Nathan

I made at least one major omission: Country (a restaurant similar to GR in a lot of ways)

you only had three dishes for two people?

as I noted in the other thread, my mistake. there are two higher-ranked restaurants than DB&D on the UES. I don't think that changes my point any though...

"Just curious - what do you think are the 5-10 most important restaurant openings in the last year or so? Robyn" In NY? we'll keep it to two years. (3 years would get us into the Time Warner openings -- but that was one really big year! Per Se, Masa, Asiate, Cafe Gray and a number of others....that was some year) 1. Robuchon 2. Perry Street 3. Gordon Ramsay 4. Momofuku Ssam Bar 5. The Modern/Bar Room at the Modern 5. Del Posto 6. Bouley Upstairs 7. the revamped EMP (it counts) 8. the revamped Picholine (it counts) 9. Buddakan 10. BLT Fish 11. Fatty Crab 11. Thor (the two years ago version, not the current one) 12. Blaue Gans 13. Spotted Pig I'm sure I'm missing some.

wow...the Old Fashioned thing is just backwards. as for the Sazerac -- rinse....there are a lot of cocktails with rinsed glasses....some with absinthe, some with Chartreuse, some even with Cointreau

If I recall correctly, you agreed with Sriphithai's two-star rating.

some of us really just don't care about dessert

hmmm....I read it as specific to Bruni....but maybe that was an error...if it was not intended to be a personal critique of Bruni, my apologies. (I still think that the sheer multiplicity of NY restaurant openings combined with a shortage of space essentially make it impossible to do frequent re-reviews.) My specific issue with algy's post is that I don't think he knew how long Bruni had been on the job (not very long).....

"No, it's a critique of the environment in which he operates. A case can be made that reviews without regular re-reviews are meaningless." That's completely inapposite. (it may be true, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with Algy's slur) The critique was made specifically of Bruni. Since one or two reviews a week is a function of the Times' editorial policy (as well as a reduction in space for the reviews)...a policy which has been in place since well before Bruni (were Grimes or Hesser ever criticized for insufficient re-reviews? -- I think not)....to criticize Bruni for it is completely disingenuous...even perverse. Come now, can you imagine the outcry among restauranteurs if Bruni dedicated 25% of his reviews to restaurants he has already reviewed over the last couple years? (btw, he has essentially done two -- re-reviews -- had Grimes done anymore at this point in his tenure?) For that matter, I don't think it can be questioned that there are more important restaurants opening per year now then there were ten, let alone twenty, years ago. I forgot about Daniel.

this is one observation that Bruni has made with regard to Little Owl and other tiny "neighborhood" restaurants that is spot-on: they don't do dessert well -- for the obvious reason that they can't afford a full-time pastry chef. indeed, the desserts are often outsourced

"DB&D operates at a lower price point and higher volume. For them, two stars wasn't a smackdown." Exactly. Are there any UES restaurants with three stars (granted in the last five or six years)? I'm sure DB&D would have loved three but I'm sure they were happy to get two. It is probably the best restaurant on the UES....of course, that's not saying much.

I don't know what you're talking about. There are many valid critiques to be made of Bruni, but that's not one. He's only been a critic for a couple years. He misses enough restaurants as it is; he can hardly be doing constant re-reviews.

hmmmm....Atelier is not fusion in the strict sense, but there are certainly world accents in the cuisine. but the desserts struck me as being quite traditional.

Bruni's review is probably right on insofar as it goes -- it exactly reflects the reviews of people that I respect. With that said, I have every intention of eating there...especially at the relatively forgiving price point (especially considering what you spend for a mediocre meal in the London Bar)

before the menu change Alto reflected the cuisine of Alto Aldige and the general Dolomite region pretty strongly. the food in that area is quite Germanic (if you're ever in Venezia the access to Alto Adige is pretty easy)...think spaetzle....heck, the Italians in that area often have blond hair and blue eyes.

Les Halles has been doing a winter Alsatian menu for many years. I do agree that it is a trend right now (along with Austrian).

of course Robuchon managed from the get-go...but then he had unique starting advantages

what oakapple said.

I think that's exactly right. And RGR will be entitled to a re-review in a year or so if the menu has substantially grown (I'm not talking about size).

to summarize the review: service -- excellent. technique -- competent. desserts -- excellent. price -- well-priced food -- boring....

I'll eat crow...its two stars, not three.

this is getting off-topic so I won't post again on the working out part, but: "Isn't muscle mass heavier than fat? Seems I remember that from son's lifting in high school and college. " pedantically, it's not heavier...it's denser. but that's what you meant. sure, some enormously strong male lifters can weigh quite a bit and be in shape. women (except for a few genetic--almost hermaphrodite exceptions) don't have the hormonal capability to put on much muscle mass...

this is being discussed on the food media page. chowhound is in no fear of being DW'd. agreed that their moderators are simply bizarre...even absurd. edit: the number one issue with mouthfuls is immediately evinced when you type www.mouthfuls.com into your browser.

I just discovered that Chichilo (which is an Oaxacan mole) contains burnt tortillas. Nevertheless, your Coloradito should not have.

"But it's so interesting that you said 45 minutes of weights. Dude, it did not work and believe me, I was pissed. It's the whole insulin thing and glycemic index and the being 50." well, the latter can certainly be a factor. It can prevent you from working out with sufficient intensity. From what I've seen, most people who lift for the cardio/caloric-reduction benefits don't lift anywhere near heavy enough....or do enough compound lifts. "those large multinational food conglomerates we love to trash are more likely to help solve world hunger (at least alleviate it) than any small local organic, biodynamic etc farms and farmer's markets!" The green revolution has certainly shown the truth of that.