The story
On Christopher Street in the West Village, Red Paper Clip is an intimate neighborhood restaurant where Chef/Owner Kevin Chen’s cooking draws deeply from his heritage. His menus reinterpret Taiwanese-American cuisine through seasonal, locally sourced ingredients — a quiet, personal expression of experience and place.
Chef Chen is a native New Yorker who discovered his love for cooking in his family’s bakery in Flushing, Queens. He began as a pastry cook at Soho House, later becoming pastry chef at One if by Land, Two if by Sea. Pushing beyond pastry, he moved into savory cooking at Grant Achatz’s Alinea in Chicago, helped open Apis Restaurant in Austin, and worked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. That journey through some of the country’s most influential kitchens now informs every dish at Red Paper Clip.
The restaurant offers two ways to dine: a la carte small plates and entrees, or a 9-course tasting menu. The menu changes weekly with the market. Standout dishes include the Everything Brioche with cured trout, miso custard, and ikura; XLB Agnolotti with black truffle, pork, and ginger; and Hainanese Chicken with daikon, scallion, anise, and rice. The cocktail list nods to Chef Chen’s influences with drinks like the Lu Rou Old Fashioned and Szechuan Margarita.
Red Paper Clip has held a Michelin star for three consecutive years — 2022, 2023, and 2024 — a recognition the team wears lightly but strives to uphold with every service. For vegetarian diners and those with allergies, both the a la carte and tasting menus offer a wide choice of options, including a dedicated vegetarian tasting menu that reflects the finest ingredients available at market.
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