jsmeeker

nope. Nothing. I can't recall seeing anything like that brough out to other tables, either.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal there. I greatly enjoyed mine at the Las Vegas location. Someone upthread had mentioned the menus were pretty much the same for the different locations, but the tasting menu you had was totally different than the one I had with the exception of the quail stuffed fois gras. IMHO, that's a GOOD thing. One could dine at the NYC location, then if you were in Vegas, you could give it another shot, spend less money, and get a meal that didn't have a lot of duplication. Your wine service was exactly like what we expereienced in Vegas. No set pairings, but the server did a nice job selecting some wines, asking us at one point of anyone objected to Champagne, then asked if we cared for dessert wine for the desert courses and solicited input on what we may like. And like what you experienced, the server was enthusiastic. Will this become a "big" high-end chain with lots of locations? (like the aforementioned Nobu). I dunno. But based on your report and my expereience in Las Vegas, if it does get sort of like that, it seems like they would keep the wuality level very high.

I think you've got the right attitude going in, and that will help you enjoy the experience more: when dining at a brand-new place on a busy Saturday night, you have to adjust your expectations. Chances are, if there's a serious kitchen team in place, the food will be really good. Chances are, service will be a bit confused, especially with respect to timing. No big deal. Just don't make firm plans to be somewhere afterwards. While I generally eschew new places these days, I make it to a few of them. There's no denying that it can be exciting to be present at the birth of something. Restaurants also remember and value their early customers. I hope you have a great meal! ← Well, I went last night. Everything worked out really well. Food was really good and so was the service. We were seated early at our request and timing was pretty good. Just a tad of a wait between starters and mains and the server presenting the amuse spoke very softly when presenting it in a very casual way. No real mis-steps to speak of. (my full report is in the Texas forum)

Here is my review/report for my dinner on Saturday, August 19, 2006. Our dinner reservation was for 8:00 PM. The friend I went with thought that just maybe, if we showed up early, we might just get lucky and they would be able to seat up early. My friend was expecting the valet situation to be a mess, as she had a big problem with it last week when she went to the hotel to check out Ghostbar. We headed over to the "W" hotel at about 7:15 (just a short drive from uptown). No traffic. We were able to pull right up into the driveway of the hotel. No line. not wait. She was more relieved.. We headed inside and went to the restaurant. She told the hostess we had an 8:00 PM reservation and asked if we could be seated early. We were prepared to wait, of course, but they were able to seat us immediately. So, were off to a great start. No valet mess plus early seating. The room is smaller than I thought. Light finish wood floor. Very nice wooden tables. Normally, i equate fine dining with white table cloths. But this was nice table, with stylish, yet simple place mats along with the quality silver and glass wear one expects. The restaurant was NOT a jammed mob scene like I was expecting. There were a lot of occupied tables, but they were not yet all full. The tables weren't crammed in together, either. Surprisingly, as the night wore on an the restaurant started to fill up, the noise level didn't get too high. Even with the music playing through the sound system and all t he hard surfaces, holding a conversation at the table was easy. A waiter appeared shortly after we were seated and presented menus and the wine list. He asked if we wanted to start with a drink. My friend ordered a cocktail. There was no inquiry about bottled water or anything like that. He simply offered up ice water (i.e. good ol' Dallas city water). I didn't order anything at that time. While perusing the menu, a manager type stopped bye to say hello and welcome us. He told us about the heirloom tomatoes that were available tonight. Duly noted. The cocktail was delivered and our waiter returned. He asked us if we had been there before (no, we haven't. The place just opened). He went on to briefly explain the concept of how the dishes are simple and a la carte, allowing one to "craft" your own menu. Now that was out of the way, it was time to order. My friend asked him to suggest a salad as starter. He too suggested the tomatoes. Came from California instead of being from Texas since the really high heat we've been having for weeks is not good for the local crop. So, we ordered those. For an entree, she ordered a roasted red king salmon. She asked that it be cooked all the way through and the waiter said it would be cooked "medium", which would be all the way through. For a side dish, she ordered roasted asparagus. Now, my turn. I was debating on a few items. I was thinking of getting the pâté, but decided not too, as my friend wouldn't like it. So, I asked about some of the cured/marinted fish items. The waiter suggested the white tuna, so I ordered that. For an entree, I ordered the braised short ribs and a side of the potato purée. For wine, we went buy the glass. My friend really likes red wine, so we would up both getting a glass of pinot noir. I also asked for a glass of processco to start. A short while later, my procesco came. A server brought the glass, plus the bottle. Poured me a small sample, then poured the rest of the glass. I like this type of service for wine by the glass. My experience is that you don't always see this in fine dining establishments. It was nice. (can't recall the name, and the online wine list doesn't show wines by the glass). A bit after that, a server presented the amuse bouche. I didn't totally understand what he said. He spoke fairly softly as he plopped it down on the center of the table. Most I made out was "red pepper mousse". That's what it was. A pepper mouse on top of a small crouton. I don't know what it ws garnished with. But it was tasty. We both enjoyed it. The starters came shortly after that. The tomatoes was a plate of tomatoes of all colors and sizes. Green, orange, red, a deep plum, etc. Looked good. A fair sized portion. The white tuna was chunks of white tuna served with a corn "salsa". The tuna was great. When the waiter returned, I asked how it was prepared. I had been smoked with (IIRC) cherry wood. My friend, who was worried she wouldn't like it, thought it was fantastic. As for the tomatoes? I'm not a raw tomato fan. But I decided to have some. They tasted like a tomato.. Ehh... Just not my thing. But I don't know a good one from a bad one, so it's hard to judge. But my friend liked them. We finished all the tuna and maybe half of the tomatoes. After the starters were done, they brought the pinot noir. They poured me the "taste" and when I approved, they poured the glass for my friend, then for me. Good. Again, can't recall the name and can't look it up on line. After a bit of a wait, the main courses and sides arrived. Salmon, short ribs, roasted asparagus, and potato purée. The salmon skin was very crisp. Cooked all the way through, just as requested, but still moist. Very good. The braised short ribs were presented in a tiny cast iron pot. Just meat, with a sprig of thyme, a little baby carrot, and a pearl onion. Very, very tender. It just melted in your mouth. Flavor was OK. I was expecting a tad more. The potatoes were also presented in a mini cast iron pot. There were a lot of them. And the were most excellent. Very, very rich. A little goes a long way. The asparagus was nice, too. Good browning from the roasting. Good flavor. Really simple. We had a lot of food there on the table, but didn't eat all of it. We left one or two spears of asparagus, a bit of fish, some of the short ribs, and a lot of potatoes. Dessert was next. My friend was very impressed with it. There were lots of options. By this time, she was stuffed. Earlier in the meal, she said she was going to skip dessert. But when she spotted the champagne grape sorbet, she changed her mind.. I had a tough time deciding. I wanted to try a few different things. I thought about a gratin of fresh berries, but that was $12, while everything else was $4 or $8. I just figured a few $4 desserts would be better than one $12 one. So, I went with the roasted bananas and the chocolate cocoa nib ice cream. We both ordered a glass of a Moscato d'Asti. A pre-dessert came.. It was a "lemon fool", served in a short, skinny shot glass with a demi-spoon. Very creamy, with a bit of a tang, then the lemon flavor. I enjoyed it. My friend didn't care for it. The dessert wine came next. We both thought it was great. I am finding I really prefer these types of desserts wines as opposed the the really thick, syrupy kinds like a Tokaji. The desserts were out shortly after that. Bananas were served in yet another mini cast iron pot (this time, an oval one). Just a few slices in a carmel sauce and two skinny vanilla beans. These were great. Soft and cooked, yet not really mushy. The carmel sauce they were cooked in was tasty. The champagne grape sorbet was my friend's favorite. She enjoyed it a lot. Very light and refreshing. I thought the chocolate cocoa nib ice cream was outstanding. Very creamy. Intense chocolate flavor. Went well with the banana. Overall, and excellent experience. No mishaps, no mis-steps. Everything was very smooth and easy. I was a tad concerned that things might be a bit rough since the place had just opened, but there was really none of that. They either hired a lot of people that had lots of fine dining experience, or they had a very good training program that is coupled with good management and oversight.. The damage, before tip, was $198. In summary, here is what was ordered.. A cocktail, a glass of processco, two starters, two mains, two sides, three glasses of pinot noir (my friend ordered a second), three desserts and two glasses of dessert wine. We tipped 20% Would I recommend it? Yes. very much so. A lot is made of the concept and the menu and how it's all a la carte. I really didn't find it to be a problem. It's much like going to a traditional, high end steak house, except that in addition to everything being presented a la carte on the menu, it's broken down into cooking methods. That's probably not a problem for food people, but I guess I could see it for people who just want "a steak" or "a piece of fish". Everything really is super simple in preparation. While that can generate some excellent results, some people may prefer to have more elaborate dishes and preparations when dropping this amount of money on a meal. Personally, I sorta kind of lean that way myself. But it's not as if I regret my decision to go there. I'm glad I did. I was a good experience.

Heh.... I'm busting this rule in a major way this weekend. It was actually supposed to be tonight, (friday) but my firend is feeling a bit ill, so we managed to push our reservation back to tomorrow night. (Saturday). We're going to a brand new restaurant in a brand new hotel. We're going to Craft Dallas. To make matters possibly MORE interesting, the Dallas Morning News printed their review of it TODAY. Why are we going? Well before the hotel even opened, by friend decided she wanted to go. She really isn't even a big food person. But she IS into the latest, hippest thing. I have a good list of some of the top fine dining places in Dallas I want to try. Places that have been around, have excellent professional review, and have great word of mouth (lots of it from people here on eGullet). I kind of tried to talk her into going to one of those places, but she really wanted to hit Craft ASAP. Sigh... Gotta stay trendy, I guess. To be fair, it DOES sound interesting. I want to give the "concept" a shot. I know there are a lot of people, including you, Steven, that are big fans of Craft in NYC. The local paper gave it a good review. I expect the place to be a mad house. When I called in this afternoon to change my reservation to Saturday, the girl indicated that Saturday was "crazy". Not surprising, reall. I think I'm lucky I was able to get a table. I WAS polite, told her I appreciated her being able to make the change, etc. She was very firnedly. That's good. So, we'll see what happens.

The DMN review is out. You can read it on-line at the GuideLive.com site. I had to push my reservation back a day. I'm now going Saturday. (my dining companion is a little under the weather today).

Intersting.. The setup is much different than the Las Vegas location. The counter is much, much shorter with more table seating. Also, as the review points out, the color scheme is a lot different. Not nearly as much black. Still, if you live in New York, you should give it a go.

Yeah.. My TiVo picked it up. I had seen it previously, but it was good to see it again. It's a bit different from other episodes, but it's good fun to see Ruhlman. And it makes me want to go back to Vegas so I can go to Bouchon for dinner (went there for lunch and breakfast back in late June)

you went to Red Lobster?? Man, that IS embarassing.

Point well made. But couldn't they have at least used steak? ← The show aired a while ago, so I can't recall if there were various types of ground beef. Was it "hamburger" (i.e. usually a mixture of lots of different cuts) or did they have various types (ground chuck, ground sirloin, etc.)? I know in past Iron Chef shows (Japan version), they would sometimes have various types of the theme ingredient. Anyway, speaking of using steak and Kerry Simon. He makes a really nice steak tartare.

Iron Chef Japan was made for the Japanese TV audience. Those ingredients are not probably not very esoteric to them. So, it makes sense that the American version use ingredients common to the American audience. Personally, I don't think ground beef ("hamburger") is that bad of a choice. It IS very common to americans. I won't rag on this choice much since I've met Chef Simon a few times. Really nice guy. I'm sure some of the "werid" things on the original show are just as common to Japanese as ground beef is to us. Also, it should be pointed out that the Japenese used ingredients that were pretty common or "pedestrian" from an American perspective. Chicken. Milk. (yeah, thay had a MILK battle), etc. To the credit of the new show, they DO use LIVE fish when fish is the mystery ingredient. That's always good fun.

other than the knives, I think they are fine. The blade on the knife is very stubby. Like a butter knife, but with a long handle. Also, it's a little hard to tell which side/edge is the cutting edge. (although I'll assume it's the edge on the left side )

This post may be a tad off topic, but I have reservations at Craft Dallas for Friday night. There IS a Craft thread in the Texas forum, but so far, no actual reports from any eGullet member. I've learned a few things from the posts here about the original New Yourk forum. I am dining with just one other person. Not sure if I should be *too* worried about that, although I do see how having more people might be better, especially if they are "food people" or are willing to try new (to them) things. I'm really interested in trying things that are new to me as well. I love foie gras and all, but I don't think my dining companion is into it. Maybe getting sweetbreads (if available) would be a good way to experience them? I've never had them before. Of course, I'd like to be able to share what I order, so maybe it's not a good idea? I want to try to buy into the concept as much as possible. My dining companion isn't always the most adventuresome diner. But to be fair, there are a few things she likes to order that don't really appeal to me. Can anyone here tell me anything they have heard about the Dallas location? It's only been open for a 2 months. Does it live up to the original? Obviously, I'll report my experiences to the proper thread in the Texas forum. I'll probably come here and post a link to it as well.

I have a reservation at Craft for Friday night. (August 18th). Anyone been yet? I see that the DMN still has not done a review of it.

I've seen a few episodes of this show now, and I think it's OK. So far, everyone seemed happy to see Bobby and none seemed upset that he was there to challenge them. Some actually seemed a bit eager to actually take him on.. From what I've seen, Bobby has been pretty complimentary towards the other competitor (and the ones I saw really were not ammertuers). All in all, everyone seems to have a good time.

Just a quick heads up to all the "No Reservation" viewers that use a TiVo to record "No Reservations". The Beirut episode is setup as a sepecial, so your Season Pass for "No Reservations" won't pick it up. They did the same thing for the "Ferran Adria" episode. I missed that one becasue of that. But now I know the Beirut will be the same way, so I'll have to setup a manual recording of that episode.

I always thought that made it exciting - seeing if everyone remembered what they ordered. ← LOL. Yeah.. I run into that from time to time. I'll be out with a group of people, and sometimes they forget what they ordered. A lot of times, they aren't paying attention either. A runner will be standing there with food, not kowing where to put it. If the server knew where to put it, it would be less of an issue.

Yeah.. Service matters. My thoughts are pretty much in line with Busboy's and phaelon's. I don't expect fine dining type service EVERYPLACE I go, but after having a few meals at nice fine dining places with good service, you really start to notice service issues at lesser places. One thing that really starts to bug me now is servers/runners bringing food to the table, not knowing who gets what.

FoodTV has been re-running these episodes. I still had the season pass on my TiVo from way back when the show first aired. Several weeks ago, they started to show up on my TiVo again. So far, they have showed the following episodes N9NE steak house in Las Vegas House of Blues in West Hollywood Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Cheesecake Factory Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia The Beallagio in Las Vegas (probably my favorite) I may have not listed some episodes that have aired. I know there a a few more that should air over the next few weeks. So, if you never saw this show in the past, start watching. I liked this series. It was pretty good. Mostly entertaining as opposed to educational, but IMHO, it was good food entertainment. I think the Bellagio episode was my favorite. However, I am looking foward to the Trio episode now that I have read "Reach of a Chef" I either missed it the first time around way back or just really knew little about the restaurant back then that it's causing me to forget seeing it.

ummm... No, I haven't. It's not something I've ever though about. Even if I did, I just can't. I live in a small apartment. There are probably some city ordinances about it as well. Even if I lived in a house with some land, I really wouldn't do it. I'm just not interested in raising chickens. Feeding them, taking care of them, etc. I travel a lot for work, so I'm not always around.

People I like. (just some of them, and in no particular order) Julia Child (the pioneer in food television) Jacques Pepin (this guy is an old school master) Alton Brown (informative. good humor) Anthony Bourdain (would love to see him do an actual COOKING show, with the same style as the Les Halles cookbook is written) Jacques Torres (just liked to watch the guy work. For me, his show was virtually all entertainment. Good "chocolate porn". I actually DID learn a few things about how candies and such were made, but it's really not practical for me to apply any of that knowledge) People who are dispised by many, but who I am OK with. Rachael Ray. I like her. By that, I mean I like HER. She's pretty easy on the eyes, she likes to have fun, she's not uptight, etc. I seriously think I'd enjoy just hanging out in a kitchen with her, preparing a meal. I'll even do the time consuming baking and let her quickly whip up the other courses. Her show 30 Minute Meals? For he most part, it's good. From time to time, I think there are some very minor cheats or that the food just isn't quite cooked when she plates it. Also, not all her recipes/dishes are suited to short cooking times. But again, for the most part, a decent show. I actually own one of her books. Emeril. First saw him long before the "Emeril Live" show. I really think most people's problem with Emeril isn't with Emeril. It's with the "Emeril Live" show and it's late night talk show type of format. That's fine. Watch him on his other show(s) ("Essense of Emeril"). He's got it toned WAY down. Is he repetitive with his advice? Yeah. But it's a TV show. They aren't expecting everyone to watch every episode. Watch ONE episode of "Live", and he'll teach you some important, yet basic things, that many a home cook really doesn't think much about. Control the heat. Season your food. Yes, redundat to an eGullet member, but not always to am "Emeril Live" viewer.

I've got nothing for respect for Anthony and I love NR - he always treats his hosts and their culture with honor and respect, no matter what is being offered up. ← What makes the show REALLY good is that he does all this, yet still manages to get in some snarky comments. (like bagging on Abba )

For a single guy in a small apartment, I hav a lot of stuff. But I'm not sure if I have anything that has NEVER been used. The only thing that pops into my mind is the slicing blade for the Cuisinart. I do have some things I don't use often. Some may never be used again. George Foreman Grill -- used to use this a lot. I stopped using it. A saute pan yields better results. I really need to pitch it. Waffle iron -- I've used it several times. I really DO like fresh waffles. Just can't recall the last time I made any. (I've got a great recipe for yeast raised waffles. So convenient.) A grill pan -- It's a big huge round thing. It's gotta be 13" - 14" across. haven't used it in a long, long time. I ought to trash it. muffin tin -- purchased from a restaurant supply store. I think I've used it once to make blueberry muffins. I keep intending to make cupcakes, but never do it.

peanut butter and bacon sandwiches.

Since it's for Saturday, you can just make it Thursday. No need to freeze. The dough will keep OK for a few days in the fridge.