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I don't know whether it's four-star food or not, but it certainly seems to be a level higher than what EMP used to do a few years ago.

Does anyone know when the next new episode will appear? I recall some skipped weeks last season, but for obvious reasons (e.g., Thanksgiving and Christmas). I didn't know that the Wednesday after Yom Kippur is now elevated to a Top Chef holiday.

Michelin's twitter feed is really moronic. They are practically 99% content-free.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors. Of course, Bruni wasn't promoting the restaurant to a new level. He was just keeping it where it already was.

It appears not. There is only a drinks menu posted outside, and that is the menu I was given. Places that serve food generally try to sell you some.

Degustation has a considerably better reputation than Jewel Bako. However, there have been no reports of a significant change there, so the case for it winning a star is no different than it was before. I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I stopped by Tailor after work to see what's up. The status quo prevails: the dining room is closed, the bar is open. Although Eben Freeman is gone, they are still serving his cocktails. The barista told me that there is a new mixologist who will be introducing new drinks, though they will still continue to serve many of Freeman's classics—as well they should. She said that they are still reasonably busy on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. She also sounded confident that Mason will indeed be returning to Tailor and re-opening the dining room later this fall, after he finishes the TV show he had been working on. The upstairs is eerily quiet. There is nobody upstairs, and when you open the door it feels like you're walking into someone's house with nobody home. There's a small sign, which you could easily miss, advising that the bar downstairs is open. Which it is, from 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. (later on weekends).

As far as I know, the rationale for Spotted Pig and Wallsé has not changed, so to the extent they deserved their stars before (this is disputed by some people), they still deserve them. I have worried, though, about whether the Pig still has April Bloomfield's full attention. Every year so far has seen at least one demotion—not counting those places that closed or lost their chefs. Jewel Bako seems to me the most logical candidate, as it has had a star every year but is not close to the best sushi restaurant in the city.

EMP is overdue, and I would be very surprised if Corton does not get at least one. Le Cirque strikes me as a distinct possibility. I think Convivio is unlikely, because Michael White's flagship (Alto) has one star, and Convivio is less ambitious. Whatever Marea's merits, it hasn't been open long enough. I am not aware of any changes at Aquavit or Tabla over the last year, so I would guess that the tire man will have the same judgment of them as he did before — in the book, but unstarred. Chanterelle is in the midst of a transition, which is coming too late for consideration in this guide. I do not sense any anti-Asian bias in the book, as several Asian restaurants have stars. They may be the wrong ones, but that's a different problem. Matsugen, which is new since last year, is a definite candidate. The guide, for some unknown reason, has never recognized Sushi Yasuda.

For the quickfire, they don't get to go shopping. They are limited to what is available in the TC kitchen. I wouldn't criticize the choice of scallops without knowing what else is there. I've always wondered how this works. Padma says, "Your time starts now," and immediately everyone starts running. There must be some planning time that is not shown, where the chefs scope out the pantry and figure out what can be done with the available ingredients.

Michelle Bernstein was the guest chef-judge, just like Tim Love last week and Daniel Boulud two weeks ago.

Michelle and Toby were talking past each other. Toby is right that there are a ton of foreign words that are not normally pronounced as the natives would pronounce them. We say PAIR-iss, not pah-REE, muh-DRID, not mah-DREED, FLOR-ence, not feer-EN-zay, and so forth. But he was being, I think, deliberately obtuse when he tried to get smug about the British pronunciation of Paella. Although I prefer Jay Rayner to Toby, what's wrong with having Gail Simmons every week? She is more knowledgeable than Toby and a lot easier on the eyes.

I have never heard anyone suggest that the time of year mattered. If you're the kind of person who is going to love this type of restaurant, you will probably love it whenever go.

I think the chefs are told more than what you see on TV. What's more, you can't blame lack of refrigeration, because if that were true all of the proteins would have gone bad in that heat. Several other chefs served fish with no apparent problem.

The trouble is, the time limits are inviolate. In a restaurant setting, the chef would have other options (e.g., remake the dish, or substitute something else). On TC, there is seldom anything the chef can do, especially if the error doesn't become apparent until the end. I am sure that no chef would serve rancid food. If it's simply not that great, they have to serve it anyway, and hope that someone else screws up worse.

It appeared that Robyn knew the shrimp were bad before the judges told her so. In the time allowed, there was no opportunity to redo it.

I am pretty sure that Gail understands French, at least enough to follow what Robuchon was saying. I think Colicchio does too.

I wouldn't call EMP casual in the absolute sense. An evening when nobody wore a jacket strikes me as atypical, but it is probably the least formal of the six NYC four-stars.I think the point folks are making is that relatively casual three-star places do exist in France, even if they are uncommon. If you are saying that, on account of this, it could not possibly have three stars in France, you would be wrong. There might be other reasons, but that wouldn't be one of them.

As far as I can tell, EMP's Gourmand menu is intended to occupy the same culinary niche as the top menus offered at the other four-star places. Whether it's as good as the others is a matter of opinion, but I feel confident that it's meant to be comparable. Per Se has a whole other level that isn't advertised, but it is served often enough that it's been pretty widely written about. I have never read comparable reports at JG, Daniel or LeB. I am reasonably confident that they do exist, but the people getting them aren't the sort who post to food boards.

I thought the tasting menu at Le B was indeed superb, but the one at JG was underwhelming. How recently have you tried EMP? Many of the changes reported here are quite recent.

Ko at lunch is a similar number of courses, but not at a similar level of execution. The VIP option at Per Se, from what I've read, can go far beyond this, but it's not listed on the menu. You have to ask for it (or be a VIP, of course). I am reasonably confident that Le Bernardin, Daniel, and Jean Georges have similar offerings for their best customers.I realize that you can't taste a photo, but as far as presentation goes, there are very few places in the city that can match it.

The men vs. women challenge did not actually require equal numbers, as each chef was doing his or her thing independently. I doubt that they would have changed the plan if a man had been eliminated first.

I find that most of the New Yorker reviews are like that.

Although the announcement was at short notice, the planning wasn't. This was in the works for a while. Restaurants often keep their closing plans quiet until the last minute, because suppliers might be reluctant to work with them (fearing they won't get paid), and employees might leave for other jobs, leaving the restaurant unstaffed.

To a lot of people, those are secrets. And in terms of the specifics of implementation, for some people it's intuitive whereas others can use some coaching. I hope I provided that for the 17 people who bought my book. ← The secret is not so much what it takes to be a regular—anyone could figure out that if you go often, you're a regular—but how you can obtain that status more quickly, and the benefits you may receive by doing so.