Nathan

my proposition is that THE neighborhood for new NY restaurants, is now the WV. Ssam Bar is obvious, but after that nothing of great interest has opened in the EV in the last year or so (E.U. and Belcourt are nothing special, Graffiti's impact is limited by its tiny size). the development of the LES continues apace, but its most notable openings are in the past -- Allen & Delancey is good, Rayuela ok and Barcaro tbd.... as has happened every year since time began, there's the opening or two on the UWS that's supposed to make it relevant in dining terms...but.... the UES continues to be the UES. NoLIta continued to open wine bars...some with major ambition (the Monday Room), but the Tasting Room fell kind of flat... midtown continues to be midtown. a couple openings from major names...with varying results. none with the excitement of the TWC openings of a couple years ago. SoHo's only major opening was Tailor....a restaurant capable of great things...if perhaps letting the pre-opening publicity raise expectations too high. still, after Ssam Bar, it was the opening of the last year or so. Union Square/Gramercy/Flatiron saw the revitalization of several distinguished restaurants, as well as an assortment of minor, if pleasurable openings. Chelsea continued to be Chelsea. HK continued to gentrify. Brooklyn Heights continued to morph into Murray Hill South. Park Slope continued to make its claim as the dining center of Brooklyn, albeit without a tentpole restaurant. the hipsters were priced out of Williamsburg (except the ones with trust funds) and moved to Bushwick and Greenpoint. LIC appears to be becoming the next DUMBO, but like DUMBO, it doesn't have any restaurants. the meatpacking saw a few openings attempt to replicate the success of prior years...but nothing made waves...and as it became more and more a downtown version of Times Square and less and less a place where NY'ers actually went.....it became clear that its best days were past. meanwhile, the WV didn't see a Ssam Bar or Tailor or Gordon Ramsay open, but it did all begin with Little Owl and the Spotted Pig....(Perry Street was the prior harbinger) the WV has had for years a cluster of ambitious restaurants: Blue Hill, Cru, AOC Bedford, Mas; the Batali restaurants, and numerous neighborhood places on the incredibly cute 4th and 10th streets that relied upon charm, and the old-school neighborhood places that weren't very good. (Cafe Bruxelles, El Faro)....but then the Little Owl opened... the casual bistro with really darn good food, often an open kitchen, and the young chef as auteur model took off.....(ok, so not all of them actually had good food but they all had ambition); we saw: Dell'Anima, Perilla, Pong, Soto, Market Table, Barfry, Bobo, Centro Vinoteca, Morandi, Alta, Gottino, The Smith, Blue Ribbon Market, Cafe Cluny, Hakata Tonton, Tasca, Waverly Inn, 8th Street Winecellar, Bar Blanc, Kingswood....

well, when you have the kind of money it takes to be a "regular" at a four star restaurant...you often don't really work for a living anymore. but for normal NY'ers with some discretionary income (lawyers, bankers and other professionals), 60-80 work weeks are pretty standard.

for many of us with jobs, its the only night that we can go out with friends or a date. that whole three hour meal when you leave the office at 9 and have to get up early in the morning doesn't seem so appealing. with that said, I agree that those are amateur nights in NY....the restaurants become half tourists and B&T, service isn't as good, etc...but that doesn't change the logistical reality. edit: one friend of mine works the European markets. she gets up at 5 a.m. during the week. when is she supposed to eat dinner with her friends (who generally have the more normal NY schedule of 9 or 10 to 8 or 9)?

Savoy does a lot in-house. http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/01/its_wi...savoy.html#more

but Babbo is not the only restaurant that simply doesn't offer prime time tables weeks in advance to non-regulars or VIPs.

actually, if you discount reservations made in person....than the Waverly Inn is up there.

1. Rao's. 2. Per Se. Babbo, like many restaurants, often has prime time tables if you call the day of.

that's a place which would be a better restaurant if they didn't do everything in-house.

it's been open for a month or so and it's in my hood but I still hadn't gotten around to checking it out until last night. don't know what kept me. next door to Gusto and a couple blocks from Morandi, it's considerably more enjoyable than Morandi. go figure. very gently priced small plates ($4-7). particularly recommend the mele e cottechino (sausage stuffed apples). pretty extensive wine list...about 20 selections by the glass. fair number of bottles too. pretty space. crowd was entirely in their 20's and 30's and almost entirely female. mostly neighborhood. sort of similar to Ino but with a smaller but more varied menu.

hundreds of NY restaurants make (at least some of) their pasta in-house. the number who cure some meats in house numbers in the twenties or thirties (you see it showing up on a lot of menus now). due to NY having excellent bakeries, few bake it in-house....go to Balthazar, Falai and I assume Allen & Delancey. I would imagine the four-stars do as well. house-made sausages are found on many menus. obviously any restaurant with an official pastry chef should be making their desserts in-house. most of the others source from Bindi or Sysco and then add a few garnishes.

fair enough. Dennis Foy is on a benighted block in Tribeca so it doesn't really fit. Little Owl is the best restaurant of its kind in the WV. but reservations are tough and walk-in tables or seats at the bar are tough as well. Market Table is fine (and by the same people) and easier to get into. Perilla is fine. Dell'Amina is good. so is August. Bellavitae is fine. haven't been to Smith's yet. Snack Taverna is fine. AOC Bedford is fine. Mas is fine but much more expensive than the others. that's your general roundup of WV neighborhood places.

Perilla is not innovative at all. its pretty and nice though. Little Owl is very good but not innovative at all. Dennis Foy is the most innovative of those three but not "glam" at all. its dining room is mostly empty and it's in a poor location. it's simply not popular. (its eponymous chef was very well regarded when he last had a restaurant here....but that was almost ten years ago and so he's basically forgotten.) why did you pick those three? for innovative and interesting I would suggest one of the Momofukus or Tailor or WD-50 etc. edit: all three of these are good neighborhood restaurants...with DF being the most ambitious (and the most empty...the others are generally packed).

ha!

that Staggerac is simply awesome... is the absinthe Eduoard 72?

so...when they're actually open...that fatty, er moist brisket is as good as ever. why there are people who don't like it is beyond me... had the beer can game hen for the first time (haven't tasted this preparation since the early 90's)...darn juicy and good.

last night I made: 2 ounces tea-infused 10 cane rum 1 ounce velvet falernum (Taylor) 1 ounce lemon juice. peach bitters. nice.

I agree with your general sentiment...but German beer is supposed to be served only slightly chilled.

that is what I was told as well.

on that list: Bouley or Cru.

yup! you made good choices though... as someone who lives in NY, let me say that some of us are saddened to live here and never be able to eat lunch at JG (cause it's M-F only)

maybe I'm being a snooty NY'er, but Da Leo has a boring, basic menu from 30 years ago (Sardinia blows it out of the water) while Papillon's only merit is being cheap.

haven't eaten at Papillon but wasn't impressed with DL or WR. not interested in Americanized Chinese.

well, I used to live in South Florida, the only ok places I could find back then on Lincoln Road were Pacific Time (now defunct) and Balan's. so it was a pleasant surprise to find Hofbrau...

was positively surprised by this place. a rather small German beer selection. had some hearty plates of wurstsalat, curry wurst, kassler ripchen and the like. pretty good. certainly one of the better options on that strip.

had a very good dinner here on Friday night. probably the best Italian meal I've had in the U.S. outside of NY. strolled in on Friday night around 9:15 and were immediately given a two-top (in an otherwise packed restaurant). service was casual but fine...near the end of our meal they asked us if we could move to a different table to allow them to seat a large party. after doing so, we were given extra pours of wine (a nero d'avola I had been drinking by the quartino). began with the polpettine (which were good...if not quite as good as those at A Voce) and the carasatu with honey and goat's cheese. the carasatu was a bit of a waste as carasatu is served in the bread basket ....all they did was add some very thin smears of honey and goat's cheese....it was good...but not worth getting since you're already trying the carasatu gratis. had the lasagnetta with coniglio....quite good...though the coniglio could have been a bit more flavorful. also had the malleroddos...a rather interesting, small pasta with braised lamb. very good. finished with salt-baked branzino. always a wonderful dish and this was no exception. dessert list was uninspiring.