Nathan

agreed.

and it was obvious even at F&F that there will be soigne action at Ko....

me too. and I think it's a good thing. I'm tired at overpaying at too many destination restaurants for poor experiences due partially to the staff and kitchen paying extra attention to vip and soigne tables.

it's a Momofuku...you can be as casual as you want. I wore a velvet blazer on Saturday but that's only because I was going to a party after without going home...and it was hot enough that I stripped down to a tshirt right away anyway... unlike the other Momofukus...they will check your coat. they haven't figured out yet what to do for women's purses though.

what's your actual price range? the only credible choices among your menupages picks are RUB or the Shake Shack.

well, Ryan Sutton knows nothing about cocktails: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...vXv4&refer=dine

oh, I agree that they probably should have gone with an existing solution (i.e. opentable). but it's not hard to guess what happened: Either of: A. someone there can build a page with web-authoring tools, or someone offered to do it for food or a discount. you can buy a basic server and peripherals for $800 or less. internet access: $30-100 a month. boom...substantially cheaper than opentable (especially after the first year); or B. someone there can build a page with web-authoring tools, or someone offered to do it for food or a discount. virtual hosting (with backup)...$200 a month or less. same price as opentable essentially...but they have control. obviously, that's assuming the setup works. but it's not hard to see that was probably the mindset.

Assuming you're not running the amateur hour, you need at least three servers: production, test/backup and development. Plus a huge amount bandwidth, cost of development and maintenance, and professional management. I'd like to know where you think that's available for $208.33 a month. We are seeing right now just how difficult it is. ← that's ludicrous. it's a restaurant with 12 seats. they're not running three servers...just one, if that, for all I know they're just virtually hosting it (which would make sense). obviously they don't have a huge amount of bandwith.

opentable charges $2500 a year minimum. if they have someone in-house who can put together the site (not that difficult with available web-authoring tools) or someone willing to do it for a discount or for services in kind (likely)...they can do it for substantially cheaper than that. and organize the setup exactly the way they want.

since Eater picked up on my Thursday comments, I'll note that when I stopped in on Saturday the crowd was much more EV.

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip. it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition.... ← So would this compare say to Atelier? I believe the price point there is much higher, like $190? ← $190 base. then maybe another $80-100 for wine, $30 for tax, $75 tip. so about $400.

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip. it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition....

Well, it's less money than Per Se, and far less seating capacity than Per Se, and it took a lot more than just a month for the furore at Per Se to die down to any noticeable degree.Of course, what we still don't know is whether it's as good as Per Se. If Bruni and/or Platt give it four stars, or even an enthusiastic three, you could be talking a year or two. I think that Bruni is itching—positively itching—to give four stars to something. ← Per Se does a crapload of tourist, expense account and special occasion meals. I just don't see that happening with Ko. I think Ko will do plenty of business...there are enough foodies and enough buzz to make sure of that.

another thing: the food is, overall, more refined and polished than Ssam Bar. sure, if you put together 6 or 7 of Ssam and Noodle Bar's "greatest hits" (none of which were ever served all at the same time) and added a great dessert and a palate cleanser, and made a tasting menu out of them...you'd have something like Ko. oh, and will someone please tell Mimi Sheraton before she eats there that the Ko is not the thing to order at Momofuku Ko?

with.

you know, I don't think (after the first month or so) that it's going to be that difficult to get a reservation here -- for times early in the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). why? it's expensive. full meal cost per person (with tax and tip) is about $170. well worth it btw. but the number of people willing to pay that much (and eat a set tasting menu) on non-prime days is limited to begin with. it becomes an even smaller set with you narrow it down to people willing to pay that for a Sunday night meal at a counter in the EV. we'll see. but that's my bet....

The kitchen is really into full-swing now. Last night began with a sampling of three bruschette....lily confit, diced octopus, and something I'm blanking on. all just fine. then pizzocheri with brussel sprouts and potato. excellent pasta course. nice stock-type broth/sauce. then arctic char with bacon, perfectly cooked. concluded with both the lettuce heart salad (with roasted olives and gorgonzola) and a lovely panna cotta. place was completely packed at 10ish on Sunday night.

carbonated sherry

yeah, canora literally just told me the crunch was from pinenuts

he asked! Now at terroir

full disclosure: the meal was comped. Honestly don't think it affected my opinions. More thoughts tomorrow or Monday

ok. A terrific dessert to close. Fried apple pie with miso and sour cream ice cream. This works on all levels.

grilled pineapple with pineapple sorbet. Won't make anyone forget about Mason's pineapple dish at wd-50 a few years back. But its perfectly pleasant. Ok house carbonated sherry. Just awesome.

sorry. I don't take pics in restaurants. Generally try to keep a low profile.

Palate cleanser of a quite flavorful miso soup with pickled veggies (mainly daikon I think) and "grilled rice"