Nathan

he liked some things...but it turned into some long discussions about the water policy -- some posters on his comment section were real idiots. you should read his blog, it's actually quite good....better than his reviews.

Bruni has been to Sapori d'Ischia. He wrote it up in his blog. (my Sri and Luger comment was partially tongue-in-cheek btw )

what do you mean? he's been to both Luger's and Sriphithai

"If the cost of ingredients is, say, $50 it's usually a hard sell to demand the usual 20-35% cost of ingredients, but you might sell that item for $100, and the pasta or salad that costs $2.00 in ingredients can sell for $10 or even $12." This is easily seen in wine markups. As a general rule, the lowest priced wines are marked up the most....although many restaurants will mark up extremely well-known bottles less (to give the appearance of lower markups). As the price of the bottle increases, the markup percentage usually decreases. In fact, it's not uncommon to see bottles at the very very high end ($800 plus) that are actually priced on the restaurant wine list at below retail. (the restaurant is still making money as they didn't pay retail)

Well, he is talking about Italian food.... I just went back over the A Voce review (I was thinking about eating at the bar there tomorrow night)....he really does write differently about Italian cuisine.

nah, it's cynical. "presumably someone is getting a nice meal that they normally wouldn't." and they could have an even nicer meal at the same restaurant for the same price the other 50 weeks of the year. that's the problem.

well -- one star it is. what he liked, he really liked. what he didn't: Neroni's self-promotion, kitchen inconsistencies, the business of some dishes...

just wow! he didn't even know what maitake are (um, you can buy them at Trader Joe's for heaven's sake!). may I suggest that inveterate Bruni-bashers allow him at least one commendation -- that he is not Cuozzo! (who clearly is the worst professional critic in NY, even over Adam Platt) in fact, might as well lump him in with Ashby Stiff among the worst food critics writing for MSM anywhere... (there are food bloggers that are even worse but at least they're not working for someone....)

indeed...I had an Edouard bottle delayed by a couple days. although it still arrived within a week of my order.

"If you are in a good restaurant, try something that doesn't sound appealing. If it seems bad to most customers, it is on the menu for some other good reason, such as how it tastes." http://marginalrevolution.blogs.com/

"Not in my country-here we tip predicated on the whole experience-if it sucks so does the tip." bullocks...I lived in Vancouver and that's absolutely not true. nice try though. yes, the standard tip percentage is lower in Canda...because waitstaff wages are higher. (the flipside of the American system is that menu prices are lower and waitstaff are more motivated to earn tips...in theory anyway.) but it's not kosher in Canada to not tip the waitstaff just cause the kitchen screwed up. I absolutely stand by my post.

ok, although when I'm paying $12-20 for a cocktail in a bar I certainly expect the full panoply of garnishes, fresh juices and house-made syrups or ginger beer or what have you... at home I tend to skip garnishes except for the basic lemon or orange twist when I'm making drinks for guests...for myself, I don't even bother. and for things like the licorice stick in a Le Demon Vert I never bother... it seems to me that garnishes rarely add any flavor to a cocktail..they're purely for visual appeal...necessary in a cocktail lounge setting but not for home use. obviously I make my own simple syrup since it takes about ten seconds and even my own grenadine (which takes ten minutes), and I'll squeeze lemons and limes (although I keep bottled juice on hand for backup) but for the rest of syrups and juices and ginger beer -- it seems like I can find quality commercial versions here in NY. is there some reason that I'm missing as to why I should really be doing these at home? obviously there's a continuum here...I'm sure that very few people bother to make orange flower water at home for their Ramos Fizz -- I just buy it at Dean & Deluca...but is this really that different from buying Reed's Extra Ginger Beer as well? (although I'm sure Audrey Saunders would shoot me for it if she knew that I make her Gin-Gin Mule with it)

"It's called a Diablo Gordon Ramsay on the menu." well, that's fine then. as for the guy you googled: he's simply wrong. edit: I should know...I made the exact same mistake myself. edit: read through the comments on the link you posted. his error was pointed out and he corrects himself....always read the link!

I've seen it at quite a few NY liquor stores. although I prefer Kirsch...Heering is pretty necessary for a Blood and Sand

Ok, I'm looking at the RW list right now. like I said, slim pickings for dinner. you might get a decent steak at Angelo & Maxies. Aquavit Cafe would be decent enough...except for the fact that they offer a two dinners year round, one for $20 and one for $37....so maybe you'll save $2...if you're lucky. Blue Smoke is the DM dinner this year -- I wouldn't bother. Megu is offering a $35 dinner...that might be worth a try...who knows how they've laid that out. Perry Street is doing a $35 dinner but $5 bucks says they'll only take reservations for it for the same early bird time as the other 365 days of the year. Nougatine is doing a $35 dinner...that might be worth it. Bar Room at the Modern is doing one -- but that's barely worth it if it's simply two of their ala carte courses plus dessert. yup, RW is a cynical ploy to get extra business at the same or raised prices during slow months. edit: Compass is offering RW dinner. the only problem is that it offers a three course $35 dinner year round.

early bird dinner at Perry Street. other than that...slim pickings. the good restaurants don't offer RW dinners, just lunch. that's why no one's helping you on this thread with regard to that question. sorry. if a Danny Meyer restaurant happens to do it -- jump on it (well, you could eat dinner at Blue Smoke for less than $35 so I wouldn't bother if that's the one). otherwise a steakhouse might be your best bet. the tasting menu at Degustation is $45 I think. ditto for Knife and Fork.

actually, the classic "Diabolo" is made with brandy. the classic "Diablo" (which dates to at least the 40's) is made with tequila. The Ramsay cocktail is not either but bears a very close resemblance to the "Diablo". If they referred to it as a "whiskey diablo" or a "Ramsay Diablo" I wouldn't have a problem. instead they both claimed a classic as there own and altered it while still purporting it under the classic name.

I think two is pretty much on point.. ← As I've said on the Bruni & Beyond thread, modern restaurant criticism tends to be biased against restaurants that do the classic things well. If you take Platt's review on its own terms (i.e., assuming everything he says to be correct), and remove the effects of this bias, GR probably deserves three stars on Platt's 5-star scale. But because Bruni has the same bias (and indeed, probably has it worse), it is quite likely that Bruni will match Platt at 2 stars, and 1 star wouldn't surprise me.Platt, it must be noted, does not find the particular service glitches Daniel reported, which is not to suggest Daniel's experience isn't valid, but only to suggest that it doesn't happen to everybody. (It also didn't happen to me, FWIW.) ← one star? no way. I'd bet on three. and four is more likely than one.

a quote from Platt's summary at the end: " you have a taste for bracing whiskey cocktails, take note of Ramsay’s signature drink, the Diablo" this ticks me off on two levels. The Diablo, of course, has been around for many years...back when Ramsay was in diapers, if not before. a. it's disturbing because it only evinces a growing trend that I've been noticing -- restaurants and bars passing off classic cocktails as "signature" or "house-created"....at least they didn't change the name the way many restaurants or bars do! b. that a professional reviewer would be ignorant of this. (if he doesn't mention cocktails then he doesn't have to know anything about them....but if he does then he should)

true. but most of the good ones do. but the basic problem here is that the OP is set on doing a RW dinner. very few of the even halfway decent restaurants bother to offer a RW dinner. I guess if any steakhouses do it that might be the way to go (FG once gave advice of this sort as well)

let me reiterate: the same deals are offered year round. why you would want to eat at exactly the same price (or sometimes more! seriously!) during RW is beyond me. if you must, Danny Meyer restaurants are the way to go. however, only one of those, if that, will offer a RW dinner. that would be the way to go...if you can get a reservation.

Universally considered the trashiest club in the entire area.

virtually none of the good restaurants offer a RW dinner. sorry. Perry Street offers a fabulous $25 lunch 7 days a week. RW is the one time I would not go for it. (it'll be filled with all the people who wouldn't eat there otherwise...even though the price is the same the other 51 weeks of the year). the same is true of most of the RW restaurants. RW isn't gauche, it's just a joke. cause the same deals (or sometimes better ones) are offered year round. If anything it's rather disingenuous for restaurants to offer it.

nah...the ssaam thing was misstep...but they've figured it out. once the dinner menu starts getting reviewed they'll be just fine. the location was, of course, a mistake...but an overcomeable one. he should have gone to the west side and offered something like the late night menu from the get-go.

actually, it appears that Grimes was writing about food long before his critic gig. http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0402/features...ex-grimes.shtml http://www.nypl.org/press/2002/nyeatsoutgrimes.cfm by contrast, Bruni's only food writing before being named critic appears to have been the couple pieces he wrote on restaurants in Rome: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/dining/bruni-bio.html