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Hollywood stars have their pick of the trendiest restaurants and priciest delicacies, but what they really want is Red Lobster and Panda Express — with a gourmet twist.
In 2018, “The Office” star B.J. Novak teamed up with former French Laundry chef de cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth to launch Chain — a series of pop-ups in Los Angeles celebrating and recreating beloved fast food and chain restaurant dishes, from Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap to Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion.
The idea quickly caught fire, gaining celeb fans — such as Vin Diesel, Kiernan Shipka, Mindy Kaling, John Mayer, and others — and spawned a ChainFEST food festival in Southern California to much acclaim.
“100 out of 10 — no notes!” New York-based celebrity pastry chef Christina Tosi commented on ChainFest’s Instagram.
Now, it’s coming to the Big Apple. The high-low food fest is taking over Randall’s Island Park on September 21.
“Taking ChainFest to New York City shows how big this can really be,” Chrissy Teigen, who joined the Chain team as a strategic investor in July, told The Post. “Nowhere else in the world can you get gourmet versions of your favorite chain food items.”
Last Friday, a preview for the big event was held at Per Se. Instead of the famed three-Michelin-star restaurant’s usual gourmet dishes, such as salmon coronets and foie gras torchons, the bites on offer were inspired by chain restaurants.
Deep-fried, sweet-and-sour chili crunch oyster mushrooms were an homage to Panda Express.
Cheesy biscuits were reminiscent of Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits, but they were upgraded with a rich Beurre Monte sauce.
KFC-like chicken tenders were taken to a new level with the addition of a truffle agrodolce and a side of pommes mousseline, a silky smooth, French take on mashed potatoes.
Triple Pickle Onion Rings riffed on Red Robin’s signature fried pickles — but with the addition of dollops of caviar.
Those are just a few of the dishes that will be on hand at ChainFEST. Attendees can expect elevated takes on 15 dishes from more than eight chain restaurants including Krispy Kreme, Hot Dog on a Stick, Portillo’s and Trader Vic’s. Tickets, on sale Friday at ChainFest.com, start at $100.
Teigen is so excited to partner with Chain she paid for her own plane ticket to the event, a source told The Post. She’s angling to bring mascots from each restaurant to ChainFEST to give it a Disney vibe.
“When you go to Disneyland you want to see Mickey and Minnie, well at ChainFEST I really hope to see these icons,” she told The Post. “Pei Pei the Panda, Red from Red Robin and Charles Entertainment Cheese himself. I am not even joking; these are true icons in my opinion.”
The “Cravings” cookbook author and mom-of-four was spotted Friday walking around the Shops at Columbus Circle with Red, who also came to the Per Se event, taking photos with gawking New Yorkers.
She and Red looked downright cozy, but Teigen has a fraught relationship with Red Robin. She unsuccessfully applied for a job there in her youth.
“My sister worked there and I still didn’t get it,” she quipped at Per Se on Friday. “One of the questions on the application was literally, ‘What’s your bowling score?’ and I still didn’t get it.”
