flinflon28

That turkey dish was a highlight for me a few weeks ago. The biggest compliment I can pay it is that my girlfriend detests dark meat but devoured the breast and the leg thigh meat with gusto. I thought the carrots in that dish were the best cooked vegetables I've tasted since Adour. Perfect essence of carrot. Incredible. Minor things for me where that I feel the restaurant is way too dark at night. The bottle of wine I ended up ordering (Gruaud Larose) was too almost too overpowering for the majority of the dishes but I knew that would probably be the case so I was fine with it. My companion only had half a glass and the went to the by the glass list. When the server brought the bottle he poured, she declined to sample and just told him to finish the pour. Server poured again and walked away. The glass was in our opinion way below the level that a glass of wine should be poured at (maybe less than a third full and it wasn't an oversiized goblet). I'd noticed that the pour came out thinly and maybe the bottle was empty and the server would return with a fresh one. Not the case. I simply asked another server to top off the glass a bit more. This was done without hesitation and wasn't an issue. This might be an assumption but the individual who poured the wine originally didn't seem to be a captain or lead server but rather a runner or back server so that MIGHT explain why the pour may have been off. Like I said minor incident but it lead to good dinner discussion. The booths are MASSIVE in the dinig room. I liked that alot.

As well as to train what appeared to me to be a bunch of new-ish cooks...though it was far from slow at 2:30 on Friday afternoon. ← We got there about 7:45 and it was almost full but we got a seat right away....by 8:45 or so...CHAOS and a line out the door.

Ate there tonight and was about to post the same thing about the abbreviated menu but see you all beat me to it. Kimchi stew was as good as ever. Some older couples near us ordered the scallops and while they seemed to enjoy it they were vocal about it being too small. For the price ($18) it looked about right...MAYBE borderline on the smaller side but that's am guessing the ingrdients are top notch

It's hard to call a decison to focus on the Cafe a "clear blunder" without being privvy to all of the details surrounding the operaion. I'll be the first to say I've worked with Willis in the past so my take maybe biased but some of my personal observations on his tenure are that the cafe was the most broken piece of the operation, probably the most inconsistant yet the revenue center of the enterprise aside from private dining which was also probably an afterthought. Fixing them was critical to the business and most likely provided the upstairs with enough funds to stay open as long as it did. Running the Bar Room at the Modern is not the same scope as the entire hotel operation at Country but some of Willis's other ventures in Florida and at the Ritz show he certainly has the stones for the task but may not have been aware how troubled everything may have been when he went in. I mean it's not like the previous chef had a reputation for running the tightest ship. Front of house operations were also falling apart around the same time...can't be sure how much the chef would have to do with that.

Brilliant. Thanks for the responses! Taking Friday off so it looks like we're good either way.

Reservation for tomorrow night at 9:00. Estimating we'll be done by 11:30 or so. Due to their location is it safe to assume Stone Barns is used to calling customers a car after dinner so they can get back to the train station? Or is it better to arrange with the same car/company that dropwill be droppings us off at 9?

How small is small as far as the space goes? I 've been meaning to stop by.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/dining/0...html?ref=dining I've worked a few events with Paul Liebrandt and was a big fan of his work at Gilt. Very much looking forward to this opening....finally.

Nicole Kaplan from EMP is now at The Plaza

Had lunch at the Bar Room on Saturday and between the four of us managed to order a lion's share of the menu. The lamb dish continues to amaze and I think is one of the best lamb preparations in NYC right now. Perfectly cooked loin and the crunchy spice crust is incredible. The accompanying side manchego/shank cake or terrine is incredible too. Very creative and at $20 a bargain. The Rib Eye and it's blue cheese flan was also very tasty. There's also a new "Fried Cod" dish that was really nice. Fried in a very light but crunchy and non greasy batter a very moist piece of cod is served over a micro-dice of green apples and celery and it's dressed with a tangy horseradish sauce and a little caviar. Very clean tasting. The other standards (liverwurst, tarte flambe, shrimp w/cabbage slaw) are at the same level they've always been. Service was fine too.

I took a client here for a business lunch there last week and again had an excellent experience. We were there for two hours and in that time there was only one other party in the whole restaurant. I'm seriously hoping they do kick ass dinner business but I can't say for sure. What I can say is for an establishment that doesn't have a ton of foot traffic the freshness and quality of the food does not suffer at all.

Willis has mentioned that since he's been at Country he's focused most of his attention on the Cafe side and is only recently starting to make significant changes on the fine dining side. It sounds like a monumental task to be running such an operation. I think there might be room service involved.

I don't know if I can get behind that. I'd consider it more of a course or an amuse. I guess the litmus test would be if you asked for a second English Muffin during your meal. Knowing some of the attitude of the organization I wouldn't be surprised if they said no.

Slow restaurant news day as this has made Eater.

Not only was it probably only from the city but it was most probably individuals connected with the Conant or people who pay incredible attention to openings and industry news as this one has really gone almost completely under the radar. Shame Gin Lane bombed. It was a great looking space. For that matter shame The Village Idiot shuttered too. The entire idea of that establishment in the MPD was hilarious.

Nice write up on some of the new charcuterie program at Country: http://gothamist.com/2008/05/11/willis_loughhea.php I had the pleasure of being invited in by Willis this weekend to take what he called the "Charcuterie Challenge" in the cafe as I had been to Benoit recently and wanted to compare. There is some EXCELLENT charcuterie being made in NYC these days and Country's is near the top. Most of the samplings were better than dishes I've had at Bar Boulud and as good as the platter currently at Benoit. While I ended up having 3 courses of charcuterie at Country on Saturday I left feeling full but not ill as they are taking particular care to make excellent, rich dishes that aren't overpowering in their fattiness. Great balance. Standouts were anything with lamb, the liverwurst, and some of the smoked hams.

For the first time ever I went here and didn't have the Kimchee Stew but instead had the rice cake dish which sounded too good to pass up. Excellent dish. While watching the cook make it I noticed the shrimp went on the plancha for just a few seconds....maybe 20 seconds if that. Didn't seem like enough time to cook them. When presented they didn't have that sear that you're used to seeing from things that have had high heat. The rice cakes are crunch and mushy in the middle and the first bite of shrimp while warm...almost feels like sushi. At first it turned me off but by the third bite I was sold. Totally new experience and it worked with the sauce, crushed cashews and ribbons of omelette that came mixed in. At $14 it's a winner.

Benoit has emailed me that they officially have their liquor license. The day just got a little dimmer. Managed to get in two meals there before and it was a steal. Still will be if they maintain those food prices but not paying for liquor at a place like that was incredible.

Apparently Gael Greene is free.

Been there twice and haven't seen a trace of Chang either time so it shouldn't be taken for granted that he'll always be there...especially behind the counter.

Have a reservation for Thursday at 2:00. Confirmation call I just received says tomorrow will still be BYO.

So no one else has had an experience here? Walked by it earlier this week and it was packed for dinner. Can it be mostly a tourist/hotel crowd?

Landmark Taver for better than average Pub food. http://www.thelandmarktavern.org/ 46th & 11th Also Daisy Mae BBQ 46th & 11th I second Sullivan St. Bakery. I used to live on that block but that was 8 years before they showed up. 47th b/w 10th & 9th closer to 10th has great Ethiopian too. Forget the name.

Our server during saturday lunch was a woman. And for once...especially these last few years it was nice to see a menu not take three lines to describe a fish's whole lineage. I understand your point but it is a bistro menu. I take that as meaning it should read as simply as possible. We also asked a ton of questions to fill in some of the blanks. Not least of which was asking if they'd serve us the cassoulet even though it's only on the dinner menu. They were unable to do so.

I wonder if those prices will hold after the Bruni review.