The self-proclaimed “Butter King,” with his favorite food.

Churning Up SoHo

The British chef Thomas Straker—London’s heartthrob and the Internet’s “Butter King”—dishes on his many martinis, taking Manhattan by storm, and his very public spat with Keith McNally

By Vassi Chamberlain

Thomas Straker, the 36-year-old British chef, is as well known in London for his deceptively simple but refined cuisine as he is for his good looks and appetite for partying. Now he is bringing a version of his Notting Hill restaurant, the eponymous Straker’s, across the pond to New York’s SoHo, taking over the former site of Keith McNally’s Lucky Strike diner on Grand Street.

The move seems preordained for many reasons, not least of which being that Straker, like his predecessor, is a natural-born charmer, possessed of the uncanny ability to lure stars to his venues. (Everyone from model Adwoa Aboah to actress Clara Paget has stopped into his London outpost.) And just a week into setting up shop, he is already causing quite the stir in Manhattan, getting into a public spat with McNally himself.