Nathan

exactly. I eat out solo a lot and bar dining makes that a lot easier.

I'm not sure that Tailor will be critic-proof...with that said....Mason does have a cult following from his WD-50 days.

where's Raji when you need him? Bruni reviews this place tomorrow. I've never heard a word of it. its website is here: www.rosanjintribeca.com its confusing at first until you realize that the three menus on the website are all for delivery. the restaurant itself serves a kaiseki menu running in the $105-150 range. anyone been? how does it compare to say, Tsukushi?

a sufficiently large cult-following can make something critic-proof. Ssam Bar is the perfect example...it was already packed and critic proof...the fact that Bruni loved it just added to that. (and Platt piled on to the bandwagon this week...)

good point!

that wonderful smoky finish in the Jovencourt Daiquiri is from mezcal. Junior Merino created the cocktails at Bar Room at the Modern and I believe he had involvement with some of the original drinks at D&C. of course, the best thing about D&C, as with Pegu, Flatiron and M&H, is the opportunity to order any classic cocktail and have it well and properly made. I didn't find the food at D&C especially interesting, to be honest.

a separate wine and small plates lounge inside the restaurant.

fwiw...wholesale prices on langoustines in NY (which are brought in from either Scotland or New Zealand...Venetian scampi is not available here)...run in the $4-6 range apiece (see the discussion on the Degustation thread)....considering the markups on the rest of the Atelier menu....I'd suggest this may be the least marked-up item.

the Monday Room part is more interesting.

the Bruniblog visits Balthazar as a warm-up for Morandi: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=100738 he apparently had a very dry roast chicken (plausible enough...I've never ordered it)...and noted that it's not a comfortable place to linger (that's true enough..except for mornings). what's interesting is the outpouring of comments (most of them asinine) followed by comment #50 from a Balthazar co-chef (its the only restaurant in NY to my knowledge that has two co-equal exec chefs): he notes that with a 1000+ covers a day they will make mistakes but implores any diner who has an issue to say something...and further says he will take the criticisms to heart. that's impressive (and I think genuine) PR on the part of a kitchen.

interesting....I seem to have run across at least two brands of elderflower syrup in NY...and it seems to be in every gourmet grocery store here: Dean & Deluca, Garden of Eden etc. The Vegas winning cocktail was the Wet Spot by the bartenders at the now defunct B.E.D. NY. its a pretty decent drink once you tamper down the sweetness (it's cloying as written).

I remember that Richman article! I've had that dish at Shanghai Cafe as well -- in our case, we had a Mandarin speaker along who ordered it off the menu....

A fifth the price? Do any of the New Yorkers here know about decent wines in the el-cheapo range that are available here? Seems to me the $8 or so is the cheapest bottle I ever see. ← TJ's. also Warehouse Wine and Spirits.

The whole point of this thread is that the rule is wrong!

I've seen four or five restaurants in NY go by the quartino in the last couple years (not just Batali's)....

the point is...it doesn't even have to be that good. it can be corked...rotgut...etc. (why is this surprising really? there are all sorts of food ingredients that we wouldn't find palatable on their own)

unlike Per Se's habit of telling you the specific names of the cows that give you butter....or the fact that every restaurant in the city seems to get stuff from Coach Farms....or the fact that Nieman Ranch isn't a ranch or a single source...but rather a purveyor.... "grower champagne" is a legitimate technical category....like rioja (not just any wine from the region qualifies) or cremant or sauternes or pinotage...etc.

That's kind of sad if true. I'm not sure I will ever go to one of the new Robuchon places - basically for "you can't go home again" reasons (Jamin was one of the best meals of my life). You are too young to have gone to Jamin - so you don't have the same baggage. But surely New York isn't that bad. Or is it? Robyn ← the dining scene here is great! It's just that there really haven't been any exciting high end openings in a while. Ssam Bar, Perry Street, Bouley Upstairs and Atelier (as well as apparently Humm at EMP) have been easily the most interesting new restaurants to open in the last couple years. when you're in Tallahassee check out Kool Beans Cafe...nothing special but it's probably easily the best restaurant in the area....accepting Grapes & Grain (or somesuch) if it's still open.... as for Bruni, I don't think his problem is being uptight at all. read the Sriphithai, Spicy & Tasty, Ssam Bar and Robert's reviews....the guy doesn't have that problem at all. He just doesn't like what he considers stuffiness or pretension (I disagree with him half the time on that....but I don't think that being uptight is his vice....if anything, it's the opposite.)

Perhaps I'm just tired tonight - but I don't understand what you mean about the breadcrumbs. And I guess where we differ is I am more interested in reading restaurant reviews the way I'd read a consumer report of a car. Because I don't read them for entertainment - I read them to decide where to eat when I travel (with the internet - it's very easy to access all of a newspaper's or food site's restaurant reviews on line). And Bruni gives me very little help in that regard when it comes to New York. To be quite honest about it - his restaurant reviews have put a damper on our trips to New York. He makes all the places I think I'd like to eat at sound terrible (fussy - starchy - overbearing - whatever). Remember - we're tourists when we go to New York. And we like to try at least a couple of new big deal restaurants when we go there. He succeeds in making most of them sound pretty dismal (and makes me feel like I'd be an idiot or worse to spend a lot of money at them). As for book reviews - I never read them. I like to read the book and be surprised by what's in it. Robyn ← most of them are dismal....it's not just Bruni. for new places there's no reason to come here and not begin with Ssam Bar or Robuchon.

actually, although many restaurants in NY have that policy, none of them actually charge you. (some of them even force you to fax in a credit card signature....but they still don't actually charge no-shows...they just threaten to) I don't know what kind of walk-in traffic this place gets...but in NY, a restaurant would be gratified merely that he called so that they could then release the table...it's the pure no-shows that really piss them off.

also consider Tartine....byo...and the food is perfectly acceptable. thanks for the recs on Cafe de Bruxelles people. I didn't even know this place existed (not sure why)...but I like waterzooi

you don't have Blue Nun or one of the other crap $7 Rieslings? (note: plenty of $7 wines are quite good...just not Rieslings imo.)

yeah, I almost mentioned Tavern on Jane...prefer it to Corner Bistro. Shag has some interesting takes on bar food and the clientele can be rather colorful.

I live in that part of the WV. recommendations: Perry Street, Spotted Pig, Pasita, Morandi, Cafe Cluny, Smorgas Chef, Fatty Crab, presumably 5 Ninth (I haven't been), Employees Only, Turks & Frogs and Pastis (if you can handle the B&T/tourist mob scene) range from acceptable to superb...and all are within a few blocks of Bone Lick Park. a little bit further away you have August, Bellavitae, Little Owl (and the rest of the Bedford brigade). Its one of best restaurant concentrations in the city...it's a shame you ended up at BLP.

I'm going to disagree with something up the thread: corked wine is perfectly fine for cooking. ideal even. and it won't be discernible in a blind taste test. (I don't mean to say that you can't tell that wine is corked in a blind taste test....rather that you can't tell that after it has been used in food.) but then even experts have great difficulty distinguishing between even whites and reds (at similar dryness levels) when blindfolded. so much of taste is predicated upon suggestion.