juuceman

the location was for sale on Craigslist a few weeks ago..

<never mind, this is a pointless debate.. go eat there if you'd like.. find out for yourself what menu options they offer..>

just to be absolutely clear, a 1x1 carries a surcharge of $100 on top of the price fixe..

i believe you're incorrect.. there is no liberal substitution policy.. if you're not interested in eating one or two courses, they'll happily swap them out.. if you're interesting in being served different dishes than your dining partner, you're looking at, alternatively named, a 1x1, 2x2, etc. or allowing the kitchento cook for you.. someone reported early on that there was a $25 surcharge, as well as varying amounts up to $100.. the charge is currently $100 p/p on top of the tasting menu and includes 7-8 additional courses of food.

there's another ramen joint that's just opened up on bowery around third.. what annoys me about this place is that ny magazine published a short piece on it last week.. prior to it's opening.. same thing they did with the dumpling man, over on st. marks.. i'm not against publicity.. i AM against a publication putting out a piece on a place that hasn't opened..

dijon mustard, yellow mustard, mayonaise, tomato puree, onions, pickles, garlic, chipotle.. i might have missed something, as she rattled it off pretty quickly, but these were the biggies..

they're regularly open until around one a.m. on the weekends.. i'd doubt you'd be rushed..

so i've eaten at this place half a dozen times over the last ten days.. to my taste, since i really prefer my dogs grilled, the burgers are the way to go.. i like the shack burger and love the double shack.. this place seems to be the least efficient fast food joint i've ever seen though.. i like the fact that they cook everything to order and i'm willing to wait for the food to be cooked.. what's bothersome is the manner by which they process orders and inform the grill man what he needs to be making.. to my (untrained) eye, it seems that the order is placed at the cash station which then generates a duplicate to the expediter at the pickup window.. she then calls it into the grill man as she lines up trays and bags.. it seems like she's only able to handle about a half dozen orders at any single time though, and, as such, the grill man is rarely working to full capacity while he waits for the expediter to call orders in.. which brings me to my question- why not provide dupes or a screen to each station (grill, dogs, custard, drinks) so they can simply prepare each item as the order comes in?? it's not like the expediter is timing things so that they all come up at the same time and are fresh, i've watched my shake sit there melting for firve minutes while the burger cooks..

the house red was a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.. at $10 for half a carafe, i didn't expect anything great, but it was drinkable and fine.. i'm not really a wine guy, but even i knew that the waitress's statement that there were 5 - 6 glasses of wine in the half carafe was a load of hogshit.. there are two secondi on the menu- the chicken under a brick and the saltimbocca.. somewhat understandable, given the reality that a high portion of their clientele is likely to order pastas/primi as mains, and given that the menu pricing reflect this.. i felt the same way about the pastas, and it took me a while to actually find something that sounded appealing.. i'm not big on pastas with tons of shit thrown in and that's what they seem to be offering on the summer menu.. the seafood pasta special contained shrimp, clams, mussels, artichoke hearts, and something else in a heavy red sauce.. it was far from the italian cooking that i'm used to, whereby you highlight high quality seafood by doing very little to it so as to allow the natural flavors to come out and be enjoyed, instead of overwhelmed and tasting like a big mush.. i wouldn't be so hard on it if it was some chain restaurant or someplace where it was trying hard to be different, but this is a place in manhattan that has an attitude about how it's trying to be so authentic they don't serve parmesan with their seafood pastas because they're too delicate and that's how they do it in italy.. unless you pay the cheese surcharge.. it's a load of crap.. the place next door (Il Posto Acquinto, i believe) looked nice and charming.. i think if they simplify the cooking, they'll do a better job.. one of the owners was hanging out there, playing backgammon and chatting up the neighbors.. it seemed nice.. all in all, i think i would have been happy enough having bagatto as my neighborhood spot in albany when i was in college.. i won't be back..

i haven't.. i've head great things about it, and been meaning to check it out for a while.. when it appeared in the times i figured i'd give it a while to calm back down, but had completely forgotten about it.. i'll probably hit it in the fall..

had an awful meal here last night.. arrived around tennish and, as it was about 3/4 full, sat without any reservation or wait.. they have these two great tables hanging over the sidewalk, that let you and your dining companion sit next to each other and look onto the street.. its nice, except for the smokers that congregate right there in front of you.. i found the service and general attitude of the place so overly patronizing, without being helpful or accomodating, whatsoever, that it alone would result in my never returning.. the menu informs you that, as they don't serve cheese with seafood pasta in Italy, they don't do it at bagatto.. should you taste it and feel it's absolutely necessary for you to have cheese with your seafood pasta, they'll accomodate you for a three dollar charge.. the waitress comes over and she's nice enough.. we threw her off her game a touch by asking if they still had a basic arugula salad but she deflected it enough and went into her schpiel about the specials.. we ordered two of the specials, a frisee salad with fruits and cheese and a fresh pasta with seafood, as well as the mussels and the tortellini with meat ragu of the main menu.. half a carafe of the house red and tap water rounded out the order.. bread.. they have a nice foccacia that they bring out with the first course.. we were hungry.. it was late.. it was taking a while for the appetizers to come by.. our waitress was nowhere to be found.. we asked another waitress for some bread, but she just shook her head, smiled, and told us that they bring bread with the first course.. not before.. the food comes with the busboy.. he then makes a second trip back into the restaurant to bring us the bread.. we look at the food, we look at each other, smiles come across our faces and all is well with the world.. as we pick up our forks, our waitress reappears for the first time and asks how everything is.. uhhm.. yeah.. it looks good?? the food is pretty tasty.. the salad was good.. the mussels were good.. pan sauteed, a touch dry (which i actually enjoy sometimes) and the sauce was good.. the sauce is extremely salty though.. everything is plated simply but nicely.. the bread was good.. we were happy.. we were thirsty.. we really needed water but no one came with it.. instead every other staff member (except for our waitress) would stick their head out the door as if to check on us, but every time we motioned for them to come over, would pull their head back into the place and disappear.. we had pastas for our main courses.. the fresh linguini in the pasta special was cooked well.. i like my pasta more towards the al dente side and this was perfect to my taste.. the shellfish was abundant and of decent quality, but the saucing was again overly salty.. the tortellini with the ragu was awful.. cooked to the point of sogginess, probably sitting around par-cooked and just dropped in boiling water to reheat through before being served.. the ragu was fine, and the saltiness that plagued the rest of the meal wasn't there.. we might have expressed our feelings on the food to the waitress, since she came by again and asked how it was, except that again she did so prior to us beginning to eat.. it was pretty comical and i'd long since given up on the meal.. we had a tiramisu and a couple of espresso to finish off the night and were out for just under $90, with tax and (the obligatory 15%) tip.. i haven't tipped less than 20% in years.. this was probably one of the most disappointing, unfulfilling meals i've had in nyc.. bagatto used to be dirt cheap.. it used to be one of the only italian places in the neighborhood, and one of the few decent places where one could sit for a nice meal after ten o'clock.. last night we walked past and passed up eating at gnocco, lavagna, frank, little frankie's, and supper.. we could have hopped in a cab and gone to lupa and had wonderful food and stellar service for the same price, but figured we'd hit a neighborhood spot.. ugh..

not that this place is really a fine dining destination, but i think they're trying to avoid the "hello, my name is jan and i'll be your waiteress" service you might be looking for.. that said, for a nice touristy restaurant, they put out a real nice restaurant week lunch..

it was still there in may..

if your stabucks is anything like my starbucks, most of the people are using either (a) their starbucks card, which is simply a prepaid stored value card.. no memory in it, other than serial number which allows starbucks to track your usage and cancel out the card, should you register it with them prior to losing it; and (b) credit cards- they're genius in that they allow you to use your credit/debit card on any purchase, no matter how small, and thus separate a large number of their consumers from the actual cost of the coffee.. genius marketing and responding to their consumer base, yes.. smart card technology remembering your coffee order (a la starwich's plan) not yet..

in the old blue goose space..

Why not, if it makes the dish worse than the sum of its parts, as Bruni seemed to think it did? there's two, maybe three, deconstructed dishes on the menu.. the onion soup and the lemon tart.. that's it.. but everyone who goes and reviews this place harps on them.. why?? maybe because everything else is done amazingly competently but competency doesn't make for one star reviews.. the gruyere comes in a warm water bath that keeps it at a nice consistency.. i'm amazed at how everyone here seems to be jumping all over this place, and two specific dishes, without visiting it.. if luger's really does have three stars, there's no way this place deserves one by the same reviewing body.. luger's coasts by on the quality of their meat.. nothing else on the menu is done consistently well, nor does the decor or service merit anything near three stars..

i think it deserves two stars without a second thought.. unless Bruni is going to rehab the entire star system, removing, say, Blue Fin's two stars and Fiamma's three stars for food that's fine, but far from special.. i forgot to mention the wine list.. it's large.. a lot of time and effort was put into this place.. i'm really disappointed in the slap that the one star is in it's face..

I have some issues with the review.. I ate at V Saturday night.. the food was great.. sure, some of the things, the onion soup everyone loves to hate on, the lemon pie, the shrimp cocktail, are weird or different, but so what?? shrimp cocktail is rarely a stellar item anywhere.. by now, ordering most of the deconstructed dishes, you know what you're getting into and order it for the novelty of it, and the ablilty to bitch about how weird it was to your friends.. the meat is great.. i prefer a bit more char on my beef, but it was all good.. the sides are numerous, and were all great.. there's not a question in my mind that the food was as good or better in all areas than anything at Sparks, Lugers, et all, with the exception of the char issue that i have.. the room is beautiful.. the service is great, i'd say on par with that at per se, except that it's more unobtrusive than per se's, which i found to be overly theatrical and contrived.. you can bring people here and have a thoroughly comfortable, enjoyable meal, without it feeling like a boy's night out.. i think people walk in here with a lot of expectations.. many of which are met, some of which might not be.. that said, i don't think it deserves a single star..

My BIL, who now lives in LA, likes these things. Yet one more reason why I dislike him. hernandez and hernandez bagels, on broadway and 78th, has had blueberry bagels for at least the past ten years.. whole wheat too..

it closed by nine last night.. how do i know?? because i got there at nine o'five and they were locking up.. they are selling wine as well..

this is it.. Minca thread note that this place is in this week's time out new york as well..

A jacket is required. Enjoy! no, a jacket is not required..

according to one of the guys behind the counter doing the slicing, only one guy was from out of nyc at the brisket stand..

i'd pay the $150 to cook with jg.. i stopped by after dinner last week and checked the room out.. based on size alone, i'd say two stars.. it'd be a good way for bruni to start out.. maybe an indication of actually taking the food and decor into account over the stardom of the name outside.. -j

us new yorkers, as a whole, tend to be a whole lot more flexible.. of the four restaurants listed, at least three either over book knowing there will be cancellations and a high number of walk ins, or maintain waiting lists for people who would like to enjoy a nice meal but refuse to make a ressie 60 days in advance.. in fact, there's an entire science given to same day reservations based upon cancellations and held back tables.. but then again, you'd probably be aghast at my suggestion to grease a host for a table while i don't think twice about doing so..