ckkgourmet

I had a good meal, about a year ago, at August, but I can't say that it was so good or unusual that I thought it worth going back. Perhaps you can recommend a few other dishes?

Soutine is the amazing patisserie on 70th between Columbus and Broadway. Its best things include its cream puffs, its chocolate napoleans, and its tarts, but it does many things very well. I think you are right about the location of Levain. I always want to mispell it. You probably know that they have amazing (and enormous) cookies there.

I want to know the answer to your question too. But I wanted to second your intuitions about the hotel environment. It isn't just a matter of drawing hotel guests, although that's a big part of things. I say this because I remember reading that ADNY was made considerably more feasible for A. Ducasse because of a nice arrangement with the hotel itself. I've also heard that if a hotel needs a good restaurant, the hotel is sometimes willing to pay some of the costs involved, including swallowing some of the rent and shouldering part of the renovation budget. In the case of Gilt, the historic nature of the Villiard Houses meant that Le Cirque 2000 could not tamper with things too much. Getting that junk from Le Cirque (an aesthetic catastrophe, if you ask me) out was probably quite simple. This is because the historical regulations have forced both restaurants to renovate using "additive" rather than invasive things (think of the strange purple sculpture in Gilt's bar). You may also recall the strange poster-like reproduction (looks tacky too) of a 19th painting by Abbey which is housed, in all places, at Yale. It ornaments the wall of the main dining room. One last example is the strange floor which Bruni noted looked a bit temporary. I bring up these examples merely to illustrate that the renovations were not about infrastructure in the public areas (I don't know about the kitchen)--so perhaps Gilt didn't cost as much as one might suppose it should?

I had heard that the "selfless" investors in question were British in origin. Perhaps rich should go to London with his ideas?

Although there is also the ADNY model, which apparently means one seating per table per night.

I've only been to Sarabeth's once, and that was some 5 years ago, but I hardly remember it being anything like the quality of Bouchon (even if that quality isn't even where I want it to be). Sarabeth's is a neighborhood restaurant, entirely overrated (in my one visit's experience). It's a piece of kitch too. Bouchon, at least, can claim a few serious ambitions. If Sarabeth has changed, let me know. I'm eager to be corrected here.

Well, I guess those of us who had our expectations high in the sky because Keller was involved will just have to settle ourselves down to having another good bakery cafe. If New York had a great many sublime pastry shops and bakeries (I don't think it does--althought the Upper West Side has a few excellent choices like Soutine and Louvaine. I've never thought highly of Claude), maybe I wouldn't be so put-off.

I have been known to eat butter "raw". At Gilt, u.e., you will be sorely tempted to defy your mom's memory!

When I was there last (2 weeks ago perhaps), they told me that gingko nuts were now out of season. I didn't know the nuts had a season, but I suppose if people have reportedly seen Masa's helpers gathering them in Central Park, they must! In any case, when does gingko season begin again, so that I'm ready?

But it really was the most decadent condiment I've ever met--I'll give Liebrandt that! They gave me a substantial amount of it too. My friend and I were spreading it on everything bread-like that we could get our hands on. (That reminds me, I thought the bread service was quite nice at Gilt). Perhaps "decadent" is an understatement for the truffle butter and foie gras--"obscene" (in a good way) might be more suitable!

Btw, I've been meaning to ask: did anyone go to Fatty Crab in the first few weeks and enjoy the famous roti chanai (exact name?) type desert? Apparently it was so good that actually had to discontinue it because the kitchen was overwhelmed with orders. My first visit to Fatty Crab was the night after the kitchen made this decision--I still wonder what I missed!

When I had the namesake crab dish, I literally used 5 napkins to clean myself up, excusing myself from my table (as did others) to "wash up" in the bathroom. The sauce with the crab is glorious. If I were a pig (to follow the fat theme) I would like to wallow in it. I'd second the recommendations on the mango salad and the pork. I will say, having made four visits, that the quality of preparation is inconcistent. Sometimes, I want to swoon, the place is so good. Other times, I've been a bit embarassed (having spoken so highly of Fatty Crab to friends who I'd brought along).

I also found the butter delivered with the foie gras to be notable, except mine was even more decadent, being studded with black truffle! I have no concept of how olive butter would work--is that like a combination of olive oil and butter tastes? Is it your impression, oakapple, that the place is hurting? When I went to Gilt, it was quite late on a weeknight. It wasn't necessary a representative example of the restaurant's business. From your report, however, it would seem that Liebrandt still hasn't ironed out all the imperfections in service and food that people have been noticing. I would love to return, but I think I'll hold back until I see a review calling the place consistent!

It would seem that there is too much demand for Yasuda and that they rather tell a few white lies than turn away customers. Like Sneakeater and others, I have had this experience. I would add that another sushi chef, a certain Yoshi, is quite good. He normally stands at the other end of the bar near the "kitchen" (far left if facing the bar). I have had several delightful meals with him.

I would also add that I enjoy the mix and match aspect of the lunch menu--and the price! But I wouldn't say that those factors outweigh the quality difference that I perceive in preparation there at lunch versus dinner. Lunch is overall better, in my experience.

Any course in particular that you loved?

I haven't been to Fleur de Sel in some time (2 or 3 years), but I distinctly remember a rude host when I was there last. Is that problem corrected?

It's a known fact the chef is a morning person - peters out after 5pm. ← This would definitively settle the matter, then, if the chef was "known" to be more on the ball during the morning than in the evening! To answer u.e.'s request for specifics though. I have simply had many more superb lunches than dinners. By this I primarily mean that I had better execution of individual dishes in the afternoon than in the evening. Things almost always come together at lunch. In fact, I would say I have never had a disappointing lunch at JG's, whereas I have had 1 or 2 disappointing dinners. Perhaps the chef's tasting menu does not inspire the same care as the mix-and-matchiness of the lunch menu? Someone may indeed be getting tired in the kitchen by evening. In any case, I don't think for me it was just the light!

Having had another lunch in the formal dining room, I would like to submit that it must be more than hearsay that lunch at JG is better than dinner--both in terms of consistency and the interest of the food. I have now discussed this matter with two other friends who have frequented JG at both lunch and dinner and they also confirm their impressions as being the same. Again, our collective wisdom: lunch in the formal dining room is often > dinner If anyone has an explanation for this, I'd love to hear it!

Who or what is St. Jean of Avignon? My Catholic Encyclopedia has no entry! Is it a cooking school? A joke? please help! ← Definitely not a joke! ← Thus you leave me in the dark!

Who or what is St. Jean of Avignon? My Catholic Encyclopedia has no entry! Is it a cooking school? A joke? please help!

In general, the more serious the restaurant, the more serious review. Many of his one and two-star review targets seem to bore him. Instead of just describing the retaurant, he struggles to find a theme, or he brings in irrelevant comments to fill the space. ← I'd agree with the above. I'd also say that I very much appreciated Bruni's analysis today of JG's ingenious juggling of flavors. In its sensitivity, Bruni's analysis of this aspect of JG touched the very heart of JG's cuisine. This is rare form for Bruni, I think.

In this category we might include JG himself, who was busy visiting tables when I was at the restaurant last Friday for lunch.

I read Bruni's review quite differently than some others here. I did not feel that Bruni was tempted to take JG down a notch, but rather that he was attempting to find things to be critical about. That's why all his criticims sound almost trivial (something he himself says they are). I am somewhat sympathetic with his description of the desert presentation, for instance, but who would say that this is really a big deal? Bruni also discusses in contrite terms the way he misunderstood JG's orchestration of flavors, a misunderstanding he corrected when he accomodated himself to eating the dishes in the right way. In every respect, I think we see here sheer admiration, even surprise, that JG has managed to keep things going so well. I'd also say that in my (considerable) experience at JG, consistency is hardly an issue, and certainly not the way I found it to be at Alain Ducasse in the pre-Esnault days (for the record, I now think ADNY is consistent and amazing). I'd agree with one gripe, that being the aloofness of the staff. In particular, I find JG's hostesses to be ridiculously unresponsive in an occasionally borderline-offensive fashion. Their holier-than-thou demeanors are entirely inconsistent with the level of restaurant, but is perhaps inevitable if JG insists on hiring part-time models to greet his patrons. I'd rather have less eye candy up front and more friendliness.

I'd agree that Dufresne has a better stage on which to perform creativity. But even at WD-50, one of my favorite restaurants, one finds quite a few favorites next to newer items. Any restaurant has a style and repetory that becomes familiar to connoisseurs there. The question is when this becomes unacceptable. I would say it become unacceptable at Bouley, but never has been unacceptable at JG, which I continue to think is no less innovative with than itsleading peers.