Justin Warner IMDb. Find industry contacts talent representation. Manage your photos, credits, more. Showcase yourself on IMDb Amazon. Justin Warner on His Restaurants Closure and the Allure of Celebrity Chefdom. Last month, Do or Dine Justin Warners four year old restaurant Do or Dine in Bed Stuy unexpectedly closed. This came as a total surprise, especially because it seemed like Warners star was only rising His first book The Laws of Cooking And How to Break Them comes out today, and after winning season eight of Food Network Star, hes gone on to make newshows for the network. Warner cites a few reasons for the closure, like the changing landscape of Bed Stuy Scratchbread closed this weekend, too, and financial concerns, but hes not too choked up about it He says, at this point, hes more interested in pursuing a career in media, where he believes he can connect with a larger audience. Its not that a second restaurant is out of the picture, its just that its not his end goal or even how he defines success. Here, Warner explains So, what brought you to the decision to close Do or DineJustin Warner, New York, NY. K likes. This is the official Facebook page for the Food Network Star Season 8 winner, Justin Warner. Justin Warner is the Season 8 Food Network Star winner from Brooklyn, NY who has appeared on Cutthroat Kitchen and more. Get more of Justin on Food Network. Justin Warner, Self Breaking the Rules Chocolate. Justin Warner is a director and writer, known for Breaking the Rules Chocolate 2015, ChefShock 2016 and Guys. Was it something that youd been thinking about for a while We opened Do or Dine because we realized it was the right time, at the right place, with the right people, with the right attitude, and getting all of those things together was difficult. Thats why most people dont own restaurants. We didnt really factor in that we needed the right money. We just figured any money would be fine, and then it was the same in closing. We all had the same attitude. We made a restaurant that, even after our death, was getting Bib Gourmand. People can say whatever about it, but me, as a person who had never cooked before, and to have a restaurant that brought Michelin to Bed Stuy, was mission accomplished. There wasnt much more that we could do. And myself personally TV stuff, book stuff aside on the busiest freaking night, packed at Do or Dine, I could serve 9. I could manipulate ever so slightly their relationship to food. But I can do something on Snapchat and reach thousands of people and do it with less stress, less sweat, less money, less of everything. Its not so much about the easier route. Its about the more effective route, for me. Its more and more difficult to blow a New Yorkers mind. Now, what seems to blow peoples minds here is food thats more simple and comforting. But of course, as a chef, you also want it to be interesting. Yeah, I said since minute one at Do or Dine that all food is either interesting or comforting or bad. Last month, Do or Dine Justin Warners fouryearold restaurant Do or Dine in BedStuy unexpectedly closed. This came as a total surprise, especially. Obviously were not going to serve bad, so its about finding the line between interesting and comforting. We did that at Do or Dine. For example, our fish and chips dish wasnt anything special Its a whole fried fish, and instead of tartar sauce, we take the mayo out, and use olive oil and yuzu as the acid, and then we make regular old French fries. What is interesting for people They get to navigate a whole fried fish. Fruit Pizza Frosting Recipe here. But conversely, in that neighborhood, which has a lot of Caribbean influence, we basically made escabeche fish and chips, like a Jamaican dish. So, oddly enough for the Jamaicans in the neighborhood and the Caribbean folk, the comforting thing for them was escabeche. View the profiles of professionals named Justin Warner on LinkedIn. There are 90 professionals named Justin Warner, who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas. The interesting thing for them was having fries with their escabeche, and also having yuzu in the mix. We were able to corner both sections of the market with a dish that was very easy for people to wrap their minds around. Foie gras doughnuts same thing. Not everybody wants to try foie gras. The spoonful of sugar of doughnut helps the medicine freaking go down. Next thing you know, youve got kids, literally 8 year olds being like, This is my first time trying foie gras, Justin. Thank you, youre amazing. Those are the kind of people that I was trying to reach, and so by doing stuff like books and TV, I can serve I mean the internet is now everywhere in America. I can serve food deserts, and I can serve people that actually deserve it, because theyre in need. Everybody works hard to get food. Everybody deserves to eat a foie gras doughnut if they can make the money to go buy it, but the people that need it more do not live in New York. New York is not a desert. New York is a food freaking Eden. So its more effective and, ultimately, more pleasing to me in my career to do stuff in media, because I can give to people who have nothing. And what do you see yourself giving these people, specificallyA fresh take. In my opinion, Im a little bit of a Sherpa. On Twitter, for example, I talk about video games. I talk about Lego. I talk about food. And I think if you look at the vast majority of people that are associated with any major food or brand of chef y type thing, the vast majority of it is 1. Its a little intimidating for someone who lives in Amarillo. Do you know what I mean I trade Nintendo cards with people who I meet via Twitter. Ive sent out six trades, and four of them were in Texas. So are they doing foie gras doughnuts in TexasThats a huge state. They would have to drive for miles and miles and miles to get something, and not everyone can live in Austin. Not everyone can go to some fancy restaurant in Dallas. Would you open another restaurant Yeah. The previous Venn diagrams would have to apply, and it would have to be with the right money. I would also say that it would be with the right motive. The right time and right attitude and right people sounds like the right motive, but its not, because generally, to do anything entrepreneurial, the motive is to not work. The end goal is to not work or to create a machine that just runs. So whats your end goalMy end goal is to I dont know. I think its to make some sort of I dont like saying art, because I dont know. Im not an artist. When people say that art is simply something thats designed with the intent of giving you a reaction I look at a restaurant as edible art, 3 D, time, space, I dont know. Thats it. You dont commission an artwork because you think its going to make you tons of money. You commission it because its art, right But unlike art, if you dont like your food, or it elicits a reaction that is not positive, you ask for your money back or you complain to someone. Or you never go back, and then the restaurant closes. You go to a movie. You didnt like that movie Sorry. You buy a book. What are you going to do Return it because you didnt like it That ties into this whole struggle for control between chefs and diners. Who gets to call the shotsIt was chefs for a while, but now its shifting back to diners. Its tough. In the early days of Do or Dine, we were just focused on staying alive. We were actually less focused on profits, you know That was, to me, the heyday of the restaurant. It was probably a misstep in the grand scheme of things. We made a lot of mistakes that we shouldnt have, but at the same time, we changed a little bit of Brooklyn. We changed a little bit of dining. We poked fun at people who needed to be poked fun at, and trends that needed to be poked fun at, and we got in trouble when we shouldve gotten trouble. Lets talk about your work on the Food Network. There are of course benefits to becoming a public personality, and it seems like youve been able to be yourself on television. But have you found that work limiting, or distracting The lucky thing is that I didnt do television until I was on Food Network Star, and Food Network Star is a proving ground. What it proves is fake versus authentic. About halfway through each season of Food Network Star, you will see that people that get eliminated are either terrible cooks, and theyre faking their ability to cook, or theyre faking their personality. A lot of people think that being on television is acting. You dont have to be acting It was a game to me, and I played it how I would play a game, and thats it.