Nathan

Curacao? O_o Where'd that come from? I guess careless editing from the previous recipe (which is also bizarre). As far as how they're made in Italy; I don't doubt that they are made in every which way, and the drinks are almost always still good when you alter the preportions, but it's kind of tricky to say 'well its made in way X where it was invented, so thats right.' If an American bartender tops off an Old-fashioned with soda, is then an accaptable way to make the drink? It is, after all, an American creation. You can of course continue on with "cherry" syrup in Manhattans, etc. Hell some of my co-workers can't even properly execute drinks that were invented at the exact place where they work! -Andy ← well, my contention is that to the best of my knowledge the Negroni has always been made to varying proportions in Italy...in other words, the Negroni came about because someone combined those three ingredients...it doesn't appear to have a set ratio from the beginning. that's different than later bartenders adding extraneous ingredients to the Old Fashioned (though there is a legitimate dispute on that...the earliest Old Fashioneds may have had a muddled orange slice)...

Given this definition let's look at specific restaurants to see how they fit. All the examples I will cite are chef driven and restaurants that I have personally dined at. Momofuku - has a combination of haute cooking (e.g. uni dish) and rustic street food (e.g. ssam) in a very informal, casual atmosphere. This fits as it should as it is the model the definition was constructed around. Room 4 Dessert - informal, casual and haute - yes. Rustic? I don't see it. I don't think it's NP. dessert bars are a different new trend. yup...the menu has a number of downmarket dishes. I don't think anyone would call it NP. not NP. separate restaurants...one is casual, one is haute. there are several clones of Frontera Grill in the midwest actually. see Campezuchi on Brady. I think it was heading that way, yes. unfamiliar. I think Atelier is certainly an antecedent. I haven't eaten at either but from what I know, neither would fit into the haute camp. my guess is that it will for one reason: if Momofuku didn't exist, someone else would have to invent it. 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.

chef-driven haute and rustic cooking combined in an informal, casual atmosphere.

This strikes me as being more along the lines of L'Atelier than Momofuku. From the link above: One of the problems I have with the paradigm of a new paradigm is that it is really all over the place. The only thing consistent about it is that it does not fit into the mold of a traditional restaurant category. The realizations are all over the board, whether examples could include Momofuku, R4D, Grayz, Tailor, the late version of Varietal or wherever. ← I think that's at least part of the point.

good points

I hope that's not the case...it seems like the bar has been raised recently....you'd think that there's a decent possibility that they'll use DeGroff or Saunders or Meehan or Merino. Speaking of which, a shout-out to the new cocktail list at the Bar Room at the Modern. they've left Merino's excellent Coming Up Roses on the menu but have added a bunch of new cocktails. last night I tried to order their verjus take on the Ramos Fizz but they were out of pasteurized egg whites and refused to use regular eggs due to liability reasons (sigh). instead I had an excellent "Scotch Margarita"...in character this was quite similar to a margarita made with a smoky mezcal....

for sure...but Italy wasn't a cocktail culture when the Negroni was created either. I question whether it was once perfectly measured 1:1:1 and is now varied do the sloppiness of current bartenders...I've got a feeling that it always varied. agreed that a 4:1:1 wouldn't taste much like a Negroni...but I've certainly run across approximate 2:2:1's (with Carpano) and 1:2:1's and 2:1:1's, etc...

20% is standard in NY or any other large American city. 18% for small towns. more for exceptional service or if anything was comped. less for incompetent service (be very sure that it was the waitstaff not the kitchen at fault....delays in getting your food are 80% of the time the kitchen's fault)....once or twice I left nothing (they deserved it). if a "suggested tip" of 18% is placed on the bill (its never mandatory unless listed as a "service fee")....I'll usually leave exactly that since it annoys me. its standard practice in South Beach though (understandable I guess due to all the poor-tipping tourists). as for the merits of the system....I'll say that from the customer's perspective...MOST of the time...I've found you receive better service in the U.S. but certainly not always.

and then there's Grayz....which may turn out to be NP.... http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200.../grayz-anatomy/

as well...there's Grayz...purportedly coming in September...I wonder who's doing the cocktails? http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200.../grayz-anatomy/

fwiw, the Negroni is made in varying proportions in Italy and it's always still called a Negroni so long as the three ingredients stay the same. (this makes sense....use Carpano Antica and you really have to dial down the vermouth...its so rich....the gin used can change this as well)....further, Italian bartenders often freepour the Negroni and don't seem too concerned with getting the proportions even.

apparently that's a rather narrow take on the book: http://www.reason.com/news/show/119736.html

I agree on the dilution factor. it is a concern (but one remedied with time). I've found that off the menu at Little Branch, Pegu, and Flatiron can be a little risky these days (they're still using proper technique, it's just that some of the bartenders are inexperienced)....but the key point is that today you have numerous bars, restaurants and lounges where they actually have menu drinks that aren't overly sweet vodka/fruit concoctions and where the bartenders use jiggers and show care. it's changed radically in the past couple years.

Four years ago the serious cocktail aficianado could go to: Bemelman's Bar, Flatiron Lounge, Milk & Honey. with Angel's Share a rung below. a year ago you had those and: Pegu Club, Brandy Library with Little Branch and East Side Company Bar a half rung below. and Employees Only a rung below. today you have all of the above and: Death & Co., P.D.T. with B-Flat and Smith & Mills a rung below. by mid-summer you will have those and: Rayuela (Junior Merino is helming) in addition, the cocktail scenes in London, SF and Seattle have taken off. Atlanta has two excellent spots. Chicago is about to get its first. exciting times. indeed, one tribute to the popularity of serious cocktails is how many new restaurants and bars are at least pretending to have serious cocktail lists.....see places like the awful Gin Lane, the Dubai bar which purports to have its "staff mixologists" create a new cocktail for every guest based upon their personality, every new Asian fusiony restaurant...etc.

Gotta have this as a sig.......may I? Sandy~ Please make sure you let us know about WWTBAM ?! ← please do. good luck....two friends of mine both won the million (well, one won more than that cause they were doing that increase the max amount every day thing then)

it is definitely served off the menu at Spicy & Tasty in Queens.

Was it the chicken that is buried in chiles? I saw someone eating that at the Grand Sichuan on St Marks, and it looked just like the ones I had in Chongqing. There was a stall at a food court (yup, a mall food court) that specialized in that dish, and those things were FLYING out of there! I found it very tasty, but a bit hard to eat because we had to dig through all those chiles to find the chicken bits. ← correct.

dessert is pretty much an afterthought across the existing top NY sushi restaurants as well.

That's an easy one to answer...none of those three restaurants allows you to eat ala carte. its mandatory to order a prix fixe or a tasting menu.

wow...I didn't realize it was that bad (what I get for not even bothering to own a Zagat). that was pretty definitive. (btw, I think I would take Michelin over Bruni by a hair....and certainly Richman but after that there's no competition among published rankings)

riffing off the category of rye and raspberry syrup drinks, I've found that bourbon and blueberry syrup have a similar affinity. for example: The Blues 2 bourbon .5 blueberry syrup .75-1 lemon 2 dash peach bitters (if it comes out too acidic a dash of violette or parfait amour adds an interesting element) or, with rum you can do: Blueberry Spring 2 white rum .5 blueberry syrup .5 cointreau .75-1 lime

hazelnut syrup makes a decent orgeat substitute.

and Meehan recently wrote up getting it off the menu at S&T as well.

well...prime time Saturday night reservations doesn't sound like the early bird types. as for portion sizes...I'd be surprised if the kind of restaurant that is serving amuses and truffles is also serving huge portions...we're clearly not talking about TGI Friday's.

Bruni expounds some more on pizza here: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200...nions/#more-245 in sum....it's clear he's not approaching pizza (right or wrong) from a parochial NY-style mindset.