jimk
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Posts posted by jimk
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This is a stupid thing to argue about, and I apologize in advance for it, but 1983 was a very good Bordeaux vintage that (assuming the right bottles) still drinks pretty well. What do you expect, a lot of '82s?
Yep, 83 was a dandy year in Bordeaux, and the better wines are still drinking well.
I also thought the wine list was fine ... the red list was definitely focussed on New World wines but I've always tended to associate the American Steakhouse with California Cab. I didn't even really look at the French reds ... And sure, there weren't tons of huge names on the list but on the whole I thought it was an interesting and well-chosen selection. I'd rather have a list of high quality esoteric wines than a compendium of the usual suspects ... but then what do I know ... I actually liked the thyme with my steak!
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As a point of comparison, at Aquavit (where I dined last Friday), the chef's tasting menu is $105, and the wine pairing is $80. So, to expect Per Se to do it for practically the identical price, when the food is double the price, is probably not realistic.
Really? I'm not sure I agree. I can see why the food at Per Se costs more than the food at Aquavit - the sourcing of the ingredients from small purveyers, the more complex preparations, more luxury ingredients, plus more courses means more ingredients which means more spoilage ... Wine, on the other hand, costs the same to the restaurant whether it's Aquavit or Per Se doing the purchasing. I believe that they absolutely could do wine pairings profitably for $75-80 choosing interesting wines from underrated regions and grapes. Having said that, I can understand that given their business model (huge staff costs and not being able to turn a table more than once in an evening) they're marking up wine more than most restaurants would. Landmark will be an interesting contrast when they open in the TWC.
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Thanks to those who offered advice yesterday. Thought the least I could do was give you a quick report on our dinner. On the whole, it was a lovely dinner. In terms of hospitality, service was a notch up from Craft proper (where I've always found the staff to either be junior-and-nervous or senior-and-frosty), but a bit more clenched than Gramercy Tavern. The dining space itself is nice but the venue as a whole feels underpopulated. You come into the restaurant through a bar area that seemed like a work-in-progress - felt like a semi-disassembled hotel banquet room ... dining room is lovely though - high ceiling, and a huge painting on one wall of the view uptown from the Meat Packing district. Really great lighting, comfortable banquets, lots of space between tables.
We skipped cocktails (having come straight from Pegu) ... Two of us had the sweetbreads to start, one had the lobster bisque. The bisque was spectacular - the best I've ever tasted. The soup manage to carry an intensely fresh flavor of lobster, and the butter and cream somehow seemed to stand on their own, as though they were complementing the flavor of the lobster rather than just serving as a vehicle for it. The sweetbread dish managed to be both great and the only real misstep of the evening. The serving of three sweetbreads was generous (easily sharable by two as an app) and the first two sweetbreads I had were probably the best I've ever had. The third (and largest) was sadly underdone and had an unfortunate squishy and slightly damp texture ... I pointed it out to the server who took it away to show the chef and offered to cook me another sweetbread. I declined, as it would have thrown off the pace of our dinner, but I was a bit disappointed and surprised that he didn't take it off the bill or send over a drink after dinner or something.
For our mains, we shared three NY strips (all steak - no kidding) ... one was the Hawaiian grass fed, the others were Ridgefield, one aged 35 days and the other was 49 day. My fave was the grass fed, but the others perferred the 49 day by a nose. The difference between the 35 and the 49 was pretty subtle ... the 49 was perhaps a bit more flavorful but definitely more tender. Foro me, it wasn't that the grass-fed necessarily tasted "better" - it was just very different from what I'm accustomed to, more intense and almost herby flavor that I could enjoy both viscerally and intellectually.
Sides were all solid - we had fries, zuchini blossoms, butter-braised English peas, and hen of the woods mushrooms ... all were simple but packed with flavor. The fries blew me away. We didn't find anything oversalted but we tend to enjoy things on the salty side. We skipped dessert and opted for some interesting sweet Italian wines instead (a vin santo and a Piedmontese Bigaro that was incredible). The bill for the three of us was about $500 before tip, but more than $200 of that was wine ... a Gruner with the first course and a spectacular '98 Macayamas (sp?) with our mains.
Bottom line - I'll be back. It's expensive, so it's not a casual drop by anytime kind of place. On the whole, the surroundings and the service and the sides are so much better than Luger that even if I'd probably just slightly prefer a Luger portehouse, I'd definitely rather spend an evening at Craftsteak.
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Going to craftsteak tonight for the first time with my wife and a friend visiting from Jakarta. Interested in hearing about any recent experiences that haven't been posted here already. We're planning to order three steaks and share all three to maximize comparing and contrasting pleasure ... I'm thinking maybe a Hawaiian grass-fed NY strip and a Ridgefield corn-fed 35 day strip but can't decide on the third ... maybe one of the older strips (48 or 54 day? what happens to the flavor when you give it that kind of aging - does it get extra mellow, or does it intensify or what? what about texture?) Or maybe a Wagyu for the third (although I'm always disappointed when I try Wagyu - I guess because I've been spoiled by the chance to eat really great Kobe beef in Japan a few times) ... anyway, any advice would be much appreciated.
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I disagree the boucer had the right to touch me. I never touched the MD nor was I threatening to touch him, so he had no right to do so. Legally, that's assault.
Fair enough ... agree to disagree ... I've just finished my second year of law school, though, and I can tell you that what you describe would never fly as an assault in New York state. Even 3rd degree misdemeanor assault requires physical injury. Further, business owners have broad protection from both criminal prosecution and civil tort actions when they're acting in the interests of their business and property. It's why Macy's has a jail on their premises and if they suspect you of stealing they can physically detain you. And if it turns out they were wrong and you weren't stealing, you don't really have a criminal or civil remedy, even if they put handcuffs on you and locked you up in a cell. If you could prove that the bouncer had an intent to injure you, that might be another story in a civil context, but him putting his hand on your back? That's not assault ... not even close. [For the record, I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice ...]
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Well, maybe I'm alone in this perspective, but I think that the MD's bad behavior doesn't excuse the OP's behavior. So they're rude to you - take your stuff from the coat check, eat somewhere else, post on eGullet, and don't go there again. You're the one who lost his temper and escalated the situation.
Were it my restaurant, I'd absolutely expect a bouncer/security to show an out-of-control customer the door, no matter how justified may be in feeling you have been treated badly. Bouncer goon was doing his job and doing it well by the sounds of it - he had every legal right to physically touch you, and he had every right to ask you to leave ... and he wasn't goaded into a fight by you and eventually got you out the door without bloodshed. He'd be wise to put a picture of you up somewhere so that the rest of the staff know you're not welcome. If I owned Gallaghers and read this post, I'd be appalled. I'd fire the MD and give the bouncer a raise. I'd send you a note of apology but I wouldn't let you back into my restaurant.
Sorry if this sounds harsh but I'm a bit startled that nobody else has suggested that your behavior was appaling in this situation. I've enjoyed reading your posts since discovering eGullet, and I'm certain that when your temper is under control you're a good guy. I'm the first to complain about bad service from restaurants, and as a result of your post, I'll never eat at Gallaghers. But the fact that 24 hours later you're still wishing you'd thrown a punch at the guy tells me that in this situation you were as much of the problem as the slimy MD, if not more so. Just my two cents ... fire away if you need to ...
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Does anyone know where Kerry Heffernan has ended up? I think the original announcement was that he was going to USH's new catering company, but I gather that didn't happen. Even if Heffernan's menu was a bit unfocussed I have to admit I enjoyed his cooking. The english pea flan was one of my favorite spring dishes in the city.
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Perhaps it's a bit naive, but I question the whole notion that the more a sommelier knows about my taste the happier I'll be with the wine. Yes, it's often true, but not always. What I value about a good sommelier is his/her ability to take me away from my comfortable old habits. I find the more lattitude I give a sommelier (once I know I can trust them) the more happily surprised I'll be with their selection. When I'm feeling free, I'll make sure the sommelier knows what we're having for dinner, and I'll give some indication of price range, and then I'll ask the sommelier to surprise me with something unexpected - something that will work but that perhaps most people wouldn't think to try with that particular dishes. They sometimes try to get me to tell them red, white, oaky or not, new world, old world, etc and I steadfastly refuse to narrow the range - I like good red wine and good white wine. I like wine from around the world. I like wine with oak when the oak is in balance, and I've had some brilliant wines that have never touched oak. I don't do this as often as I should but it (although I have at Per Se (bringing this post momentarily on topic) and at Le Bernardin to great success) ... but when I do, it makes the sommelier happy and it almost always gives me a taste of cool juice that I never would have thought to try on my own.
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Off to Copenhagen in a few weeks - some great posts here, but I was hoping someone might have information on a place called 1.th - have heard from sources I respect that it quite possibly serves the best dinner to be had in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the web site is entirely in Danish and I've gotten no reply to my email to them. Anybody have the scoop?
1. th is an extraordinary restaurant.
The concept is to try and make the dining experience seem like a private party.
The restaurant looks more like an apartment, and people are seated more or less like at a regular party.
Everyone gets the same menu, and there are usually musicians playing before and after dinner.
It was started by Mette Sia Martinussen, who I think have left the place, but last I heard the standard was still excellent.
Hope you enjoy it.
Jakob
Yeah - just finally heard back from them and their closed over the Christmas/New Years break when we're going to be there. Made reservations at Noma instead ... I hear it's also great - do you hear the same?
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Off to Copenhagen in a few weeks - some great posts here, but I was hoping someone might have information on a place called 1.th - have heard from sources I respect that it quite possibly serves the best dinner to be had in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the web site is entirely in Danish and I've gotten no reply to my email to them. Anybody have the scoop?
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Just curious,
Does anyone know how many Michelin Star Monsieur Ducasse have including his 1 and 2 star restaurants?
2-star: one of his hotel-restaurants at Moustiers Sainte-Marie or La Celle?
A total of 14-star then? Wow, but it seems a little bit too many. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks
I'm certain his place in La Celle isn't starred ... At best I'd give it one star ... We stayed there a few nights in 03 and the food was competently prepared from lovely local ingredients, but not especially exciting ... a market-driven menu ... very simple preparations of local meat and poultry. It was good enough that we ate there a couple of times but we ate much more exciting meals on that trip. Granted it wasn't priced like a Michelin-starred restaurant either - I think the three course menu was under 40 Euros and the five-course menu was in the range of 50.
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If we want to be especially correct we might all make a note that there's no apostrophe-s at the end. It's Zagat. Not Zagat's. And if you buy an expensive suit, it's an Armani, not an Armani's.
Aong the same lines there's no apostrophe after Peter Luger, Dean and Deluca, Citarella or - this one kills me but I've heard it more than once - Blue Hill.
Another whole line of discussion could be devoted to the proper placement of the apostrophe ... "Olives" is an entirely different restaurant from "Olive's" (although last I time I checked even Todd English's place was misplacing the apostrophe on their credit card machine.)
I used to live in Vancouver and there was (or perhaps still is) a theme restaurant there called Brothers (all the servers dressed like monks - seriously). I made the mistake of eating there once and noticed that the signage, menus, receipts, name tags, napkins, etc. all used different variations of punctuation. Depending on where you looked, you were either eating at Brothers, Brother's, Brothers', or - my favorite - Brothers's.
Yeah I know - way too much time on my hands.
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Had dinner at Maremma last night ... it's just opened up in the old Tangerine space on West 10th (just west of Bleeker) ... this is Cesare Casella's new place. He's the chef/owner at Beppe which I've never tried for the embarrassing reason that I always got Beppe confused with Becco so every time someone suggested Beppe I remembered my underwhelming meal at Becco and took at pass ... oh well.
Anyway, Maremma is less than a block from our apartment and the Cowboy Tuscan sounded like one of those concepts that could a) never work anywhere outside New York and b) be disasterous in the wrong hands.
We ordered conservatively - wanting to test out the kitchen before our next visit when we'll be a bit more adventurous ... maybe next time, we'll try the Granelli ... fried "rocky mountain oysters" that look good ...
Anyway, on the whole it was a solid B+ for the evening.
We started with the tuscan chili and an order of the fries ... very nice - the chili was outstanding though not of course authentically italian or mexican. Lots of nice pepper and no tomato that I could tell ... the meat was beef short rib meat I think - a really outstanding dish. The fries were very good too - great flavour and great colour, but they could have been a touch crispier. My guess is that the oil wasn't quite hot enough or they were crowding the fryer. It came with some tasty fried herbs tossed in as as well, along the lines of what they sometimes serve at Red Cat. Reminded me of that recipe for fried sage leaves in the Times mag a couple of weeks ago - have to try that.
For mains, my wife had the seafood stew which was absolutely the star of the show. Gorgeous broth - with a bit of pepper heat - with octopus, clams, mussels, cuttlefish and grouper, topped with a big crusty piece of tuscan garlic bread. An outstanding dish - the seafood was beautifully tender and the broth was incredibly flavourful. We'll be having this again.
My main was less appealing. Actually, mostly was just inadequately described and not to my taste. It was a "pork fried steak" which translates to a pork cutlet on the bone, pounded thin, coated in breadcrumbs and fried. It was described as being served with mushrooms and shaved parm but I was surprised with what I got. The cutlet was absolutely covered in a massive amount of sliced button mushrooms which were raw and cold and had been tossed in a vinegrette. Then on top of the mushrooms were a few shavings of slightly melted parm - not the most flavorful parm I've had. If I'd known there was vinegrette involved I would have ordered something else (I have an irrational antipathy towards vinegar in almost every form - doesn't everybody have one weird food issue?) so I suppose my quarrel is more with the description than the dish. The "steak" came by itself on the plate - probably should have ordered a side of veg.
There was no dessert menu - waiter recited a few choices ... if memory serves there was a mint panna cotta with rhubarb, some sort of flourless chocolate cake (when is that fad going to end?), a mascarpone cheesecake, and what our waiter described as a lemon soufle with blueberries. We ordered the souffle to share, thinking it would give us time to finish our wine, but moments later the "souflee" arrived on our table. Don't get me wrong, it was fabulous - it just wasn't a souflee by even the broadest definition. It was essentially a round of light sponge cake topped with some beautifully tart lemon curd and sprinkled with beautiful fresh blueberries. Would absolutely have this again.
On the whole - the menu is great - jam packed with stuff I'd like to try, and all entrees in the high teens or low twenties. Small but well considered wine list with lots of budget items. We had a $50 bottle of Toscana Morreno which was gorgeous and even worked with the fish stew. Service was on the whole very good with just a few minor missteps that you'd expect from a restaurant in its first week in operation.
One criticism - and I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on this, as it's a big pet peeve of mine. Casella was there - wearing civilian clothes rather than his whites, but still with the rosemary in the pocket so everybody knew who he was. He occasionally went back to the kitchen, but he seemed mostly focussed on front of house. Here's my problem - if you're a chef/owner/restauranteur type and you're working the room, work the whole room. For an hour and a half we watched this guy look around the room sizing up which tables that he was going to go say hello to - which customers were worthy of a smile and nod, which were worthy of a hello how's your meal and which were worthy of no attention. He must have walked by our table 30 times without a smile or a nod while he fell over himself for the others. (Actually at one point he nearly gave fell over and gave himself whiplash while checking out a young and pulcritudinous bar patron fron every angle) and At one point we watched him look down to see what wine we were drinking and then without looking at us walked away. I didn't like it when I saw Sirrio so obviously play favorites and I didn't like it last night. Compare this to Danny Meyer when he's at any of his restaurants, or Jean-Claude Vrinat at Taillevent ... they certainly don't have time to chat with every table but they know how to direct eye contact, smiles, waves, or whatever to make sure that every customer feels like an important guest.
Anyway, on the whole it's very promising indeed. Interested in hearing others' perspectives ...
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Wow - I'd love to know if any butchers in town are selling the blue-foots. Any indication on the news release whether these are just being shipped to restaurants out here or will home cooks be able to buy them. I love poulet de bresse. Notice that Hearth is featuring the blue-foots on their summer menu. I'll be needing to check that out very soon ...
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We've been to the Bar Room twice - and we're going for a late dinner tonight - and while we're absolutely entralled with the food and the room (are hard-core Meyer loyalists), we can't help but wonder why the service isn't better at the Modern.
At its best it's brisk and efficient but I've never felt an ounce of the Danny Meyer hospitality. At its worst it's frosty and inattentive.
The host seems absolutely determined to not seat a party under any circumstances until the time of their reservation (last time we arrived maybe 5 minutes early to a half-empty restaurant but she rather briskly told us that our table would be ready "on time" and sent us to wait at the bar and left us there for 15 minutes). Wine service seems to be spotty too - on both our visits we ordered a mid-range bottle from the full wine list and were filling our own glasses all evening. Part of me thinks that it is the casual room and what's the big deal with filling our glasses ... and when you don't entirely trust the service sometimes it's preferable to an inexperienced waiter overfilling the glass ... but as my wife pointed out, if we're dropping $75 on a bottle of wine and there are people buzzing around with grapes on their lapels we tend to expect a little better ... they should have their wine service kinks worked out by now.
Both visits we've pretty much ended up having to stand on our table and fire a flare gun to get our waiters' attention to get coffee and the check. The last time I was there, the second I picked up the last piece of tarte flambee a runner came over and pulled the plate out from under it - I hadn't even bit into the piece of tarte yet ... he was about to dash off with the plate when I said that actually I wasn't quite done eating yet ... he sighed and said "fine I'll bring you a new plate." Of course I'd finished the slice by the time the new plate appeared - didn't really have much choice other than to sit there holding it. Maybe its my own fault for eating tarte flambee with my fingers .... Just doesn't seem like fork food to me ...l
Again though, the biggest problem we have is just that it doesn't feel like Danny Meyer service - nobody seems happy to see us or interested in ensuring that we have a nice evening ... I read somewhere that the GM is from the Jean-Georges empire ... maybe there's a connection there ... While I've had some great meals at JG restaurants I've never encountered really good service at one ... at best decent, never great ...
This place really has the potential to be an outstanding restaurant - and I don't throw that word around lightly - and it certainly has the potential to be Meyer's most influential restaurant ... They just need to get a handle on the service ...
JK
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Keller must have huge costs in New York, and significant up-front investments to recoup. Yet, until now, Per Se carried the same prices as The French Laundry. Since it's practically the toughest rez in town, simple economics suggest that Keller wasn't charging enough. This had to happen sooner or later. The surprise is that all three menus are now $175, whereas before they were differentiated.
Not sure that's entirely true - I thought I read somewhere that in Per Se's case, the developers assumed a lot of the capital costs because Keller was going to be such a draw, whereas I think Gray Kunz had to raise his own money. Does Keller even have to pay rent? I'm just wondering if they've changed what they're serving with the 5-course - have they increased the luxe ingredient quotient on the five course, or is it basically the same kind of menu as before only at the higher cost. Still, I'm sympathetic to them - I imagine they're lucky to pull a hundred covers a night, assuming they're able to turn some of the early dinner tables. I think they've priced themselves out of my range at this point, though. I paid less for 7 courses at Taillevent last month.
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Hey folks -
A couple of observations on Per Se that I haven't seen elsewhere. I've been a few times, most recently in September. I now notice on their web site that all menus (ie the 5 course, the 7 course and the veg tasting) are now $175 - that's a pretty hefty price jump for the 5 course, which I recall being more like $125. Has anyone been since this change in pricing? Are the 5-course offerings appreciably different from what they were before the price hike?
Another issue that I thought folks might be interested in ... back in September I posted some remarks here about some service problems that put a damper on our last visit to Per Se (I'm sure there's some way I could link to my post that I don't know - you can find it by going to page 18 of this topic - my post was on Sept. 7).
In any case, a few folks here suggested I write the restaurant a letter and raise my concerns, which I did. Received a letter back a few weeks later apologizing for the problems, graciously thanking me for raising the issues (saying that they had used parts of my letter at service meetings) and expressing a hope that I'd give them "another opportunity." The individual (titled Director of Operations) who wrote the letter asked me to please contact him directly to make my next reservation. I thought that was a nice gesture - to spare me the usual "redial, redial and wait on hold for a half-hour" hassle. I decided to call today and realized the only number he gave me was for the main reservation number. So the gesture is that I get to go through the whole drill PLUS then ask for him and wait on hold again so that he can take my reservation personally? Odd.
Maybe I'm being unreasonable? I really want this place to succeed ...
JK
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What's up with Landmarc? Went for dinner on Wed night and it was dark and locked up tight, with some major construction work underway in the main room. No sign on the door - nothing to indicate that this is merely renovations (which would surprise me anyway, given that it's been open less than a year ... ended up having a so-so dinner down the street at Odeon - would have been good had the frites not tasted of calamari ... anyway, anyone know what gives at Landmarc? Would be a shame to lose them from the scene ...
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I think you should write a letter or e-mail to the restaurant. This is so unlike the service that anybody else has reported. Indeed, most posters have said that the staff happily stay within a reasonable wine budget.
Against these reports, this server's behavior is an anomaly, and the restaurant would want to know. I think you will get a favorable reaction if you contact them.
You're probably right - does anyone know who the GM is, or to whom I could address an email? Of course the web site only lists the impenetrable reservation phone number and offers no email address. Feel free to reply directly to me at jkirk@yahoo.com if you don't want to post contact details on this board. Thanks!
jk
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Hey folks - longtime egullet lurker, first time poster here ... nice to meet you ...
Had dinner at per se last night - our third time there ... a very mixed experience ...
Food itself was the best yet - we did the 9 course tasting menu, and there were a few home runs - general consensus was that the best courses were the oysters and pearls, and the two fish courses - a sauteed pacific sablefish (we call it black cod where I come from, but I suppose nobody would ever pay top dollar for anything called cod) served with roasted endive, beets and a granny smith gastrique; and the macaroni and cheese, which is the mascarpone orzo with lobster broth and a butter poached lobster tail. All three of these were absolutely transcendent dishes. In between the oysters and the sablefish, two folks had an heirloom tomato tart with vidalia marmalade - the tart was great but very, very small - even by Per Se standards - equivalent to not much more than a single cherry tomato. The other two in our party had the peach melba foie - very, very nice.
Meats were a rabbit dish (sirloin, "rack," and kidney, served with hen of the woods mushrooms and bacon) and a lamb roast with cauliflower, cucumber, mint and sultanas. The lamb is the only dish that was a bit of a letdown. The texture was denser than I like - more like game than lamb, which isn't what I was looking for. The flavor of the lamb dish also seemed to be lacking the balance and complexity of every other dish on the menu. Lamb was the weak link on our last visit too. Cheese course was a raschera served with microdice of melon, sorrel leaves and an incredibly delicate olive oil. White grapefruit sorbet was lovely, and followed by a temptation of chocolate and hazelnut - the high point of which was a condensed milk sorbet. I deviated from the chef's menu at desert to have a "Tour au chocolat" from the 7 course menu - a really interesting dessert presentation that was variations on the flavours of chocolate, peanut (served as a soup), sweet corn (ice cream and candied corn nuts), and beer (a "dunkel" genoise and a wheat beer "nuage") - I know the idea of the beer component sounds wild, but it really worked.
As great as the food was, however, the service was downright terrible. We had a senior waiter who had made the move from Napa, but his style was like nails on a chalk board to all of us. Incredibly pushy - asking us every three minutes if we were ready to order, from the moment we got our menus; intrusive - if we were discussing food or wine any time he was within earshot, he took it as an invitation for him to join our conversation, when we all just wanted him to leave us alone so the four of us could have a nice evening ... he overheard us talking about the piece Gourmet ran a couple of months ago on Riedel and dashed over to give us a 5 minute lecture on the advantages and disadvantages of various stemware lines; condescending - despite the fact that two of us in our party were return guests and all of us very experienced in high end dining, he insisted on speaking to us all as though he were teaching a third grade class; and weirdly personal - why on earth he felt the need to identify himself to us as a republican is beyond me. He certainly scored no points with anyone at the table by doing so.
The most irritating part was the wine service - we asked for him to choose pairings for us, with a cap at $60-70 per head (for a party of four). In reply, he proposed a Sonoma chard and a cote-rotie, which he poured with the fish and meat dishes respectively, and then offered small glasses of others to accompany the oysters (a dry Spanish white that I can't name), the foie gras (a Pfalz spatlese) and the dessert (Madeira). Now someone else in our group saw had the wine list and apparently saw that the chard was a $120 bottle and the Rhone was $175 ... with the addition of the small glasses, the wine tab ended up at more than $420 - more than twice what we had wanted to spend on wine. Admittedly this is largely the fault of the doofus in our party who saw the prices attached to these bottles and didn't tell the rest of us what we were doing. When we expressed concern about how far the wine tab had gone beyond our desired budget the waiter took the dessert wines (worth about $60) off the bill. I just wish he had done what we had asked and proposed pairings within our budget rather than feeling the need to upsell us. We ended up with a bill of almost $1400 for four people after tip ... other visits to per se we've been served by more junior waiters who had the occasional misstep, but nonetheless had the fundamental good sense to step back and let the food (rather than themselves) be the star of the show. Why was this guy so obnoxious? We think he might have been chemically enhanced for the evening, but it's equally possible that he was just a blowhard.
Side note - Per se staff were very confident that the Times review will be out tomorrow ...
jk
Craftsteak
in New York: Dining
Posted
We had a '98 Mayacamas (sp?) that was outstanding ...