Chef turns daughter's shuttered Williamsburg bakery into seafood restaurant
After working in the restaurant business for 30 years, Chef Bill Lam decided to come out of retirement after "Kitsby" closed last year.
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The father of the owner of a shuttered Williamsburg bakery turned the empty space into his dream seafood restaurant.
For Steamers Chef Bill Lam, the best tasting dishes come from the simplest ingredients.
"Something very basic, but you can taste the real food, very healthy, very fresh. I mean, you can taste the difference," he says.
After working in the restaurant business for 30 years, Lam decided to come out of retirement after his daughter Amy's bakery "Kitsby" closed last year.
"I said, 'It's such a waste. It's such a beautiful location.' I said, 'How about, if you're willing, I can try to run this as a restaurant?'" he recalls.
Paying homage to one of the restaurants he used to work at, Lam plans to keep the menu simple, with a focus on lobster, prime rib, and linguine.
"I chose these three items to be the main characters. I believe fresh seafood you can cook it very simple. Just steam it. You should get what you want," Lam says.
Although the start of a new business has its challenges, Lam is hopeful that his vision will draw in the right crowd.
"The first day of our soft opening, I sat here for four hours and not one guest. Second day, we had one table. On the third day, we had one and half. So it's very slowly, but very steady," he says.
Steamers is still in its soft opening stages, with weekly specials like snow crab legs and seafood pasta for just $24 each.
Lam plans to have the restaurant's grand opening next month.
