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Nathan

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Everything posted by Nathan

  1. another thing: dinners and parties during fashion week itself are mostly at rented venues...those are the parties you really want to get into. sometimes they're at restaurants that aren't even officially open yet. and during fashion week they're all too busy to be doing lunch anywhere...(the clothes are still being fitted that day etc.) (also consider Tailor among unusual restaurants to have recently opened in NY....and they're hosting a fair amount of parties so that's covered to) edit: and Tailor goes with the fashion theme...
  2. heh, the clientele at GR NY are mostly Brits... so, do you want to know where fashion people go? or what reflects NY right now? (they sometimes intersect but often not.) I'll start with the second and come back to the first: easily the most talked about restaurant in NY right now (topping most critics (including Frank Bruni's) restaurant of the year lists) is Momofuku Ssam Bar. no reservations (except for groups ordering the bo ssam, an entire pork butt), no decor, no comfort, sometimes obnoxious, and extremely good food....kind of like jazz...the food is all riffed, collaborations of several young chefs. our four stars are all worthy still. American bbq is big right now among foodies...especially the Lockhart, Texas style Hill Country. small venues in the EV, LES and WV are very hot: Back 40, Allen & Delancey, Kingswood, Smiths, Dell'Amina, Little Owl. alright, fashion people: I'm not in the industry but I go to a few shows every year and know a fair amount of people in it. the older royalty (think Klein, Ralph, Vera, Kors, Anna Wintour etc) have their established places...lunch at Balthazar etc. they can also be seen at dinner at the Waverly Inn (though that's less true now that it's been open a year....but nothing has directly replaced it). among the younger fashion crowd: the Beatrice Inn, the Box, the Rose Bar, Socialista, TenJune. though it depends upon the night...most of the real action takes place during the week when the hoi polloi have to get up for work in the morning. for food, lunch in the WV during the week (Cafe Cluny or any other place on 10th or 4th), dinner is a lot more variable...often it's where they live...if they don't have money they live in Chelsea...if they're entry level they live on the UES, if they do have money it's NoLIta (try Public or Monday Room for dinner -- both of which are good restaurants too) or TriBeCa.... I'd really peruse Gawker for more on this. hope that's a start. edit: part of the problem is that NY is simply so big (like London) that any number of places can be "hot" without one really standing out. with exceptions: Waverly Inn last year. Spice Market four years ago (for about six months). also throw in places having a very brief shelf life: La Esquina was very hot when it opened almost three years ago. after a few months, the A list had moved on and the fashionable set had moved in. now it's populated by a quarter of Hoboken on the weekends. I'll also note that cocktail culture is huge in NY right now (as with London). not only are new restaurants often trying for serious cocktails, but places like PDT, Death & Co, Pegu Club, and the original Milk & Honey are all attracting a lot of notice.
  3. Nathan

    Fiamma

    "They have crumpled up page after page of the script that made their previous ventures so beloved and written a new libretto, emphasizing refined notes over rustic ones, sacrificing hip on the altar of elegant. Spacious and tranquil, with a piano player in place of a rock soundtrack, Del Posto is the anti-Babbo, the un-Lupa....................................... the two men have challenged New Yorkers to accept Italian cuisine presented with fastidious rituals and opulent trappings usually reserved for French fare.................................................Their reward? I hear a lot of grousing that Del Posto feels soulless and spurious, that it's the culinary equivalent of an epic Hollywood folly: Dishtar. The naysaying makes me wonder whether many New Yorkers are as open to new experiences as they like to think. Del Posto dares to speak in an unfamiliar idiom, only to be told it has a phony accent. That's a parochial response, and a largely unjust one......................................Del Posto, which means "of the place," has ample ethnic grounding in Italy's fancier restaurants..........................................But the central vision and ambition of Del Posto are valid ones. Why shouldn't an Italian meal be bracketed by a breadbasket as bountiful as Del Posto's and a plethora of complimentary cookies? ........................................Valet parking may seem molto suburban, but I suppose it's a welcome convenience for diners with cars. And while the vastness of the space, a whopping 24,000 square feet over several levels, brings to mind a hotel lobby, it's one swanky lobby. It also affords real room to maneuver between tables, enough quiet to facilitate conversation............................" He simply doesn't see all of the above trappings as a negative.
  4. Nathan

    Fiamma

    no, I think he likes the formality in that context. he's defending it.
  5. Nathan

    Fiamma

    well, Del Posto's tasting menu is $150. but you can eat at Del Posto ala carte.
  6. Nathan

    Fiamma

    Oh, true enough; he has to give three or four stars to somebody. But usually it's because they have managed to overcome his aversion to a set of traits that he invariably calls "fussy". It is always a drawback to him. ← I agree that it usually is...but not always. see the Del Posto review: http://events.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/dinin...ews/01rest.html (of course, now you can make the case that he thinks fussiness is fine with Italian or pseudo-Italian but not with French....)
  7. most of my meals are mediocre....I only write about them when there's a reason to.
  8. Nathan

    Perry Street

    I've never seen infants there but lunch/brunch is quiet with plenty of space.
  9. ah...the early part is a good point! in the WV there are lots of neighborhoody places that might be fine at say 6:30 or 7. August, Bellavitae, Kingswood, Alfama, Snack Taverna, Moustache, Market Table, Barfry would all be good choices at that time. Little Owl is always packed when open but it's quite good.
  10. not having any children that I know of, I'm probably talking out of my rear here, but when it comes to non-Asian restaurants with highchairs...you're probably going to mostly find them uptown (though I'd imagine that Danny Meyer restaurants would have them). its not that toddlers don't exist downtown (heck, there's a tiny preschool on my street in the basement of a brownstone), but people in the E and W Village seem to be quite a bit more likely to have dogs instead. (edit: put it this way, there are a fair amount of toddlers in my building...their nannies are coming in as I'm leaving in the morning...but they're definitely not dining in local restaurants in the evening...my guess is that their parents are getting delivery)
  11. my point is that without tasting the Negroni (did he chill the glass? measure? (the Negroni is one of the few drinks that can be reliably free-poured) shake long and hard (since he's shaking...in fact, if a bartender shakes for any length of time with any sort of energy...which "normal" bartenders simply don't do....then they have some sense)) it's hard to reach any conclusion as to how seriously they take cocktails.
  12. here is the thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=98261
  13. I can't get too worked up about a Negroni being shaken. that's how they do it throughout Italy after all (at least in my experience). not that I'm opposed to purism for the sake of purism. after all, Southwark in Philly...which has an excellent rye list and makes a good Manhattan....shakes its Manhattans. I think Dr. Cocktail shakes almost everything as well. personal preference.
  14. [double post]
  15. oh boy. this is not the same restaurant anymore. (see the Waverly Inn thread)...it's not called "Ye Olde" anymore either. Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair bought it and turned it into a celeb and "friends of Graydon" hangout. there are two ways to get a reservation: 1. call or email Graydon Carter's office. (I think Jonathan Kelly is still his executive assistant)...the conde nast switchboard is (212) 286-2860. 2. stop by the restaurant in person and ask for a reservation. it helps if you live in the neighborhood (or can plausibly claim to). edit: you might have a reasonable chance of success as a walk-in, but I certainly wouldn't plan an anniversary around that.
  16. as posted on another thread: 2 rye 1 Branca .5 Foretti (it's very sweet..) .25 Carpano Antica 2 dashes Regan's orange bitters.
  17. Nathan

    Aperol

    awesome! thanks much folks! I'd bet on a little simple....my attempts at reverse engineering all came out a little bitter or tart compared to the original.
  18. What? How do Wisconsin and th big apple have anything to do with each other? ← in this context, quite a bit. just getting an understanding of their dining tastes.
  19. ok: JG for lunch (if you're here during the week...if only the weekend, then Perry Street for lunch). Momofuku Ssam Bar (the most interesting restaurant in NY right now) Babbo or A Voce or Insieme. Allen & Delancey or Hearth or Park Avenue Winter
  20. tastes? likes, dislikes? actual price category (i.e. per person with wine, tax and tip)? I'm somewhat familiar with Wisconsin dining....are you looking for places like or unlike Roots, Sanford, Dreamdance, Bacchus or L'Etoile?
  21. new item on the cocktail menu: a series of three "solids".... cuba libre as a gelatin square. good. a ramos fizz marshmallow. good. a sort of white russian and crunch thing which didn't quite work. also, I think the lovage aquavit is my favorite infusion.
  22. just hit Dim Sum Go Go for the first time. dumplings were of high quality. significantly better than Golden Unicorn. liked the shrimp rice rolls a lot. chicken feet were completely boring.
  23. rumor has it that they were closed this past Friday night? can anyone confirm this? if so, why?
  24. not enough to notice then....
  25. wow! didn't know they closed that early. I'd guess most people don't know that...a lot of people were coming in at close to that time...
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