Nathan

they haven't opened yet.

to his credit, Bruni posted a response on this subject, here: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/ edit: I see oakapple beat me to it.

Went here last night with SneakEater and ate at the bar. It actually is quite good. foie gras shooters were decadent and terrific. the "prairie butter" (bone marrow) was well seasoned. my wild boar foreshank with sweet potato fries appeared to have been braised in red wine. it was succulent and tasty, amply portioned and well-priced. a side of fried spinach was quite good (how could it not?) nothing here appears to be a culinary revelation and it is a bit gimmicky. but it works. some thought is put into every dish and the ingredients are fine. I'd eat there again without hesitation.

ewindels: I agree with everything that you say (when you put it that way), except for this aside: "(I cannot conceive that William Grimes would have reviewed Bette)." He would have. There is some serious cooking there, with a decent decor. Agreed that clientele isn't there for the food but.... heck, Grimes reviewed Cafe de Artistes!

Here is the Venue thread....it looks interesting enough that I might actually find myself wandering to Hoboken (the horror! the horror!) http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=62848

the place in Hoboken is called Venue and it looks like it might be right up your alley: http://www.venue-restaurant.com/prefix.html

Based on the Striped Bass, I don't think Gilt belongs on that list. (when I ate there it was quite good...but not unlike 30 other restaurants in NY)

quite frankly, I don't think there's anything out there that you're unfamiliar with edit: there is some place in Hoboken that people were talking about.

yeah...I noted that on the Urena thread last year. the whole molecular thing was just PR. with that said, it is a little more innovative than most. nothing is going to satisfy the OP's criterion like WD-50...but Urena will still come closer than most.

as you mentioned: Robuchon. Urena. maybe Degustation?

put it this way: with the Friday/Saturday caveat that I noted above, the only similarity I see between the crowds at Freeman's and in the MP is that both are young. (but, being 31 perhaps I am perhaps coming at this from a different angle....I suppose everyone in their 20's and 30's can look alike)

"and this is exactly a market or demographic I think the Times is desperate to get a foothold in (on?), in order to boost advertising revenue." I'm very curious: does anyone have a breakdown on the NYT national revenues v. NY? I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the local market is far less important than one would think. (and I think we often don't consider this when critiquing the restaurant reviews. heck, I read them religiously long before I moved to NY...just to keep abreast of culinary trends in NY...and I know I wasn't unique in that respect)

I partially agree. that "one generically vapid herd desperate to be validated by their surroundings and what they perceive to be the cachet thereof." is absolutely true of both groups. but trust me on this: they are two entirely different groups with very different tastes (and attire and habits). and the one that Freeman's is going for is certainly not the same one as the MP places. (indeed, it is at a very different price point) I have pseudo-hippy LES friends who eat there regularly but who wouldn't be caught dead in the MP. with that said, practically any restaurant with any cachet at all in the city on a Friday or Saturday night is heavily B&T (especially one with press of any sort)...but that's just rerum naturum.

oh...crap..right on Thor (only the best restaurant on the LES -- with the possible exception of WD-50)... isn't there a moratorium on liquor licenses for the next 4 months?

ewindels: I'm confused as to your point. The MP and Asian mega-plex diners are primarily a mixture of expense accounters, B&Ters (and their young, affluent UES equivalents), and tourists. Freeman's gets much more of an LES/Williamsburg tragically-hip, Imitation-of-Christ-wearing crowd. Those two worlds don't mix much. (I'm just eurotrash so I eat everywhere and don't really fit in to either.) Although you are somewhat right about the first group not reading much, the second group at least pretends to. (btw, I do think that those MP and Asian megaplexes would have been reviewed by any prior NY Times food critic -- they're simply too large and expensive not to be.)

ah, good memory. did they ever get their liquor license?

these are all good point. I'd also suggest this: that there aren't any restaurants crying out for a review right now. it is too early for Robuchon and the new Picholine. I assume he will do the Tasting Room soon. otherwise, I can't think of any notable new restaurant that he hasn't covered. Ducasse under Esnault would have been ripe for a rereview except for two factors: a. it was reviewed last year under Delouvrier; and b. it is closing/moving anyway. maybe I'm missing something but is there anything right now besides re-reviews to do? a couple steakhouses I guess. on the LES, what has been reviewed besides WD-50, Stanton Social and Falai?

I had the pork ssam last night. It was better than the one I had at Momofuku proper. less mirin. I added a copious amount of Sriracha and was quite happy.

"not only that he wasted a reviewing slot on a zero-star restaurant," well...if he never gave out no-star reviews we'd really be talking about grade inflation.

did you date the Venus of Willendorf as well?

there is no such test. period. I'm sorry to put it this bluntly...but there is no test that can confirm that a headache is due to a specific ingested substance. in theory, one could demonstrate (over a long period through isolation of foodstuffs) that only foodstuffs containing glutamates could correlate with a specific individual having headaches...but in reality this is simply too hard to do. peanuts are a proven allergen (with real consequences...I had a friend in college who died). glutamates are not even classified as one. I know it really it ticks people off to say this...but it is amazing how many medical issues appear to be psychosomatic or pyschogenic.

of course, Freeman's did massively expand since it was in the $25 and under column. (I expect a Tasting Room review sometime soon for the same reason) and...it has had a lot of "hipster" and even chowhound type buzz.

in what I believe to be an internet first: here are the lunch and dinner menus for JG. I really need to go back....soon. http://www.menupix.com/nyc/advancesearch-r...%&Submit=Submit

curiously, the PBR phenomenon apparently began with bike messengers in Seattle.

donbert described it well. other important indicators....if you, or your boyfriend were sporting faux-ironic trucker hats 2 to 3 years ago. going to shows at the knitting factory extensively. going to parties in Queens or Brooklyn in massive illegal lofts where about 10 people live and they are all purportedly artists and musicians... and, of course, if you do any of the above and have a trust fund, you are without question a hipster. not that there's anything wrong with that. some of my best friends are hipsters.