Chef behind iconic Central Park restaurant reveals his NYC-inspired menu with new cookbook

He knows a thing or two about leafy greens!

The executive chef behind Central Park’s iconic grill Tavern on the Green debuted his first cookbook last month – revealing nearly 200 recipes both inspired by the park’s vibrant seasons and the author’s decades-long career in Manhattan’s culinary scene.

“To me, there is a ‘New York’ thought behind a lot of these dishes … a lot of dishes, they come out of necessity,” said Bill Peet, the celeb-famous restaurant’s 10-year executive chef, who released “Tavern on the Green Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes and Historical Treasures from New York City’s Iconic Restaurant” in April.

Among some of the Big Apple-inspired dishes, Peet’s chopped vegetable salad – which features butternut squash, fingerling potatoes, radishes, avocado and onions – came out of a growing demand for a quick, no-mess lunch for busy New Yorkers on-the-go.

Meanwhile, the “crowd-pleasing” avocado toast and fresh herb salad – composed of arugula, yellow celery, chervil and tarragon leaves – is a tribute to Central Park Conservancy’s own colorful greenery planted around the park, which can be marveled at from the tavern’s patio.

“I’ve worked in a kitchen with no windows. Here, I can get a sunburn,” he joked.

The book’s chapters, divided by months, allow readers to cook with the same seasonal approach Peet brings to the kitchen — and features holiday recipes uses to feed 1,500 diners on Thanksgiving and a whopping 3,500 guests on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

For the tavern’s Turkey Day, preparations start three weeks ahead, Peet said, with 200 loaves of challah and brioche bread cut for stuffing.

Nearly 200 turkeys are delivered two weeks out, and an impressive 130 gallons of Thanksgiving Day mushroom and black lentil soup are prepared days before the event.

“Here, the thing I’m most proud of is the level of food that we serve,” he said.

But the chef’s first order of business on Thanksgiving Day is setting up coffee and pastries inside the tavern’s Horseshoe Bar for New York City’s finest working the parade:

“This is how we give back,” he writes. “these people may be having a rough day. They can come in here to take a break.”

The same gesture is extended for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade bagpipers in March — who are fed a hearty spread of corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie and a century-old Irish soda bread recipe shared by Peet’s childhood friend.

Among the hardest challenges of writing the recipe book, Peet said, was repurposing the large-batch recipes for a single family to make at home.

Peet recalled using a recipe tester in France to recreate each of his creations – from watermelon gazpacho to Maine lobster macaroni and cheese – for just a few short months between late 2024 and early 2025.

“It’s 175 recipes, but they are for 100 or 50 people: so that was the work, breaking it all down,” he said. 

“Every waking hour, I was working on it.”

The cookbook also serves as a time capsule of Peet’s 45-year career at the likes of some of New York’s hottest culinary institutions — several of them long-gone — from Patroon, Café des Artistes, Lutèce and Asia de Cuba.

“I fall back on my experience from over the years,” he said, noting his highly-requested crab cakes and French country flat bead recipes can be traced back to his time at Lutèce nearly 45 years ago.

His short rib meatballs – which won a contest sponsored by the Meatball Shop – were inspired by bitterballen, a breaded and fried beef croquette dish he learned from a Dutch cook he used to work with.

Meanwhile, the tavern’s burger – among its most popular with celebrity clientele – was a “trial and error” effort when Peet arrived at the 91-year-old Central Park institution roughly a decade ago.

Other creations, such as his beloved watermelon and feta salad, arrived to the tavern as late as last year.

“Over the last 10 years, people have asked me for the recipes,” he said.

“I always wrote them out and gave them.”

“Now was just the right time,” he said, to publish the compendium of classics.

“I’ve made these all a thousand times,” he added, “so you’ll just have to work on it.”