Benito417

Ive had Jacques Torres, Lunettes and Chocolat, and CIty Bakery. I think JT is slightly better than L&C though both are good. CIty Bakery IMO is vile, sugary and gross, I never understand how this place is consistantly considered top notch. Perhaps people feel the need to like it so as not to feel gauged by the exorbitant prices.

I have never been to AD so on that front I cant offer much, on the other hand I wanted to weigh on on a couple points about the way Bruni constructed his review. Essentially what struck me first off was the way he skewed AD's vanity in decor and presentation. Essentially it seemed as though he was holding AD to a standard that was higher than other four star restaurants do to its appearence and then deducting it down to three stars after missing that expectated lofty standard. I think AD is really in a unique position because it is certainly more gaudy than a restaurant like Per Se and Masa, but does that mean it should be held to a higher standard food wise? I also strongly agree that no restaurant should be held to a standard of sheer consistent perfection in either food or service. I think sometimes we forget that even at restaurants like AD the chefs are still human and if you dine at a restaurant enough (which Im assuming Bruni did, probably 4+ times) it is going to happen. That said, what is the correct guideline of consistency to hold a restaurant to? I think a lot of it depends on the restaurants peer group. The way I see it Bruni probably has a preconcieved consistancy schema based on dining at other 4 star restaurants. Obviously Bruni thought AD fell short in comparison. It is really difficult to make out the extent of the inconsistency because Bruni does not develop the point as well as perhaps he should, considering it forms the crux of his demotion.

I am in the neverending process of trying to find my favorite dim sum spot in chinatown. My current favorite is Ping's. Though I have at times found some of their dumplings lacking they do an extremely fresh rendition of shrimp rice rolls, one of my favorite dishes, as well as the best sesame buns with lotus paste I have had (most places are too oily for my liking). The atmosphere at Ping's leaves something to be desired in my mind. This gets back to the question of a truly authentic dim sum experience. I have a hunch that Ping's carts and more communal environment are perhaps more traditional then the made to order more sedate places like dim sum go-go and sweet n' tart. However, after a busy saturday night often times I want to have some good food in a more relaxed setting, in this case SnT and GoGo do the trick. The food is certainly quite competent at either of these places if slightly lacking in comparison to Ping's.

I have heard really excellent things about Lucien on First Avenue right above Houston Street. I looked in the other day and it appeared to fit the bistro description to a T. Im curious about what others think of Lucien, both in terms of food and in terms of bistro authenticity.