Harold Dieterle Returns to New York With Chopt Salad Collaboration

When chef Harold Dieterle closed Perilla in December 2015 (the remaining of his three West Village restaurants), the New York-based chef told Eater that he was feeling “beat up and a little tired” after over a decade in the restaurant industry. At the time, the winner of Bravo TV's inaugural Top Chef season mentioned that he'd "like to maybe do some consulting work, and perhaps eventually get into a fast casual concept.”

Today, the New York-based chef is keeping both those promises in a new collaboration with fast-casual salad chain, Chopt. From now until March 5, Chopt will serve three Dieterle-curated items ($9.99 to $10.49) focused on the chef’s enthusiasm for Thai cooking. (Dieterle’s shuttered Kin Shop opened in conjunction with a regional Thai restaurant boomlet in neighborhoods like the East Village, Williamsburg, and Elmhurst.) Options for the salad include satay chicken, hearts of palm, and crispy rice cracker salad; a spicy green papaya salad with shrimp; and green curry turkey meatballs with kelp noodles.

Consulting gigs aren’t uncommon for big-name chefs. Recently, Wylie Dufresne partnered with fast-casual Indian restaurant Soho Tiffin Junction while the world waited with bated breath for his FiDi project (a project that was nixed late last year). Sqirl’s Jessica Koslow partnered with competing salad chain Sweetgreen to offer The Sqirl Dinner Bowl at LA and New York Sweetgreens. And behind the scenes, Dieterle even acted as chef-consultant to the AMC show Feed the Beast.

Chopt first debuted in 2001 and has since opened over 40 locations (the team plans to open a Midtown spot in 2017). Its competitor Sweetgreen has opened 54 locations in just 10 years. If you happen to try a Dieterle x Chopt salad, do let us know what you think.