NEW YORK -- Crystal was an early adopter of celebrity chef partnerships when it inked a deal with Nobu Matsuhisa, who shot to fame with his eponymous sushi restaurant here.
But that arrangement is now more than 20 years old, and Crystal didn't have another marquee-name foodie collaborator. That changed earlier this year when the line's new ownership looked to Monaco and Riccardo Giraudi, the purveyor of the Beefbar restaurants that have popped up all over the globe. Later this year, this brand will be on the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony.
Beefbar will make itself at home in a space on the ships currently occupied by the casual, small-plates eatery Tastes and will feature its blend of elevated street food and (of course) top-quality cuts of beef. The space will get a refresh to bring in Beefbar design elements, and Beefbar-trained staff and chefs will be onboard. There will be no surcharge to dine at Beefbar.
The restaurant is scheduled to arrive on the Serenity on Nov. 27 and on the Symphony Dec. 21.
The partnership was celebrated in October at Beefbar Tribeca in New York, over Beefbar's signature china -- each plate sports a small image of an emoji, like a sack of money or a T-bone steak. During the luncheon, Crystal senior vice president of global marketing Jacqueline Barney pointed out that it was around the one-year mark of when the second of the line's ships, the Symphony, went into operation under A&K Travel Group ownership.
The Beefbar steakhouse chain also serves elevated street food. Photo Credit: Marion Butet Studios
Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, the executive chairman of A&K Travel, knew Giraudi and invited him on one of the Symphony's shakedown cruises last year. Soon thereafter, a deal for Beefbar at sea was struck.
In an interview, Barney said that Crystal was "looking for opportunities to distinguish ourselves in the marketplace."
Bringing Beefbar onboard, she said, would "change things up a little bit and give our customers something different." (It won't be completely different: For fans of Tastes, some of its most popular dishes will be incorporated into the Beefbar restaurant menu.)
In the luxury-cruising world, nearly every line has celebrity chef partnerships and elevated food concepts, from Silversea's S.A.L.T. Kitchen to Oceania Cruises' tie-up with Jacques Pepin. With the Beefbar deal, Barney said, it was important for Crystal to partner with a land-based operation that guests would either recognize or come to know and respect.
And Crystal isn't stopping with Beefbar. In August, the brand made a deal with Michelin-starred chef Massimiliano Alajmo and restaurateur Raffaele Alajmo to consult on dishes for its specialty Italian restaurant, Osteria d'Ovidio, the former Prego.
As for the competition to become a culinary leader at sea, Barney pointed to several factors: Food quality, maintaining the right spending on ingredients, sourcing from the right places, authenticity and presentation -- "the whole ambience of how the food is served."
UPDATE: An earlier version of this report indicated Beefbar would be open on the Crystal ships next year. It will, but it will make its debut on both vessels in late 2024.