THE PASTRY CHEF AT GRAMERCY TAVERN SHARES HOME
RECIPES AND HIS INSPIRING STORY
BY KYLE GRACE MILLS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE KATZI
t’s Gramercy Tavern’s 25th Christmas, and the restaurant casts an inviting glow. You’ll
have the distinct feeling you’ve been transported to the candlelit magic of a Dickensian
Christmas, a warm, nostalgic harbor in modern-day New York, New York.The halls are decked. The renowned in-house fl oral team has adorned the restaurant with ruby
red roses, pomegranates, and holly berries; verdant kissing balls hang from the exposed beams;
and an ever-changing harvest table hosts a golden cornucopia of metallic-hued artichokes,
walnuts, pears, and grapes. In the corner is a bar-top Christmas tree adorned with lights,
beads, and more than 100 intricately detailed cookie ornaments. The cookies smell richly of
peppermint and vanilla, and each one sports a magnifi cent design iced by pastry chef Miro
Uskokovic and his merry band of pastry pros.The elegant edible ornaments are a mere shadow of Miro’s grand hand at work. Dinner at
Gramercy Tavern is a multicourse affair, and every single guest will have a taste of one of his
creations. On one night, you could choose something like his tender browned butter cake
served with pear and blue cheese mousse. Or perhaps you’ll go with the always satisfying,
eternally classic Gramercy Tavern Cookie Plate with Milk, a roundup of his rotating assortment
of cookies served with a glass of milk, or if it’s during the holiday season, a Chocolate Martini ,
spiked with amaretto and vodka and poured piping hot from a teapot. Miro himself revamped
this dish, deciding to highlight new cookies every season with exciting, revolutionary
ingredients and pairing them with a glass of milk with an iconic red-striped straw. But you can
always expect that the baked goods will refl ect a blend of his two great infl uences: his Serbian
upbringing and his American culinary education.H O L I DAY
B A K I N G
MIRO USKOKOVIC
WITH