together. If you don’t mix them, you get one dimension only.”

She is proud of her two salmon dishes. The diet-friendly Curry Rubbed Crisped Skinned Salmon Fillet (P550) is pan-seared for the crisp skin, and served with harissa yogurt sauce and a filling side salad of red cabbage. The Red Curry Salmon Parmentier (P650) is flaked poached salmon sautéed in Asian spices, topped with a lemongrass mash and fried shallots served with red curry sauce. “It sounds like it won’t work, but it does.”

“A real carbonara is made with parmesan, egg yolk and bacon,” Steph says. Since Steph is not a fan of the creamy version, her Limoncetta (P350) is the basic carbonara topped with lemon zest, parsley and mint. “We serve it with the whole egg yolk on top and you have to mix it all together so the egg yolk becomes part of the sauce that binds everything.”

The Croque Madame (P350) is the only breakfast food served all day. “A real croque madame in Paris has no béchamel sauce — but I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with béchamel. At Atelier, it’s two pieces of bread with good ham, a lot of butter and good cheese (gruyere and Emmental), with a bit of Dijon inside, topped with some paprika, Italian seasoning and parsley. The Dijon kills the umay factor, as it has a spicy kick, and really makes it different.”

And, of course, her bestselling Lamb Gyozas (P280/ six pieces). “It’s unusual to have gyoza with lamb. The flavors are unique: gyoza is Japanese, but the filling is Moroccan, Middle Eastern. This sells like hotcakes,” Steph discloses.

Things are going quite well for the young chef who truly brims with passion and love for food. She loves to cook, she loves to eat, she loves to serve and she does it all at Atelier 317. It is a shining example of someone who follows her passion and turns it to fruition. Part of the success in this equation is Stephanie’s attitude, a rarity in any industry today. Stephanie does not fail to credit the people who help her — “All the chefs in the industry have been so helpful. Chef Him Uy De Baron trained my chefs to make them look like gyozas; chef J Gamboa helped me with my POS and CCTV suppliers, and chef Fern Aracama for the plates” — and she welcomes constructive criticism and comments as room for improvement. “Ultimately the most important ingredient in the food industry is humility,” she has declared on Facebook. This attitude alone makes her one of the most promising chefs in the industry today.

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Atelier 317 is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for kitchen, but extends even later for drinks. Sunday brunch is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is located at 6060 Palma cor. Osias Streets, Poblacion, Makati (two streets behind Ateneo Law School). For reservations, call 384-7064, 358-0987, or (0917) 830-8393.

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