Nathan

that's a strong overstatement. with that said, there was also a writeup of existing restaurants that had made wholesale changes.

he mentions Graffiti in the essay. Crave was briefly covered here: http://events.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/nyreg...rest.html?fta=y (I'll agree that barely counts)

I was underwhelmed by Pamplona. but other than that, I can't say that Graffiti (which I really liked) or Kampuchea (which I liked), definitely belonged on that list ahead of the others.

well, Yasuda, L'Impero and Alto are out. Tsukushi is relatively close and in the $50-55 range for food (no menu).

what is "reasonably-priced"?

speaking of Bruni's take, in post 93 on this thread I wrote: "today you have a larger number of young chefs trained at a four-star level than ever before (at least in the U.S., Italy, the UK and Spain). combined with a wider assortment of high-quality ingredients available than ever before. furthermore, you have a general zeitgeist amenable to cross-cultural influences. (in a word, a lot of it's just globalization.) combined with higher startup costs for a true fine-dining restaurant than ever before (and a dearth of front of the house staff). these guys weren't going to just stick to bistro food. "

agreed

good points all. (and I agree that Bruni's last paragraph is nonsensical and probably reflective of the general NYT ethos)... but I do think that "tweaked rustic", "haute barnyard", whimsicality or playfulness are part of it. all of these places are doing that at some level. maybe it's not an essential part of the NP...but it's still a trademark.

Bruni weighs in here: http://events.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/dinin...html?ref=dining

Does anyone have the recipe for "Intro to Aperol"? A friend of mine loves the cocktail and my reverse engineering has so far been "close but no cigar"....

there's a new beet, fresh ricotta and wasabi dish on the menu that is basically JG in a nutshell. just terrific.

Last I knew, there is no confirmation that it in fact will be a reality. It was being discussed. If a deal has in fact closed, that's news.

ended up at Blue Ribbon downtown. good quality fish. though the live aogawa served in the shell was more novelty than good. a little overpriced for what it is...

No one said it was GOOD FOR YOU! Look at it this way. 1-4 alcoholic drinks a day can, in fact, be "good for you." but if you drink too much, you'll die. so?

hmm...that's certainly possible.

I agree with the aggregate consumption points. my point was that the CW that our palates our sweeter today runs against a counter-data point when you actually look at old recipes.

there's an increase in average portion size (combined with much more sedentary lifestyles).....this is due to food being (relatively) far cheaper than ever before. as far as sugar being a higher percentage portion of the average diet...the reverse is probably true. people have less of a sweet tooth today then they did in the past. I know this runs against CW but it's true. look at cocktail recipes from a hundred years ago...or culinary recipes. their palates were quite a bit different.

well, with Le Miu as a backup. Kano Yama is across the street from dessert.

I've just received feedback that Kanoyama is geographically perfect....thanks!

most people overeat in general..that's why most people are fat. what does that have to do with anything? edit: in other words, you're confused. no one is disputing that sugar is overused. but that is completely irrelevant to this discussion. as I said, overconsumption is not an intrinsic property of refined sugar.

ah, good point! and in my hood...

the point is that the burden of proof is on you.

thanks! Sugiyama isn't going to happen. my friend is explicitly craving seafood and she works at 5 a.m. tomorrow (international markets) so no kaiseki. I'm paying for two so price does matter. Kanoyama and Le Miu both look like good bets.

unfortunately, there's no way we'll make it to Esashi in time and Seki and Ichimura are entirely in the wrong direction. I'll be getting out at 44th and 7th at 11:15ish...and will end up either in the WV or the EV. I'm thinking sushi might not happen tonight...

midtown west, WV, Chelsea or EV. 15 East isn't open that late. Yasuda definitely isn't (and it's east anyway). any ideas?