Nathan

On another note, does anyone know: 1. Whether you can order just desserts in Jean Georges? 2. If not, then can you order from the Jean Georges dessert menu at Nougatine? ← 1. No. 2. doubtful.

Wait, you're coming FROM Montreal TO NYC for a bachelor party? Wow, that's like the people who live in Manhattan but commute to NJ for work..... ← civic/reputational reputations are weird things. when I lived in Canada (and visited Montreal) I knew of it as a bit of college town but never thought of it as a party town (though Hull (a Quebec suburb of Ottawa) was always famous for its strip clubs). when I moved to NY I discovered that people here think of it as sort of a northern New Orleans or Tampa (edit for confused Yankees: Tampa is known throughout the South as having the best strip clubs).

ah Brushstrokes. I wonder if that has a chance of opening in 08 (always tack on 6 months to the planned opening date).

Wait, you're coming FROM Montreal TO NYC for a bachelor party? Wow, that's like the people who live in Manhattan but commute to NJ for work..... ← civic/reputational reputations are weird things. when I lived in Canada (and visited Montreal) I knew of it as a bit of college town but never thought of it as a party town. when I moved to NY I discovered that people here think of it as sort of a northern New Orleans or Tampa.

1. comped wine for a wine reviewer is different. why? cause they can't change the wine! comping a restaurant reviewer has some of the same issues as non-anonymous reviewing. 2. accepting comps (and this argument does apply to wine too) is most pernicious because of what it does to restaurants that don't offer comps. they're the ones that are inevitably going to be unfairly hurt. 3. btw, Bruni isn't as recognized as you think. part of it being his choice of reviews makes him more unpredictable. I'm sure they spot him at Adour. but they didn't at Babbo. I doubt they did at La Sirene. maybe the first time at Mas but probably not the second time. etc.

I will note that in my dining experience, both the nature of the restaurant and the geographic location of the restaurant are HUGE factors in whether such touching occurs and how often.

no...but you should start tipping them when that is the local custom. as for the general issue here, I don't see what the big deal is...regardless of the gender of the waiter.

That is almost completely false with reference to serious cocktail bars in NY. Seriously. You have no clue what you are talking about. ← "Almost"? ← well...one of them I could see some of the door people (if choosing between two parties to seat) possibly considering the gender ratio...but I could be completely wrong about that aspersion. certainly none of the others.

obvious possibilities: Ko. Sheridan Square (Robbins was terrific at the Biltmore Room and apparently the only good thing about the new RTR). Bistro Benoit Ippudo Ago (though it's a chain restaurant and the menus at the other branches are pretty passe for NY...but it will certainly be a scene) the Leibrandt project (though I don't see this happening before 09) the Trotter project (ditto)

normally I'd say Luger's but Robert's applies here for obvious reasons.

to amplify: it is certainly easier with two than three, regardless of gender.

That is almost completely false with reference to serious cocktail bars in NY. Seriously. You have no clue what you are talking about.

the Crossabaw mortadella is very nice. but it's ultimately kind of overpriced for what is basically some thinly sliced meat and pickled cauliflower. on the other hand, the new grilled branzino served with a pile of leeks slicked with olive oil and crispy salsify is just terrific...and a steal.

where?

though it's interesting to see how widely restaurants vary in their standard dining hours (in terms of when they're busy). I've read a couple reviews of Dell'Anima where they mentioned how easy it was to get seats at the kitchen counter and I was wondering what they were talking about (it's always packed)...and then I realized that I've never been there before 9 or 10 (Dell'Anima is pretty much full until 1 or so every night)...and it could easily be a ghost town at 7 or 8. while other places are full at 7 and empty by 9. Tailor is definitely in the late dining (and drinking) camp.

considering that Tailor gets busy around 10...I'd be flabbergasted if the kitchen is putting food out just for the bar at 5....(i'd be surprised if it was ready to go at 6 actually)

I find it highly unlikely that they're open that early.

sorry, I meant the Jane Russell

they were very good scallops...but I've had better (Yasuda's prep is insane).

finally tried some of the food. cured kanpachi was quite good. so was the pig's foot...albeit an easy to like preparation...emphasizing savoriness not texture. wild boar with cilantro and bok choy was properly cooked...but it really needed one more ingredient. not quite enough flavor on its own. it occurred to me that if you were accompanying someone who was a novice to both pig's foot and rye....the pig's foot at Elatteria along with the Rita Hayworth would be perfect "gateway" concoctions.

more to the point: I enjoyed my meal at Ko immensely. thought it was very very good. but it's not light years beyond Ssam...if you order right. a couple dishes certainly are...but not most of it. of course, that's hardly an insult. Ko is not David Chang coming out swinging for four stars. that's not it. at least not now. I have no clue what it will be like in six months. (could it get three stars right now? yeah, that's more than possible.)

if all of Ssam Bar's "greatest hits" were on the menu at the same time...and you had a group of say...six...and ordered all of them...you'd have something like Ko in quality...although the dishes wouldn't be individually plated for each diner and nothing would be quite as refined as the most refined dishes at Ko.

A non-regular visiting Ssam Bar would probably be hard-pressed to duplicate a "Ko-like" experience, because there's just no way of telling on that rambling menu which dishes are their best creations.It sounds like Ko is marginally better than the Ssam Bar meal that you know enough to order perfectly, but quite a bit better than the Ssam Bar meal ordered by someone without specialist knowledge. ← that's a fair point. (and I should also note that dishes come and go so much on the Ssam Bar menu that you can't necessarily put together a "greatest hits" meal on any one night....and a solo diner (or even two people) certainly couldn't)

I'm roughly in agreement with Sneakeater. if you assembled a meal of "greatest hits" at ssam bar you'd have something like the meal at Ko....although a couple dishes (the shaved foie) are better than anything at Ssam Bar (not that people weren't getting trial runs of that dish and others...I ate at Ssam Bar once with Plotnicki in the late fall and they were clearly working on Ko dishes then). nevertheless, I definitely plan on eating at Ko again soon (I guess I should start trying to make a res...)

However, I believe that you cancel the same way as you book: online. And any cancellation is immediately available to get snapped up. Eater asked Chang HQ about this, and they said that cancellations usually disappear within 10 minutes. ← well..I was thinking about last minute cancellations actually...