Nathan

There are a couple Bombay-Chinese restaurants in Manhattan.

well, all of his restaurants have always been theme restaurants. most have been successful...including the NY ones: places like Asia de Cuba, Tuscan Steak etc. and lots of theme restaurants work in NY: Ruby Foo's, Tao (the second highest grossing restaurant in NY next to Tavern on the Green (making it about the fifth highest grossing restaurant in the country)...and, yes, Tao has more food than alcohol revenues, I checked), OIBLTIBS, etc. they're just catering to B&T and tourists. the thing is, Chodorow, like Hanson or Starr, isn't aiming his restaurants at most NY'ers, let alone foodies, they're aimed squarely at the weekend B&T and tourists and the weekday expense account diners. so they work just fine here.

I have to say that if I was somehow in the area I'd be happy to check out Moksha but the odds of that happening are slim to none (I didn't grow up in this area so I have virtually no reason/excuse to go anywhere in the tristate area except for the occasional conference at Princeton or the Hamptons in the summer). Speaking of which, I'll be in Princeton this Saturday...anywhere within walking distance of the campus that's good for lunch? I've never found anything interesting. Cucharamama I will visit. Since I live in the WV, it's literally easier for me to get to than the UES or Murray Hill. It took me six months to get to Resto, I should be able to find my way to Cucharamama in less than that! Nothing else has sounded remotely worth a trip except for maybe something in the Ironbound?

something amusing: last night I was conversing with a civilian who thinks of herself as a bit of a foodie (her parents go to the Beard dinners, she's been to most of the four stars etc.)....her comment on Bruni: "Boy, he's curmudgeonly and harsh on restaurants!" that's not the first time I've heard that sentiment. meanwhile we tend to think that he's a little easy on them...

I actually figured on no stars...but I didn't quite expect a Poor. but I guess since Bruni loves Italian so much...if he runs across a pathetic example then he's really going to let loose on it. (I haven't eaten at Cipriani NY but I was at Harry's Bar in Venice on someone else's expense account, gosh, what a ripoff.)

fwiw, I'm hearing that may not be true if you order the tasting menu (which has no dishes in common with the ala carte menu).

Sneakeater liked it. I haven't been back since my initial report.

I have just been informed that Grayz now has an expanded selection and a $79 five-course tasting menu.

the wine bar's great! not a fan of the restaurant.

I should note that the bartenders use jiggers and shake (when appropriate) for a decent length of time. it's a measure of how far cocktail culture has come that only a couple years ago it would have been shocking to see that at a restaurant bar.

so do I. of course he does. heck, he writes diner's journal entries about it. so? edit: actually, I can think of two occasions where the review came just inside of three months. someone once claimed here that Bruni reviewed the Modern right after it opened but this turned out not to be true.

there still is. Bruni has reviewed exactly one restaurant inside of three months (it'd been open more like 2.5 months).

well, at least Bruni hasn't (to my knowledge), copied everyone's favorite legacy admit and left his notes on one restaurant at the bar of a different restaurant....apparently RG's notes make for quite interesting reading....

So we stopped by here on Saturday night after Back Forty for drinks and dessert. It'd been about a month since I'd last been in...Tailor seems to be really maturing as a restaurant. the menu has grown (gotta return for the tasting menu soon), the bar has filled out, the list of cocktails and house infusions is larger (and very polished). our dessert of pork belly was as good as the first time I tried it.

Ate here on Saturday night. Design is spare but pleasant. Nice cocktail list...all variations on standards. All of the ones we tried were good (except that the Grapefruit Julep was a little too sweet)...especially the Perfect Orchard Manhattan (a perfect Manhattan using an apple brandy) and the Losaida Sling (cachaca, ginger beer and chipotle). small but well-chosen beer list. wine list emphasizes Long Island wines...which I'm generally not a fan of. completely packed but we managed to get spots at the bar after about 20 minutes. ordered a bunch of plates from the garden and small bites part of the menu...as well as a whole Catskill trout. the rock shrimp beignets were mostly dough...a huge portion for $7. they should halve the portion in return for actually filling them with shrimp. all the garden dishes were good...if simple. the cauliflower gratin stood out...a standard but well executed classic dish. the trout was simple and superb. cooked perfectly. crispy skin. just the right notes of acidity. a winner. and a bargain at well under $20. the food is quite similar to the Savoy/Tasting Room/Blue Hill/Craft concept. (which I enjoy but usually find overpriced for what are ultimately just a collection of good ingredients on a plate)....but at a gentler price point. I wouldn't travel across town for it but I'd definitely always consider it when in the neighborhood and not going to any of the Momofukus.

menupages reviews are generally written by idiots. Resto is cheap for Manhattan.

that's pointless once you throw in travel costs and time. ← $9.25 round trip & 35 minutes on the train from Penn Station. Calculate the pointlessness as you will. ← I bill for my time. I'll travel for food I can't get in Manhattan...not for food that's merely cheaper (cause it's not once you consider opportunity cost).

yup! and Resto in Murray Hill has a nice Belgian selection (it also serves each beer with its own branded glass) and good food too.

In addition to your stated problems with this drink, isn't a Sidecar made with triple sec/Cointreau - the use of Grand Marnier doesn't make any sense at all in a Sidecar. ← I don't see why it couldn't work. Personally, I prefer a Sidecar made with Gran Gala to Cointreau.

quite frankly, there are three different reasons that I go to bars and each of them requires an entirely different bar...

Got to see a galley the other week. Seriously good stuff. well-done!

the best Belgian beer selection close to Chelsea can be found at The Other Room on Perry and Washington in the WV. about 100 beers, about half of them Belgian. they also have branches in SoHo and TriBeCa. You can also find a good selection at Valhalla in midtown west, Burp Castle (if it's still open) in the EV, Cafe Alsace on the UES and a few other spots.

Waldy was quite personable. thought the wines generally worked quite well. liked the chianti a lot. the most interesting pairing was the pinot noir with the kabocha raviolo....the saltiness of the capers really made this work.

Had an very good meal here last night and it's a fabulous value. our meal was as FG describes (and photographs) up the thread, except that the trout has been subbed out and replaced by bass cooked in a corn husk with fennel. it's quite good. the finely diced jalapeno on the scallop was a new pairing to me...and it worked brilliantly. a little too much butter in the cabbage unfortunately. the squab was terrific. very nice prep with the parts cooked differently allowing for some textural contrasts. the bone marrow was one of the best preps of this sort that I've had. they also cut them in half lengthwise (a lot easier for the diner)...which I'd only seen before at the late Lonesome Dove. foie and short rib was exactly as good as that sounds. and the Kobe? there's nothing more blissful than eating seared fat. great stuff.

both Cafe Centro and Naples 45 are midtown lunch cafeterias that serve dinner too. if Brasserie 8 and 1/2 is the place I'm thinking of (which it might not be)...then it wasn't bad when I ate there a few years ago.