Dryden
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Posts posted by Dryden
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p.s. i don't know how many people have travelled for a living, ending up in strange (perhaps great) cities or towns, but i can tell you this: when you have 1 hour to grab dinner, and you're tired and smelly, the last thing you want to do is go on an adventure. and i can think of countless places around any OG or Red Lobster in NYC that will offer nothing less than a shit experience. no thanks. i'll grab a salad and some pasta at a place i know won't produce any "surprises." i'll save my culinary adventures for a proper vacation.
Funny, I remember one of the motel chains using just the slogan "No surprises" in their TV ads a few years ago...
smart. business travellers don't like surprises.
I don't think that's true. Business travelers tend to be exhausted, and don't know their way around very well, but if you told them there was great, surprising food to be had (at almost any price - expense accounts are a nice thing) - I think you'd be surprised how far people will go. I've always had good luck on business asking some local folks where they go for a really, really special occasion. Usually, it makes for great dinner, and the prices (if you're coming from NY, anyway) aren't often too bad, either.
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As a former consultant who used to travel to some of the highest traffic places you can imagine (Washington Courthouse, OH; Cayce, SC; Tri Cities, TN; Jefferson City, MO (don't let the fact it's the capital fool you into thinking it's a real place) - I feel like I can say that no matter where you travel, there's almost always something worth finding. It's true that in some of them, the Applebee's or the Ruby Tuesday's or even Taco Bell may be the second, third or even first best place to eat in town, but I know that I always tried to make an effort to find something more interesting to eat, even when many of my colleagues might have been happy to settle for something that was right out in the open.
There's a totally out of the way place in Bristol, TN, for example, called the Troutdale Dining Room that is some deeply impressive food, but you'd have to get lost to find it. The experiences like those are the ones that made travelling to random places worthwhile. Having said that, there are some good rules of thumb, like don't order fish in an unfamiliar town that's nowhere near a body of water...
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Not sure if anyone noted it here yet, but the Shack now takes credit cards as well.
But I continue to be amazed by people's conversations waiting on line - how can someone go the the Shake Shack "all the time" and still not have had a shack burger?
What the hell are they eating?
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Golden Unicorn for carts, Dim Sum Go Go for best.
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I don't usually think of Hearth as being all that Italian overall, but if you ordered the right dishes, it would probably make for a pretty darn good Italian style (at least) meal.
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I think he was referring to this:
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Speaking of the Tony Bourdain reference, the chef is Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune who has very publicly acknowledged that her version of Fergus Henderson's bone marrow was, well, his.
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Can't go wrong with Babbo, of course.
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Historically, if you requested a "one-by-one" tasting (for 2) or a "two-by-two" tasting (for 4), per se would attempt to accomodate the party by making sure that 2 people got entirely different dishes, or that each couple of a foursome got different dishes. The first time we went, we asked for this, they indicated they would do it, for something like an extra $85-$100 per person. If you check way, way upthread, there are a bunch of posts on this.
I do not know if they do this any more, but as with all things, it's probably better if you call ahead and ask and see what they can do for you. Of course, for enough money, you can have just about anything.
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I think those are just the sit-down hours, since they were definitely open until 6 on Monday.
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I believe their hours are 11-6 this week, and then expanding... you can call the Per Se res line for info (I'd call later in the day to avoid the wait...)
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Unless you're talking about a place like citarella's, where the fresh fresh is (generally) incredibly fresh and the quality quite high, I actually prefer IQF fish - seems to often have higher quality and freshness.
IMHO.
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If you want to do something different than the salmon cornets, ask for the vegetarian (tomato) ones. Also, if you really want to make sure you aren't eating all of the same dishes, you could always call TFL, tell them what you had at per se, and explicitly ask for something different. I seriously doubt that they would mind at all.
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There is no Bouchon in New York - the place that is opening is Bouchon Bakery which, as related upthread, looks like it will be doing sandwiches and pastry, but not the full Bouchon menu and nothing that seems like it will be doing brunch.
Which is a shame, since Bouchon would be the best thing to happen to that part of the west side in terms of mid-priced casual dining, well, ever.
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In terms of 4 star possibles, there's also the new Robuchon restaurant - but they may not be aiming that high on decor. But for food, certainly.
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Considering that the "official" position of everything we've read indicates that pregnant women should be eating things medium-well to well-done, there's no way any pregnant woman should be eating anything sous vide unless it's finished under a broiler.
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I'm thinking of setting up some kind of hotline where people can call with questions as they come up.
So, is mozzarella always pasteurized?
What are the high-mercury fish, anyway?
How do I know if the salmon is wild?
Which dishes have raw eggs in them?
Fun, fun, fun.
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I would imagine all of the pre-made items will be done using Per Se's kitchen. But I doubt they'll be able to do much to accomodate on-the-fly requests, just as a function of how they're set up.
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Having not been to WD-50 since my wife has been pregnant, but having been to Per Se, Minibar (in DC) and a host of other places, I'll all but guarantee the staff at WD-50 would be happy to accomodate whatever they can for your wife. Depending on how stringent she/you/your doctor is being about diet, it's probably a good idea to call ahead and give them a list of her needs. We've also found that it's good to tell anyone who will listen that she is pregnant, so they assign the appropriate amount of "weight" to the request - otherwise, it just seems like you're being an unnecessarily picky diner.
Us: "No unpasteurized cheese".
Them: "Well, there's very little. You won't even notice it."
Us: "She's pregnant - this is really important."
Them: "Oh, NOW we understand!"
There should really be a thread about this, but I have no idea where to put it - suggestions/experiences/good rules about eating out while you're pregnant. You can read all of the books in the world on pregnancy eating, but somehow they never cover things like whether you can eat fried homemade mayo with an otherwise uncooked egg, and they never mention fish like cobia, either...
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According to a helpful security guard, they are supposed to be opening this coming Monday. It's a very small space (you can see around the paper up on the glass) - basically room for a couple of coffee machines and an prepared food case - given the space, I seriously doubt that they're going to be making anything to order.
There is also a space with seats and a coffee machine on the third floor for people who want sit-down service.
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Of course, it's also easier for a chef like Wylie to be in the kitchen since he only has the one kitchen - makes it easier to figure out where he might be.
Not so for chefs with 2, 3, 4 (how many does JG have now?) places...
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For completeness, H&H also usually has bialys, as well.
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It also seems like Bruni is fond of using quotes in a "I'd never say this, because I already know the answer, but some of you may be thinking..." kind of way.
It's always fun to make up a question that, just possibly, no one was asking and then go on and on answering it because you like to hear yourself talk.
Olive Garden
in New York: Dining
Posted
People aren't willing to do the work to find these places, but if they are told about them, they'll go. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem... if you ask the people in the hotel, they'll tell you what they think you want to hear (which is usually the nearest place to get a steak). But if you ask them where they'd go for their parents' fiftieth anniversary, you tend to get different responses.
Knowing good food when you eat it, and wanting to eat it, isn't often the same thing as being as obsessed about it as most of the folks around here are.