tupac17616

sweetbreads. Centrico. that's all i'm going to say...

Just got back from dinner at Insieme with a friend. Pretty solid overall. The sea risotto from the "modern" side was kind of weak and one-dimensional. It tasted essentially like seaweed risotto, and perhaps that was the intent, but the advertisement of sea urchin as an ingredient had led me to expect more of the creamy richness that ingredient often lends. Of course, a dish of uni risotto was even a disappointment at Masa, so maybe that is a combination that just isn't meant to be. The lasagne verdi bolognese from the traditional side was good, not great, in my opinion. The meat was very flavorful, but I would've liked two additions. For one thing, more bechamel to create a more cohesive dish. And even more importantly, some kind of textural contrast for the top. Even something as simple as toasted bread crumbs would have been great to prevent the monotony of eating the soft, (clearly housemade fresh, thus not al dente) lasagne. The asparagus soup, though...wow. Really, really nice. I would order this again in a heartbeat. Far and away the best dish of the night. My friend also had the lamb four ways, which I did not try, but he certainly seemed to enjoy, leaving nothing but the morels (is he crazy? ) on the plate. Desserts were both nice. Bomboloni were tasty, if a bit pricey considering what you get. The surprise for me, though, was the gianduja, which my friend and I both thought to be quite tasty. The texture, especially, was wonderful. It actually seemed to get better and better as we kept eating it. Not an incredible meal by any means, but undoubtedly the best Italian food in the immediate area. I think the comparison to A Voce is a very appropriate one. Neither produces any real fireworks, but you could do a lot worse than a meal at either one.

Thats for sure. They could charge twice that here in NYC.

These days I seem to be having great restaurant experiences at a quicker rate than I can recap them here on eGullet (good problem to have, I admit! ), but wow. First visit to BH@SB Friday night. What a beautiful place. Walked around the grounds for an hour or so right around sunset. Enjoyed the farmer's feast for the next 4 1/2 hours. Really wonderful experience from start to finish. And, boy, those beet burgers...

son of a... they need to tell everyone about the friggin 3-course for $25 tasting. i totally wouldve done that

that sauce is damn good, though...

and yeah, chef ong was there

dropped in on saturday. the chevre cheesecake croquettes are a microscopic joke. but the miso ice cream and evoo cake sandich was phenomenal. the tasting (10 courses for $59) seems like a steal. if i go back, i'm doing that instead.

Definitely check out Broadway Panhandler on 8th street for number 1 and 4 (also conveniently near Otto if you find yourself in need of some olive oil gelato ). For 2, maybe check out Murray's on Bleecker. For 3, Buon Italia (the place in Chelsea Market you mentioned) may indeed have it. Maybe Balducci's, Citarella, or Garden of Eden. I doubt Fairway would have it. I'm surprised you came up empty at both WF and D&D on that one. I'll let you know if any other places come to mind.

three. definitely three.

wow wow wow my first dinner since chef humm's arrival tonight. what a meal. the gourmand menu was an absolute knockout. details later when i get the proper time to devote to a full write-up. i plan on going again in a couple of weeks. can't wait.

I've not been to many of the other places you mention, but I have been to Felidia. Italian-American? Are we talking about the same place? Lidia Bastianich Felidia?

I've only had one meal at each (both extended tasting menus), but I found the food at Picholine to be of generally a much higher level than GR. In fact, probably the best I've had so far this year here in the city. Service, to me, at both places left something to be desired. It just didn't quite seem...genuine, if that makes any sense. The atmosphere in GR was boring and lifeless, even compared with my experience at Picholine where the average age in the room probably hovered around 60. I would return to Picholine in a heartbeat. Gordon Ramsay? Not so much. I've also been considering giving Country a try for quite some time now. Is it even worth it considering my view of how Picholine and GR stacked up against one another? Sneak? Bryan? Others?

"shiitake mushrooms"

kuruma zushi

i agree 100%. the main point i wanted to convey was that if a meal with that kind of treatment is still found to be underwhelming (which indeed was the case for me), then the meal that most customers experience would seem to be even more so.

and, if you've not yet seen it, the menu

i thought i'd read it was supposed to open tomorrow (friday). i'm so behind! definitely will stop by some time in the next couple of weeks.

comped, treated very well, VIP service, soigne, whatever you wanna call it...

Given its relative proximity to me, I have no idea why I waited so long to try Picholine. Truth be told, before the renovation, I didn't really see much reason to go, except for the fabled cheese cart. Since the renovation, I've been lured many times to locales far more distant and meals far less impressive than the one a friend and I enjoyed here on Sunday evening. We had the tasting menu as written here, with a few minor changes. My friend doesn't eat read meat, so made substitutions for the duck and lamb courses. I'd read about the chicken kiev with liquid foie gras, so I substituted that for the lamb. And we're both gluttons, so we actually ended up adding "Soft Shell Crab -- Crisp Pork Belly and Crab-Tamarind Sauce" a couple of courses before the cheese, after drooling over the table next to us ordering it. The sea urchin panna cotta was flat out phenomenal. The texture was perfect. The flavors were purely oceanic. My friend remarked that he was literally reminded (in a good way) of swimming in the sea as a child and swallowing a bit of sea water in the process. Leagues better than the sea urchin dish at L'Atelier. The crayfish soup was also very nice. Reminiscent of gumbo. Okay, a bit of a fancy-pants fusion-y gumbo with the addition of the fennel foam, but het, it tasted good and that is what matters. Just spiced enough to give you that slight prickly sensation at the back of the mouth. My friend's only complaint was that it bordered on being too salty. We both quite enjoyed it, though. The scallops, er, actually, scallop was wonderful. The tart blood orange vinaigrette and briny capers were refreshing hits on the tastebuds to keep them from getting bored from the creamy cauliflower puree. The thin fried slice of cauliflower on top was a nice textural counterpoint as well. The risotto was rich and delicious. Very comforting dish, especially considering the incredibly ugly weather we were having that day. The tiny nuggets of duck skin crackling were a great addition (granted, are duck cracklings ever a bad addition?). The extra course of the soft-shell crab was also a hit, save for the superfluous addition of a leaf of raw lettuce to the plate. The crab-tamarind sauce bordered on being overly sweet, but was nicely balanced by the salty pork belly (which was perfectly crisp on the outside, unctuous and fatty on the inside). The crab itself was a nice specimen, especially considering it's early in the season. I must admit, I am a sucker for soft-shells. The chicken kiev with liquid foie gras center was, not surprisingly, quite rich. They had even warned that it was probably the one main course that would be difficult to do in a tasting menu portion. (Once they realized I'm a pig, however, they kindly subbed it anyway ). The chicken was remarkably moist. I'm not sure how much I dug the foie gras filling. It looked kind of....broken. Like a separated sauce. Tasty, of course, but not the most visually appealing. The vegetables on the plate were futile, completely overwhelmed by the richness of the foie gras. The sauce on which it was plated had also formed a bit of a skin, presumably from sitting under the heat lamp a bit too long (though the dish was served piping hot anyway). This is completely forgivable, though, as we'd ordered the soft-shell crab only after the previous course, and they'd been kind enough to sub it in at the position in the meal where it made the most sense at that point. The cheese course...what can I say? Best in the city? Yeah, that's definitely what I'll say (my other favorites, for different reasons, are Daniel, Gordon Ramsay, L'Impero and Otto). Their selection is, of course, encyclopedic. The fromager is quite a nice guy and very knowledgeable. And I discovered a new personal cheese crush: Azeitao from Portugal. Great, great stuff. With the cheese, we enjoyed some phenomenal port (Quinta Do Noval Colheita 1974). I'm no expert on port, but this is undoubtedly the best I've ever had. The chocolate souffle dessert was very nice. Could've been a bit lighter, perhaps, but the flavor was great. Rather than the usual chocolate sauce poured into the top, it was served alongside a dish of etheral peanut butter mousse layered atop a pleasantly salted peanut butter "sorbet" (I'd have called it ice cream), and a salted peanut tuile of sorts. Wonderful textural, temperature, and flavor contrasts from start to finish. I really enjoyed this. After the souffle, we enjoyed a very nice riesling ice wine. My friend thought it almost too sweet, and a bit of a step down in complexity after having the port earlier. But I thought it was quite tasty. (As a point of reference, though, my favorite dessert wine is Moscato d'Asti, which I know many consider to be too sweet.) Some chocolates and petit fours, and we were out the door, fat, happy, and surprised that we were, in fact, still on the Upper West Side.

my thoughts exactly

I'm enjoying the revival of this thread and the debates it has sparked. Count me in the "good, but not great" camp. I recently had a meal there in which I and two others were massively hooked up. Even so, much of the food was not the least bit remarkable. The best of the pastas (often regarded as the Batali-Bastianich strong point) seem to only hint at the certain spark that the pastas at Babbo seem to have. That said, though, I absolutely LOVE their six year aged parmigiano-reggiano, and I wish I could find a cheese shop that carries it. And I have to say, the desserts under Kaplan are much improved. I would consider the one I ordered (not on the website; some kind of caramel cake with salted almond ice cream and some other things) as one of the best desserts I've had in any restaurant in the city, period. Oh, and that female sommelier? Yeah, not the sharpest tool in the shed. I understand that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to wine, but please don't patronize me and tell me the wine you've suggested "goes with absolutely everything from the Alto Adige"

C'mon Nathan, you've got us on the edges of our seats now. Spill the dirt. Name some names, man.

Funny that you mention that. I've had both the red ale and the white ale at Momofuku Ssam very recently and absolutely HATED both. Different strokes...

oh, and as alana said, definitely make a stop at Tartine while in sf