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On job interviews with other papers.

And that's why I said in another post, that your reviews posted on eGullet are much better written than any of his - you disagreed at the time. After today, I hope you have changed your mind. ← On a straight-up comparison, Bruni's reviews are better than my eGullet posts. If the identical reviews appeared anonymously on eGullet as member posts, we would say they were pretty darned good (although GAF’s are better). However, Bruni is paid to eat and write about it; I am not. His reviews are sold as part of a commercial product; mine are written for free, as a hobby. I also presume he has far more time to polish his prose, since it's his principal occupation. I therefore hold him to a higher standard. ← We're going to agree to disagree. But one more point - the writing on your website is also better than his. You don't like to accept compliments?

Yes, I've considered it and have come to the conclusion that you're correct. Hey, I once drove from Manhattan to Newark, Delaware at 1:30 am because there's a diner across the street from the university that had great coffee - and I was in mood for it. Of course I kidnapped three friends to come with me and I was only 23 at the time. Once (before I was married) took a girl to Charleston, SC for dinner because she was from there and kept raving about a particular restaurant. Got round trip tickets told her nothing except we would be back late. Made an early reservation and was back at LaGuardia airport before midnight. One more - every year my wife and I are invited to spend a few days in Fort Lauderdale with some close friends (they own a home on the intercoastal). We fly into Tampa Saturday morning because I arrange to have a tasting menu at Sideberns that evening. The next evening we go to Berns and then drive to Fort Lauderdale Monday morning. We did that two weeks ago and the tasting menu was one of the best I ever had. Of course Berns speaks for itself - the best steak this side of Elsie. As a bonus this year, I stopped in their wine shop and picked up two oldies to take home - 1974 Inglenook Charbono - $45 and a 1977 Ridge Shenandoah Zindfandel - $60. Great wines, outstanding prices. So, yes I agree, I'm certifiable.

I, for one, do not think that he is a particularly good writer. He has the bare minimum competence for someone in his field; that is all. I find his work cliché-ridden and seldom insightful. Certain favorite words and phrases tend to be repeated a lot. He doesn't get to the point. ← And that's why I said in another post, that your reviews posted on eGullet are much better written than any of his - you disagreed at the time. After today, I hope you have changed your mind.

Today's review was interesting because of the Bugs Bunny reference. I hoping to see Bambi, Donald, Mickey, Goofey, Woody, Casper, Trigger (or Silver), Leo, Lassie and Felix make appearances in future reviews. Maybe the NY Times restaurant critic can go from a week as a waiter to a week as an animal rights acitivist. He should do well in that disguise - probably get better tips too.

It's easier if you just flew into Tampa, went to Berns and ordered your steak by as many ounces as you wanted. The wine list is better, the sides, soup and salad are much better and the steak reminds me of what Luger used to be in the late 60's, early 70's. ← But that's assuming I'd actually want to spend a night in Tampa. I'd rather spend the night sleeping under the Williamsburg Bridge. ← Actually, you don't need to. Berns is just 10 minutes from the airport and there's a 10:15 pm flight into Newark. What I've done is take a 3pm to Tampa - got to the restaurant at 6:15pm, left at 9:30 and was back in New York by 12:40am. Asleep by 1:15am and fully rested by 6am, ready to start a new day with the thoughts of having the best steak in the world still dancing in my head. Just like Christmas, but without the tree, reindeer or chimney.

It's easier if you just flew into Tampa, went to Berns and ordered your steak by as many ounces as you wanted. The wine list is better, the sides, soup and salad are much better and the steak reminds me of what Luger used to be in the late 60's, early 70's.

What I truly find interesting about this thread is the way people tip. A while back in the tipping thread (during a discussion of Per Se's 22% rule) a number of people quoted research papers, which indicated that people always leave the same tip regardless of service, especially good service. But here, it seems people do tip according to service. That was my position having worked in a "white table cloth" restaurant during my college years.

I've never had a restaurant experience where I left no tip and can't recall any where I left less than 15%. I normally do 20%. However my worst restaurant experience occurred last October in San Francisco when the wine steward didn't agree with my choice of a Zinfandel. He tried to upsell me a Ridge and began a diatribe on how good Draper is at making Zins. I agreed with him, but said the Ridge on his list were very young (2004) and I preferred Draper's Zins with some more age. He then said to me, "...well, Ive been drinking Zinfandel for a long time and I know they're better when young and Zinfandel doesn't age well anyway." He's entitled to his opinion (though I know it's wrong ), but to say that to a customer is just asking for trouble. If I wasn't with a large group (9 others), I would have got up and walked out. The person sitting next to me must have seen my face and quickly asked the steward to bring the wine I ordered, so it ended there. I guess that's not too bad after some 40 years of restaurant dining.

Some people, including myself, enjoy the the taste of additional ground pepper on on food at the last minute before eating. This has nothing to do with the chef's preparation. I rarely do it to entrees or apps, but will grind pepper on salads, most soups, all veggies and in olive oil. To my taste, the fresh pepper enhances the flavor and texture of the foods mentioned above.

American Grill in Staten Island, great oysters, nice bar. Food varies.

I was thinking (dangerous) there is another way to handle this and that's with humor. You could have yelled "food fight," and began throwing the other bagels around the room.

Restaurant owners are getting nervous again - and getting ready to file more lawsuits. It could get ugly in a hurry.

Had dinner at Saul last evening - arrived at 7pm and was immediately impressed with the attractive interior and spacing of the room. The amuse bouche was a creamy red lentil soup with saffron scented yogurt - quite flavorful and a great contrast between the hot soup and cold yogurt. The bread was first rate - a sour dough, crusty example of what many bakers strive to attain - served with soft, room temperature butter. Our (my wife) first course was roasted sardines and the duo of fois gras. Both were quite good. They served three large sardines, which meant being careful about the bones. They were fresh and had a strong flavor of the sea - served over a red bell pepper/pear coulis. My wife's fois gras was extraordinary. A piece of warm, roasted fois gras along with a cold piece, served with chopped fresh figs and toast points. The entrees were the pork special and roasted squab. My wife had the pork, which consisted of a pork chop, pork shoulder and pork belly. It came with whipped garlic/majoram flavored potatoes and ginger-scented sauerkraut. The belly was soft, rich and full of robust flavors. The chop and shoulder were cooked perfectly - moist and very delicious. I opted for the $10 supplement and had fois gras with the squab. It was served medium rare, sliced into small medallions and two "drumsticks" The skin was crispy, the meat tender and the fois gras was the perfect foil for both. It was served with Israeli couscous and sauteed spinach - both added another dimension and texture to the dish. For dessert we opted for the cheese selection for two (at $16, possibly the best deal in NYC). We were served six (they gave us one extra) healthy portions of cheese (if I can find the list, I will post the types). It came with grilled sour dough bread, which gave the bread a totally different flavor, and elderberry preserves - an extraordinary dessert. We had two dessert wines. I had a Vin d'Glace from Oregon ($8) and my wife had a Vin Santo from Italy ($18 - she always picks the most expensive dessert wine when I'm paying). During dinner we had a 2000 DeLoach Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma ($36). Only one negative about Saul and it's the wine list. Not with the content, but the pricing. Most wines (and there was a good to very good international selection) fell into the treble damages plus category and that's just asking too much. There were three reds below that level so I went with the DoLoach, which at $36 came to a little less than 2 1/2 times retail. Dinner with tax and tip came to $212. I did learn one interesting fact. The couple that sat down next to us (as we were in the middle of our entree) were served small plate after small plate. It looked like a tasting menu, but there was no indication on the menu. When I asked our waiter, he confirmed it was a tatsing menu and said if we called by 4pm of the day we were dining, it would be possible to have one created. I'm certainly going to take him up on that offer on our next visit. One more note - Saul has some of the most attractive and unique tableware I've seen - especially the soup bowls.

Made a reservation for our 27th Anniversary - Friday Feb 17th. The last two years were Per Se and Cru - I'm sure this experience will be on par or better than those.

We've all been down this road many times and it seems most of the same people take the same stance. At this point no one is going to convince anyone to change their mind. Saying that, I've asked a question many times and no one seems to have come up with an answer (and since it's about the NY Times, there probably isn't an answer.) The paper obviously sees the confusion in the current system. An obvious fix would be to award stars in two or three categories, similar to other major newsapers (I think the SF Chronicle or Examiner does it). The obvious categories would be food, service, ambiance. Pricing and wine list could be others. But at least break it down to food and ambiance. It seems a simple improvement that would solve most of the issues here, but then we would have nothing to debate.

Picked up the bagel, put it on a plate, placed it in front of him as said, "...I'm sure this just slipped out of your hand, would you want some cream cheese or jelly with that."

In reading the February issue of Bon Appetit, I came across an interesting tidbit. On the back page (not cover), the magazine runs a monthy Q&A with a celebrity, asking culinary questions. This month a writer was featured. The question was about how much entertaining is done at home. The women (forget her name) replied and in the answer stated her husband kept a diary of every meal they served to guests. It listed the names of guests and what they were served. I found this interesting because I've been doing this for three years. It started because at one dinner someone commented on how flavorful the soup was. Another guest said "...it may be better than the last time you made it." I was totally embarrassed. I would always trust my memory to never serve the same thing to the same person. But when you do three to four dinner parties a month, the memory begins to get overworked. After that night I decided to start a diary, which would list the dishes I served, who was ther, the date, the recipe source if any and the wines served. Now every time I have guest over I check their entries, making sure I do no repeats (unless specifically requested - I have people who have made repeat requests and I try to accommodate). Does anyone else do this? I also list all the dishes I prepare for the holidays (Chirstmas, Easter, Mother's Day, Kentucky Derby etc.) so not to repeat except for some things that have become traditions. It's also fun to pull out on occasion and make note of the things made - to check in which direction your culinary skills are headed.

This is precisely what really me bugged when I saw today's Diner's Journal. I know these are not considered full-fledged reviews. But couldn't Bruni have waited just a little while longer than the very first week after the restaurant opened? Not that I really care what Bruni thinks about any restaurant because I consider his reviews totally useless. In any event, I can't imagine that there is anyone who is not rooting for this restaurant to succeed. ← Again, an editorial philosophy gone awry. People of integrity would know enough that those things shouldn't even draw a mention in the few first days. Editors of integrity should have removed such references. Another example of how low the "Old Gray Lady" has sunk.

Could very well be correct, but the style confuses the substance.

Agreed, I think the main issue was the emphasis on Gilt, which will be reviewed in the near future. I believe the article even criticized food (Dover Sole) at Gilt (or am I mixing up columns?). ← You're not, it did. But what's so wrong with that? As I said, that's not any different from a pre-review in Diner's Journal. (To be repetitious, to me, the main difference is a piece based on the reviewer's experience [even if he hasn't written his review yet] and a preview essentially based on press materials and interviews with the owners and staff.) ← Essentially not anything "wrong" with it, but it pushes the envelope in a journalistic sense. The Diner's Journal is either a pre-review or a mini review of a specific aspect of a restaurant - I think he panned Luger's burgers in one of them. To take a shot at Gilt, which will be reviewed, in a "newsy" piece on restaurant pricing smacks of editorial "hijinks" - it comes close to the sensationalism (even the headline was "Postish") that's normally reserved for papers such as the NY Post et al. The NY Times used to be above that. Years ago that piece would have been authored by a non-critic or waited until the review was published. As JohnL said there was no foundation. But this is not the fault of any one reporter though. It's the malaise that lives within the Times once esteemed hallowed halls. They made a similar mistake last week with the coal miners. Years ago, the Times never would have gone with that story without double confirmation, now it's just like every other paper. Sad, very sad. The Times was once a proud flag bearer of NYC, now it's merely flapping in the wind. Where is the Herald Tribune when you need it?

Correct OA - was doing the math quickly in my head, forgot to subtract the cost. But I think most places figure six servings to a bottle, at least that's what it was when I worked in a restaurant 30 years ago. Maybe it's five now - still not a bad return.

Agreed, I think the main issue was the emphasis on Gilt, which will be reviewed in the near future. I believe the article even criticized food (Dover Sole) at Gilt (or am I mixing up columns?).

No problem with a reasonable markup Bux, restaurants must make a profit. But if Gilt is charging $80 for a Cakebread SB (based on the 4x scenario you mention above), that becomes outright silly. My rule of thumb is basically 2/2 1/2x what it cost retail, which still gives the restaurant 150-200% markup. The Cakebread SV should sell for $36-45 in a restaurant based on the $13-15 wholesale and $18+ at retail.

I'm not justifying the crazy wine btg prices. Just out of curiosity though I priced the 04Cakebread Sauv. I saw a range (retail) from $20-30. Obviously they're buying by the case/bulk/wholesale, etc so I'm guessing around $15-18 a piece. If that's accurate according to industry standard (house should make their money back on a bottle after the first glass) than $20 is not so obscene. Am I way off here? ←