Stamford chef at Ridgefield’s ‘The Benjamin’ prepares dish on ‘Today’ show
RIDGEFIELD — A chef at a new Ridgefield restaurant had about five minutes of fame last week when he was invited on NBC’s the “Today” show to prepare one of his signature dishes.
On the Jan. 9 show, Benjamin Traver, 33, executive chef at The Benjamin, a French-American restaurant that opened last June at 20 West Lane, prepared olive oil poached halibut for the hosts.
The episode, which was streamed live in Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, N.Y. featured Traver’s dish as part of the show’s live cooking segment. Two of the show’s hosts — Al Roker and Sheinelle Jones, were on the episode with Traver.
“It was a cool experience,” said Traver, a Stamford resident who has a 3-year-old son. “I showed up and hung out in the green room (waiting area) for a bit and got organized with the culinary production person there.”
During the 4 1/2 minute segment, Traver spoke about the ingredients of the dish, which include fennel seeds, black pepper, bay leaf, and thyme, as he gave a cooking lesson to Roker and Jones. He also made them a mocktail called “apple cider mood.”
While Traver prepared the dish, Jones and Roker paid close attention and asked him questions such as what he infused the dish with — the answer is thyme, parsley, lemon peel and garlic.
Once the dish was ready, they both tasted it and expressed their pleasure.
“Oh, that’s fantastic,” Roker said as he dug in.
Traver said he had sent the recipe to the show beforehand and the show’s culinary team laid out each part of the dish ahead of time.
“It was really well planned out,” he said.
Traver was invited on ‘Today’ after a friend of The Benjamin invited the show’s executive vice president to dinner at the restaurant last August. The executive vice president enjoyed the halibut and suggested Traver prepare the dish on the show, said Sarah Stabile, who does the public rela
tions for the restaurant.
Traver said he was the “most nervous right before the camera started going.”
He added, “I tried to not get in my head about it, to just do my thing up there. But obviously … it’s a little bit of an adrenaline rush there for a second.”
He said the halibut dish he prepared has been around since the restaurant first opened.
“It’s pretty popular on the menu. People seem to really like it. It was geared toward a spring dish in the beginning but people really liked it so much that we continued it on,” he said. “We made it a mainstay for now.”
Traver said he hopes to perhaps one day own a restaurant.
The Benjamin is owned by BJ Lawless of Norwalk, Dave Studwell of Weston, and Rob Moss of Norwalk.
Traver graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Manhattan restaurants he worked at include Cafe Boulud, The Modern at the Museum of Modern Art, L’Accolade, and Chez Nick.