Shaun Hergatt feeds some of the city’s most discerning foodies at Juni, his restaurant in the Hotel Chandler, but his favorite customers aren’t even human. The Australian-born chef, 39, spends hours coming up with tasty treats for his two Pomeranians — 7-year-old Savarin, who is named after the French gastronome, and 6-year-old Simba, named after the “Lion King” character “because he looks like a little lion.’’
Hergatt, who lives solo in Murray Hill (apart from the pooches that he got as puppies), is famous for his produce-centric menu at Juni, and brings that aesthetic to his four-legged charges. “My approach to food at home is healthy,’’ he explains.
In his initial enthusiasm to cook for his little critters, he was over-generous.
“When I first got the dogs, I used to feed them all the time, but after a year, they became plump, and the vet said they had to go on a diet,’’ recalls the chef. At that point he switched to a base of Hill’s Prescription Diet kibble, and his creativity was transferred to their daily snacks.
“Now I make sure that they have kibble three times a day, but in the interim I devised a diet of treats that allows them to have the things they like,” he says. He focuses largely on raw fruits and veggies for his pups’ snacks, because he feels that’s best for their systems, and he goes about selecting their dishes with investigation and care. “Little dogs can become dehydrated if you give them too much salt, and diabetic if you give them too much sugar,’’ he warns.
Hergatt watches them as if they were pint-sized critics. “My dogs are very responsive, so I gauge their reactions to see what they enjoy. Simba is a bit more like a garbage can, but Savarin is very particular.’’
He did a lot of research on the Internet and played around with texture and temperature. Their favorite items: blueberries that the chef tosses into the freezer, chilled romaine hearts, watermelon, and unsalted rice cakes topped with either peanut butter or honey. “The food needs to be super crunchy because the dogs like to chew on things, and the dogs are so in love with peanut butter, it’s crazy!’’ Has Hergatt thought of packaging his canine creations? “My dogs are my love, but I am focused on my restaurant for humans right now,’’ he says. “But if somebody gave me a contract . . . why not?”