Following in his family’s tradition of owning restaurants, Stratis Morfogen always knew he would eventually shape the future of New York’s hospitality industry. Stratis was nominated “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 1999 by Deloitte & Touche for bringing New York’s famed Fulton Fish Market to the internet with the creation of FultonStreet.com in 1997. Stratis won numerous awards in customer service for that endeavor, which was highlighted in the New York Times Best Selling Book “Customers.com” by Patricia Seybold.
Stratis was the partner/owner of several establishments in New York including Club Rouge, Gotham City Diner, Seagrill of the Aegean, Hilltop Diner, Kids Kingdom Amusement Park, Aubar, Sessa, The Grand, Philippe Chow and Jue Lan Club to name a few. Stratis made his most significant mark in the hospitality industry by creating, designing and developing Philippe, a chic and sophisticated yet unpretentious Chinese restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with chef Philippe Chow in 2005.
With partners Robert “Don Pooh” Cummins and Dave Thomas, Stratis created Brooklyn Chop House. The name pays tribute to Morfogen’s father who had five Chelsea Chop House restaurants from 1955, to 1985. Brooklyn Chop House plays on the double meaning of the word ‘chop.’ From Dim Sum to Dry Aged Chops, Stratis married what made him a well-known name in the industry with Philippe Chow. He has taken the best of those two menus and combined them with Steakhouse classics like dry-aged 30-45 day Prime Steaks including a Porterhouse for 2, NY Strip and Bone-in Ribeye. A master marketer, Stratis Morfogen has continuously come up with restaurant concepts and signature dishes and offerings like Brooklyn Chop House's L.S.D. that have gone viral due to being not only over the top, but also one of a kind. The L.S.D features a Salt & Pepper & Ginger Garlic Lobster, a 3 lb Dry Aged Porterhouse Steak & an Authentic 7 lb Peking Duck all on one table. The game changer and uniqueness of Brooklyn Chop House’s menu came home by taking the staples from his father’s Hilltop Diner, such as Pastrami, Lamb Gyro, the Reuben, Philly Cheesesteak, Bacon Cheeseburger and French Onion Soup and turning each into dumplings. This drove the Brooklyn Chop House viral on social media as the first to re-imagine deli and diner sandwiches into dumplings, which led to the creation of Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, a 24 hour, quick-serve restaurant bringing the automat back with the technology of today. The fast-casual flagship opened to the public on May 19th with lines wrapping around the block and over 100 franchises sold with the help of Fransmart.
Today, the hard-working third generation restaurateur is flourishing. His new concept Brooklyn Dumpling Shop is the only restaurant that was able to franchise before even opening its flagship store, in addition to being the first contactless restaurant. Stratis Morfogen believes the restaurant’s partnership with Panasonic helped create ‘the Tesla of automats’, all controlled from your smartphone. Brooklyn Dumpling Shop was featured in QSR Magazine’s 40/40 List for 2021: America's Hottest Startup Fast Casuals. He’s now gearing up to open a massive Brooklyn Chop House in Times Square in addition to a Greek restaurant called Pappas in Greenwich Village in February 2022.
Morfogen is the author of “Damn Good Dumplings”, which was critically acclaimed by culinary leaders and those in the hospitality industry including Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert, Rocco DiSpirito, Patti LaBelle and Gayle King. He is also launching his Brooklyn Chop House and Brooklyn Dumpling Shop frozen product line in Walmart’s coast to coast very soon.