Chef Opens Dream Veggie Palace but Basement Prefers to Bathe Instead

KEY POINTS

•Hasung Lee planned Oyatte since 2020, crafting an eight-course menu featuring produce from Crown Daisy Farm in Staatsburg, New York.
•Despite Netflix exposure on Culinary Class Wars boosting bookings, Oyatte faced four opening postponements due to permit and construction delays.
•Opening day chaos hit with a doubled cover count forced by software glitch and a persistently leaking basement unresolved despite landlord efforts.

Hasung Lee, fresh off Netflix's Culinary Class Wars, finally opened Oyatte in NYC after a sneaky four-time delay pandemic-long labor since 2020. Determined to build a veggie fortress using Brett Ellis's Staatsburg Crown Daisy Farm produce, Lee’s nine-decades-long ferment spreadsheet collides with real-life chaos: delayed furniture, permits stuck in limbo, and a basement that refuses to stay dry every rain. Starting day got boosted from comfy 30 to frantic 55 covers thanks to glitchy Seven Rooms software—2.5 times more speed than his soft open’s 20 guests, turning nerves into full boil. He’s calm on camera but stressed about rogue kitchen teams and a dripping underground jealous of his Michelin aspirations. Behold, a dream menu meets New York’s weather conspiracy.