jimk
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Posts posted by jimk
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Not to mention that, as with this recent example of a customer's perhaps mistaken reaction to a waiter's perceived "attitude," we have to wonder whether this was truly the sommelier's "fault" or a reaction more founded in Bruni's attitude than the sommelier's. Of course, Bruni gets to write the story...
Sure, but as one of the diners involved in that fiasco I'll say that even if it was all in our heads his response to the situation (i.e. his response to a diner apologizing for getting snippy at him) was breathtakingly unprofessional. So I suppose in that sense, I saw it the same way as Bruni ... the waiter's grating tone (perceived or real) was hardly anything newsworthy in MePa, but his response to the situation - like the Ago staff 's response to the spilled wine - was so wrongheaded that it made the story one worth telling.
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the resy system is working exactly as it was envisioned.
I don't think these examples are representative of how the system was envisioned:
Speaking of glitches...I was finally around at 10 am with nothing going on at work so I tried to get reservation today. I sign in and keep refreshing until 10 am hits. I pick 2 people and click on 8:15. Eureka!!! I get a reservation and all I need to do is confirm. I click "Accept" and I sit there watching a clock count from 60 seconds down. With about ~32 seconds left I get an error message and I lose the reservation.the many problems with the Ko reservations system is the sense that it just doesn't work right. I've experienced so many glitches of that nature (hangups, error messages, being directed to the wrong page or out of the system altogether) that I have very little confidence that I'll get the reservation even if I'm the first diligent early-bird clicker. And of course in the 10am scenario you get no second chances.I thought I was having a bit more luck over the weekend but seem instead to have discovered some glichiness. Logged on at 10 sharp both Saturday and Sunday and both times clicked onto green checkmarks quickly enough to get to the "we are holding this reservation for you for 60 seconds" page with the countdown clock. When I clicked the "accept reservation" button on that page I got the "sorry, someone just grabbed this spot" message. Same thing Sunday. I've emailed the Ko tech guys but have heard nothing back so far.Of the three folks whose posts you cite, there's one person who had a couple of problems this weekend but who thinks the system has held up generally well (me); and there's one person who had a problem this morning ... and you're the only one so far I've heard saying the gliches are an ongoing chronic problem. I'm on there with the rest of the world as many mornings at 10am as not and this past weekend was the only time I saw any real snag (again, if you don't count opening day and even on opening day I was able to get a resy). I think if you consider the traffic and the fact that this is the first time I've seen a restaurant develop its own online resy system from scratch - and if you consider they've been making tweaks to the system pretty steadily, I'll stand by my assertion that, yeah, it's got a pretty solid track record as far as I'm concerned. Again, I totally understand if you don't like it - lots of people don't - but I don't see any overwhelming evidence that it's generally working as planned. I did get a prompt response from their tech support folks who are looking into the problem and have promised to get back to me.
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Bandwidth problems on your end? It's a very low bandwidth site. A dialup modem should be more than sufficient.
Clearly it's a low bandwith site. That's why I said it was a problem on my end. And maybe it's not bandwidth, maybe it's my employer's networking setup or firewall or maybe I just have a crappy computer at work or maybe I need to empty a buffer of some sort ... I just know that I get much faster speed and everything - including and especially Ko - loads and functions faster for me at with my cable connection at home than through the network at my office.
Notwithstanding that, I'm still not sure what the issue is with the current Ko system as I don't buy the premise that the site is any glitchier than most ... I actually think it's a generally more elegant and friendly UI than open table. I don't think them managing a waiting list is going to do much good as long as there are thousands of people every day trying to reservations in a room that holds 12. It seems to me that other than the Craigslist guy who's figured out the way to game the system, the resy system is working exactly as it was envisioned.
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And now that they've raised the price of dinner to $100 the old excuses -- that OpenTable is too expensive, that having someone answer the phone is too expensive -- seem even less compelling.
I still like the current system, despite the fact that I'm having less luck than before and this is the first glitch I've encountered, not counting day 1. Other problems I've had have related either to bandwith problems on my end (I have much better luck from home than I do from work) and the sheer number of users slamming their server. I don't know that OpenTable is built for this kind of volume aimed at a single restaurant once a day for 10 seconds.
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Bourdain/Adria is already sold out.
Anyone know if they keep some tickets on reserve for a later release?
As of right now it looks to me like there are still bourdain/adria tickets available - it let me put two more in my shopping basket.
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It seemed to me that it was time to make the jump to a dry-cured sausage ...
Saucisson Sec seemed the best place to start.
I know the book advocates starting with the Saucisson Sec but it was a similar disaster for me when I tried it as my first time out with dried sausage. I've had much better luck with tuscan salami, soppresata, and pepperone using the F-RM-52 product as well as a surface application of M-EK-4 when it goes in to hang to get the nice while mould happening.
I also find they need more drying time then is generally called for in the book. I'm not happy with the texture until it gets down to 50-55% of original weight.
I wouldn't give up on your batch quite yet though. Give it another week or so and see what happens.
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Looks like tickets are on now sale for the NYC food and wine festival ... all the usual food network suspects are there but a few events look interesting, in particular a panel discussion with Bourdain and Adria. There's also an event at Craftsteak with Portale and Jess Jackson that looks interesting, as well as an $750 dinner at Adour with Ducasse allegedly doing at least some of the cooking, or so they seem to imply. Info at www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com.
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I thought I was having a bit more luck over the weekend but seem instead to have discovered some glichiness. Logged on at 10 sharp both Saturday and Sunday and both times clicked onto green checkmarks quickly enough to get to the "we are holding this reservation for you for 60 seconds" page with the countdown clock. When I clicked the "accept reservation" button on that page I got the "sorry, someone just grabbed this spot" message. Same thing Sunday. I've emailed the Ko tech guys but have heard nothing back so far.
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According to the Augustny.com, the restaurant's new exec chef (replacing Tony Liu) is Terrence Gallivan. His bio is "coming soon" to the web site but I'm told he comes from Fiamma. (Interestingly, Jody Williams's name still appears prominently on Morandi's home page).
Looking forward to seeing what Gallivan's all about once he's made the menu his own. I imagine the rustic pan-European concept would be appealing to a chef looking to run his own kitchen for (I assume) his first time.
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Up until the hostile exchange, I don't think the server really did anything wrong. Speculation like "there was something in this guy's tone in the way he asked that made me want to lie and say yes ... that made me think this is the question that he uses to separate local/foodie types from tourist/b&t types" does not establish wrongdoing. Many restaurants of impeccable service credentials -- especially ones that serve "family style" -- ask every customer, as a matter of policy, whether they've been before and recite a prepared set of speeches to those who haven't. This happens at the Bread Bar at Tabla and lots of other fine places. Lots of restaurants instruct their servers to offer advice on how to eat a dish: spoon, fingers, one bite, whatever. Some percentage of customers will always complain about it but most are fine with it -- see the Alinea topic for many examples.
Confronted with a customer outburst, the server should have had enough competence and training not to let things escalate. But he's a human being and, when attacked, he lost his cool. It happens. It shouldn't, but it does.
You're right to a point of course... I'll still say there was an obnoxious tone to it that didn't entirely exist in my head or in DC's ... in fact we both picked up on it immedoately without either of us pointing it out to the other. Tone is a tricky thing and all I can say is if you were there I think there's a good chance you'd see what we were reacting to and if you were the customer you may have also found it a bit off-putting although not uncommon for MePa. Eater references this thread and describes us as paranoid and I can totally see how you could read it that way. Thin-skinned and a bit crabby on that particular evening is more accurate. Like I said if you were there I think you'd recognize the tone.
But we should have just ignored it, absolutely. Shouldn't have let it bother us. Had we gotten the same 'tude at Pastis we would have been nonplussed but unsurprised because that's what you expect there. And our bad for expecting a more tuned-in waitstaff based merely on the food's rep. But looking back at this thread, others here have remarked on the hipster service staff at FC and this was really just an extension of that.
I'll completely agree that DC let it get to her and we'd both agree that her jabs at the waiter were out of proportion to the waiter's fairly minor infraction and ultimately unproductive. That's why she apologized at the first opportunity. But the guy didn't ultimately lose his cool in response to being attacked. He lost his cool after receiving the apology.
I'll add this though - I used to work in restaurants as a busboy and did a few years as a barista - and I got grief from crabbier customers than DC and harsh words that far exceeded what this guy received from DC. I can't think of a time when a customer apologized for snapping at me. If one had, I would have been more gracious than this guy was. In any place I have ever worked, were I to ever speak to a customer in the way this guy to did to us, regardless of the provocation, I would have been terminated.
If this guy's only infraction was the patronizing hipster attitude then it wouldn't have warranted mention here. It's the fact that 10 minutes later, after the apology, he still couldn't manage his rage that makes it interesting and that, in my view, makes him unsuitable for his position.
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Finally made it to the Fatty Crab last night and the evening was pretty much a catastrophe concluding with us walking out after eating about a third of our meal.
The longish story:
It's one of those places I've always wanted to go and it's only a 10 minute walk uptown from my building but it's never gotten to the top of my list because of the no-reservations policy, its proximity to the meat district and a couple of underwhelming meals at 5 Ninth. Still, I've enjoyed much great food in my lifetime in Singapore and Malaysia. People here and elsewhere whom I respect love the place, and I and was game for an early dinner last night to beat the hordes (are there still hordes that go there?) so my dining companion and I arrived at FC a bit before 7. By the way, was that Cutlets wearing the hat sittting outside or someone otherwise familiar to me from food events around town? Anyway ...
Outside tables were pretty much full so the waiter (an Irish guy) seated us at the middle table indoors. So far so good. Then he asked the question that made both my Dining Companion (let's call her DC) and I bristle ... it was the "have you ever been here before?" question. Now I'm not opposed to the question in general at a place where ordering, etc is going to differ from the norm (Craft, for example, or Peasant). But there was something in this guy's tone in the way he asked that made me want to lie and say yes ... that made me think this is the question that he uses to separate local/foodie types from tourist/b&t types. And although DC and I didn't discuss that particular question until later in the evening, it turns out we both had the same reaction and the same impulse to lie to him and say yes, we've been here before. But we didn't lie, we said no, we haven't. And from that point onward he treats us like a couple of rubes who've just somehow been seperated from their sex-and-the-city-tour. Lots of baby talk, and assurances like "you know, everything on the menu is REALLY GOOD," and explaining complicated culinary terms to us like "family style" and ... this particularly bothered DC ... only ever speaking to me and never speaking to or making eye contact with her.
Now DC and I are both sitting there trying to not let this guy's patronizing tone get to us - I mean it's not the worst thing a waiter ever did by a long shot - and the food starts to come out ... we really liked the watermelon salad, found the sliders a bit dry. I was surprised that he let us order a side of coconut rice when coconut rice was already included with the duck dish. I found the fatty duck tasty but a bit tough to eat ... I found it easiest and tidiest to pull the meat off the bone with my fork and eat the morsels of meat, with a bit of rice, with my chopsticks. Anyway that's what I was doing when the evening took its turn for the worse. The waiter came over and said to me "you know, it's ok if you want to eat the duck with your fingers."
DC had as much as she could take. She'd had a bad day and on a good day she's not one to suffer fools gladly. "Thanks," she snapped. "We've eaten before." Irish waiter dude spins around to face her, glaring. "Pardon?" he resonds. "I said we've eaten before many times, you don't need to explain to us how to do it," she replies. Irish waiter storms into the kitchen and we don't see him for another 10 minutes.
Now DC knows she was out of line and was, in part, taking her bad day out on her bad waiter. Almost immediately she's saying to me "wow I shouldn't have said that, I need to apologize to that guy." So, be assured, we are aware that we are responsible for our share of the episode.
So finally the waiter comes back into the room and DC calls him over and gives him a 5-star totally sincere apology. She said she'd had a bad day, that she was totally out of line and that she was really sorry for speaking to him so rudely. As apologies go - in words and tone - one couldn't have asked for more.
And it could have ended there but here's what waiter dude says in response, still glowering, almost shaking with anger, literally biting his lip: "Well... I mean... I guess I'll be willing to accept your apology. Yeah ... I suppose I will ... I mean if you're going to say you're sorry then I guess I have to just take that for what it's worth. But it's taking all I have to hold my tongue here."
So I say "excuse me, is there something you feel you need to say?" and he ignores me, so I say "listen the only thing is ..." (and what I was going to say was "the only thing is we both had the impression that you'd mistaken us for tourists and we actually live just down the street and I'm sure you know how locals can get when you confuse them for tourists" but he didn't let me get that out.) He cut me off at "the only thing is" and he snaps at me (here's where our episode reaches its apex) "look, the lady apologized and that's all I'm interested in hearing from you two on the subject so why don't you just let it drop."
So I quietly say to DC, "let's go." We stand up from the table (which at this point has had maybe half the dishes we've ordered arrive) and I ask a runner to point me to the manager. Manager is just walking in from outside so he's missed the whole thing. I say to the manager - and I'm a bit flustered but not losing my cool or spitting mad or anything - "look, we've just had a situation with the waiter over there which has made it impossible for us to stay and enjoy our meal. We've only eaten some of it but we're happy to pay for it if that's what you think is fair." The manager just kind of looks at us like he's got no idea what's happening and Irish waiter shouts from across the room something along the lines of "don't take their money, I'll pay for it." (To be clear his tone makes it clear that it's not a conciliatory gesture, but more of a David Chang telling Craigslist guy that his money's no good at Ko kind of thing.) So we leave after hearing a bit of an "I have no idea what happened here or whose fault it is but if it's our fault I'm sorry for whatever it is that happened" speech from the manager.
So that's the story of our first and almost definitely last dinner at the Crab.
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I'd like to hope the current menu reflects the price increase but I haven't been there recently enough to know if it does. Chang has implied he's serving more courses than when he first opened. If that's true and/or he's delivering more luxury ingredients than he was at the outset then I won't begrudge the extra $15 because it may actually be about food cost. He did change his mind on that extra half-turn he added to the dinner service and he still offers a really affordable corkage so it's not necessarily all about the bottom line. It will be interesting when they add lunch to see how that effects demand and how they price their lunch service.
I'll also agree that it's gotten a lot harder than it was pre-Bruni to get a reservation. I ate there three times in the initial weeks and helped a few friends with resys but have had no luck in the last month.
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This is all very exciting as we've got a resy for later this week. The minnows and the pork with honey are now at the top of my craving list. Any truth to the rumor they've replaced those wretched uncomfortable chairs they had?
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that spring menu just rocks.
ok, not everything is perfect. striped bass entree shows the execution level of a high-end kitchen but needs one more flavor...some sort of contrast.
the new version of the sweetbread/rabbit app is really nice.
so is the rabbit fettucine (yes, they're using Thumper in more than one dish).
companions raved about the scallop app..didn't get a chance to try it.
cocktail program sucks. wine is definitely the way to go.
sometimes I think with the heavily flavored places that so many NYC gourmands spend all their time at now...they're losing their sense of subtlety....gotta mix it up once in a while.
How is the service these days? Did they learn from the early days? We went once early on and really liked the food but were put off by the waiter (who was just a little too adamant on helping us choose a wine whether we wanted his help or not) and the table spacing (but that may have been because we were seated next to possibly the worst third date I've ever seen - and I went on some pretty wretched third dates back in the day). I also couldn't understand why they refused to sell me a primi-sized portion of the pasta dish when none of the other starters appealed to me. We ended up sharing an entree size pasta as a starter and they wouldn't even put it on two plates. Just goofy and inflexible in a way that ends up with them making that much less money on us. As others have said here, I suspect Sheridan Square may force them to up their game a bit if they haven't done so already.
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Actually, I think it was Nathan that had the garlic soup. I was there two nights ago (report here).We were there last night - we live just down the street - and I'll agree with almost everything said above, although we liked the garlic soup a bit more than Oakapple did.Indeed - my mistake.
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I can't compare it to Biltmore Room (never went), but I think the décor at Sheridan Square is about 100 times nicer than Commerce. The comparison to Bar Blanc is a closer call, but I would give the nod to Sheridan Square.The decor is tasteful though nowhere near as elaborate as the Biltmore Room or nearby restaurants such as Bar Blanc or Commerce.....and no cellphone booth either (anyone remember that?).We were there last night - we live just down the street - and I'll agree with almost everything said above, although we liked the garlic soup a bit more than Oakapple did. I believe last night was their first night open to the public although it didn't feel especially like an opening night - i.e. no hoopla, celebs, etc.... They gave us a great corner banquette which I'm surprised wasn't being held for a VIP or investor type. Sounds like they did friends and family for a couple of weeks with the paper still up on the windows (to keep away the bloggers our server told us) which must have made for a weird closet-like room.
We started with negronis which were well mixed. Had a bottle of a nice cru beaujolais which ran just under $50 ... one weakness in the wine program is they only have one lonly rose on their list. I started with the squash blossom stuffed with crab served with avacado, some sort of corn salsa, and a mango/chile sauce which sounds like a lot but the plate was nicely balanced and nothing was extraneous except for a handful of greens in the middle of the plate. Ourtstanding - generous with the incredibly fresh crab meat so seemed fairly priced at $17 for the starter. C had the garlic soup which we both enjoyed - mild but flavorful.
For entrees, C had a trout special cooked in the wood oven and served with pickled yellow beets, varely cooked haricots vert and some sort of vinaigrette. She liked it a lot - I didn't try it though. Her only comment was that the plate could have used a starch. My main was a really nice pasta dish, a strozzatelli I think (think hand-rolled rustic long penne) - really nice, served with a white veal bolognese (ground veal, english peas, bacon, mirepoix, white wine and loads of butter) - perfectly cooked pasta, nicely balanced flavors. Some might have found it a bit overly brothy but I thought it worked.
Tempted by dessert (berries and cream sounded nice) but we were both stuffed. On the whole while the menu looks pricey and the place will take some knocks for that - but we felt we got pretty good value. The portions were generous and our bill was under $140 before tip, including two $11 cocktails and a $48 bottle of wine. Not totally out of wack with what we'd pay at August for a similar week-night dinner.
Service was fine if a bit overenthusiastic. I hope they drop the thing where they bring over the big pepper grinder to the table after they drop the entrees on the table - that always strikes me as a bit TGI Fridays, and at least let me taste the food before deciding whether it needs pepper. But that's just a pet peeve of mine. The room was kid of eh, and I don't know that the outdoor seating with the view of the parking garage will be a big draw for me. The only major opening glitch I saw was that the lights kept flickering on and off which we eventually stopped noticing.
Bottom line is that everything on every plate we got was soundly conceived and well executed. Food at Bar Blanc is probably a bit more refined but we like this place better just because it had a bit more soul.
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If I'm not mistaken this place has been open for a week or so now ... anybody been, or heard anything? We're going to be in Philadelphia in a few weeks and really torn between Osteria and this place.
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made a res earlier this week just to see if i can get in, read all the press about how impossible and gruesome the process would be, i didn't exactly have high hopes i'd get it... after a couple of days, voila, I'll be there on Sunday. no definite dinner companion yet
went to ssam about a year ago, wasn't too impressed. it's a bit of a blur at the moment, but i remember the dishes were unique and unlike anything else they serve in nyc restaurants - which was refreshing. nothing particular stood out, and a dish or two were overly salted.
the recent topics on this thread about how everything is pork-related is putting me off a little - the only time i would choose pork from a menu is if the other other option is chicken... perhaps i'll think differently after this meal.
- if the treatment/ service from the chef and servers are sub-par compared to other 3-star restaurants, does that mean they do not deserve the typical 20% gratuity? (joking)
nevertheless, i'm looking forward a culinary adventure on Sunday
will report back.
I sort of envy you going into the place with managed expectations - I think you'll enjoy it a bit more than you expect to, but hope you post and let us know.
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The wine pairing at Per Se is probably the best in town, because there is no set pairing. They create it based on your preferences and budget. If you ask, "What will the wine pairing cost?", they will generally try to steer you somewhere north of $200 a head, but as another post noted, they'll go down to around $150 or perhaps $100. Given inflation, you might not be able to go down to $100 any more. The tasting menu is now up to $275, after yet another price increase.
Almost every top-tier restaurant in town finds a way to offer quality wine pairings with their tasting menu for under $100. If Per Se doesn't want to do the same that's a business decision that has little to do with inflation. I think it's bizarre that they don't offer a reasonably priced wine pairing when - at least the last time I was there - they had some reasonably priced, good value wines on their list.
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We ate there a couple of Saturday's ago. I had the arctic char which was quite good. My wife's pork chop though was way overcooked. Now it turns out that my wife likes her meat well done but she hadn't asked for it that way. If the temperature of that chop was the way they'd normally serve it, definitely overcooked.
Did they not ask what temp she wanted it done? I recall my wife and I were both asked what temp we wanted liver and steak respectively.
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my experiences with the service at Ko have all been good. some of the cooks can be a little taciturn, yes, but I'm not there to banter.
They also loosen up and relax quite a bit as the night progresses, in my experience. Especially when they were doing the extra half-turn, I know that the first seating took all their attention just to keep the pace.
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I actually happen to agree with you that I'd love to have more interaction with the chefs at Ko, but I think you're wrong about how much David Chang values servers. The context of that quote was that it's not fair for servers to make more than chefs who work equally as hard, if not more so.
If that's what he meant, he could have said that. Instead, he said servers are "greedy bastards." I'm not sure how anybody can interpret that comment to be respectful of servers. And that's not a one-off comment either. Chang also told GQ:
I know nobody expects to make money as a cook, but cooks have to live, and they can’t live on $300 to $400 a week. It makes me mad that cooks are treated like shit and servers say, ‘Well, you choose your profession.’ Whatever you guys say, you don’t work as hard as cooks, so go fuck yourselvesPeople like Cory (and many others at Momofuku) have lots of choice about who to work for. Something tells me working for Chang is a lot better than he makes it sound. It can't all be about pride in the cooking.Given that servers are "greedy bastards," perhaps it's about money. The Momofuku restaurants have been very successful. They turn tables like crazy and customers spend a ton of money. So the servers are most likely raking it in. That's at Ssam Bar and Noodle Bar, where the service is good (I'd say despite Chang's rotten attitude) but, at least in the case of Ssam Bar, slipping now that Cory is no longer on the floor regularly.
But at ko, the proffer is basically "Screw the greedy bastard servers; we cooks don't need them; we cooks can do it without them." And so far ko has not delivered on that. The service provided by the cooks is weak. Perhaps it will improve, but there's no indication that anybody is trying to make that happen.
I think Chang gives good sound bite and is generally miffed to see servers earn so much more than chefs and irritated that he as a restaurant owner doesn't have the discretion to cut his cooks into the tipping pool under NY law. I also think his bark is worse than his bite. I think when you do 24 covers a night total and you price your menu at $85 (and use some luxury ingredients) something has to give. I'm sure there are folks out there who are as good at working a room as they are at executing haute cuisine but I doubt there are many of them and I bet they're expensive. If I have to trade the shmoozing for the quality of the food then that's good. And honestly I didn't go into Ko my first time with the expectation of anything other than that the chefs would be chefs.
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Just another thought on the idea of what there is out there that's similar to Ko ... I had a meal last year in Hong Kong that was similar in some ways. The chef - a former big wheel celeb chef at a major hotel there - now just consults for one of the big casinos in Maco and does private dinners at his apartment. He and his wife do all the cooking and all the serving. There's max 8 or 10 guests. The night my wife and I dined it was just the two of us washing down 10 or 11 courses of amazing food with cheap beer in this couple's miniscule living room with the tv on and a fish tank in the corner ... Outstanding ...
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Those are all worthy examples, but they are all less expensive than Ko, and none of them are three-star restaurants. To be blunt, they are all pretty good, but not on the level Ko aspires to. In that sense, they're not really useful points of comparison.
If you start compare Ko to the restaurants in its price range, its limitations become more apparent.
I don't think that other restaurants at Ko's price point are useful points of comparison either. Just because they share a price point they're good comparitors? What the other restaurants (Del Posto, Gramercy Tavern, Le Bernardin, etc.) aim to be and what Ko aims to be are so enormously different. All they have in common is a price point and the notion of "high end" ... that's not nearly enough in my book to treat them as apples and apples, especially when Chang's vision is clearly to not be an apple. If Per Se is an apple and Gramercy Tavern is a peach, then Ko is a durian.
Momofuku Ko (Part 1)
in New York: Dining
Posted
Whether it's humility or something more complicated I certainly have gotten the sense from my few conversations with Chang that he is conflicted about his success. I've never paid him a complement that he didn't try to deflect towards someone he felt to be more desserving. He's a complicated guy but he's never struck me as deliberately manipulative or disingenous.
I also find picture-taking annoying in restaurants. The only place I've ever done it is at El Bulli where it was happening at virtually every table.