raji

There's weird and there's just plain wrong. The Time Warner Center is now one of the epicenters of the West Side - it's between 8th and 9th, why in the world would it be listed as Midtown East, they just f'ed up. As for the others neighborhood listings, what's weird about them? They're accurate if you limit yourself to the broadly defined neighborhoods that they do - As for Masa, I said "but Masa is on another level, an intimate shrine, comparable to a chef's table if you are at the counter in front of Masa, and a tasting menu tailored for each diner with seasonal ingredients of impeccable quality and preparation...so yeah, I kind of think it deserves 3 stars"... read all the other reviews, NYT 4-stars, and the other automotive-gastro Mobil gave him 5-stars, on any other list he'd be at the top... I'd venture to say that there has got to be French culinary pride involved, not wanting to recognize that Japanese cuisine has been replacing it in that upper-echelon...is maybe why Masa can't break 2?

But knowing who those are requires buying the guide, which most of us are trying to avoid

Speaking of Yasuda, it's not even on the list, whereas Jewel Bako, for which the overwhelming advice has been to avoid since the departure of it's original chef and it's expansion, is starred... makes me really start to think that the inspecteurs professionnels have their collective heads up their asses when it comes to Japanese/asian, although they are sure to include Kuruma and Masa because they are the 2 most expensive. They even got the neighborhood wrong for Masa, listing it as Midtown East. Think they went? I think the Japanese boom in NY over the past few years (giving rise to the many big-room Japanese) is completely lost on Michelin, all the better if it keeps tourists out of the less touristy places where I happen to be Yasuda is a very authentic Sushi experience in a very nice but fairly big room (for a sushi restaurant), but Masa is on another level, an intimate shrine, comparable to a chef's table if you are at the counter in front of Masa, and a tasting menu tailored for each diner with seasonal ingredients of impeccable quality and preparation...so yeah, I kind of think it deserves 3 stars...he's probably saying to himself, "what's a guy gotta do?"

I think people on here make that distinction. the 3 stars are the pinnacle of destination restaurants - for instance, for Alinea (and a Cubs game) I may go to Chicago. I could see the same equation applied to Masa....

Well he's saying that Masa probably feels like he deserves an upgrade from 2 to 3 stars, the definition being "Exceptional Cuisine and worth the journey". Where else in America do you have a restaurant like that one. I don't think Mr. Takayama would appreciate your last line... "Masa is probably feeling pretty good about his two stars, as there aren't many Asian restaurants with more than one Michelin star." makes me feel like he should be happy to have 2 because Asian restaurants can't hang in the upper echelon with Euros. Based on some of their ratings, I don't think Michelin "gets" japanese or asian in general...

That kaiseki looks like Sugiyama's; is it? Dashi is used eveywhere. Mexican food is most often cooked in lard - manteca. You can still ask them to NOT cook with lard... You said yourself, ridiculously simple to request the change, and there's just too much great Japanese food out there that is naturally vegetaran to write it off because of Dashi. It would probably be a waste for a vegetarian to go and order an 8-course omakase kaiseki, but Sugiyama for $58 has a vegerian kaiseki. Or she should go enjoy soba and somen at Honmura An. Or how about an ochazuke, or any number of donburi. Instead of veggie tempura, get veggie yakitori, along with some great yakionigiri that has umeboshi or natto inside of it rather than meat. How about the various kinds of freshly made/homemad Tofu that can be had at a number of the higher-end Japanese places around town. I'd predict mostly blank stares if you're asking in Japan for them to change their recipe, in a country that is NOTORIOUSLY inflexible, but in NYC, they'll be more than used to encountering any number of NY eccentrics, from your raw dieters, to your calorie restricters, to your straight up vegans, etc. There's no word for "vegan" in Japanese I get a few different translations, amounting to "strict vegetarianism", but you can just tell them vegetarian plus no fish or poultry products... I had to make okonomiyaki without eggs or even dashi recently, given that the yakaimo is the binder, what it did was bring out more of the flavor of the cabbage and the toppings. Not bad at all.

This is what Augie had to say about it... "Without going too deep into the list I will simply mention three places unique to New York that I believe should be experienced by all, are worth traveling for, and could only exist here: Blue Hill, Savoy, and Hearth. So I guess on their second attempt rather than seeming crazy the folks at Michelin just seem not to understand New York. Then again, if your goal is to understand New York, would you look to the French for advice in the first place?" http://augieland.blogs.com/

Oh would you really say 90% of Japanese food uses Dashi?? I can name a lot of foods it hides out in, like okonomiyaki, but if the dish itself is vegetarian, it's much less likely to be in there... Just tell them you are Hindu and cannot eat meat, poultry, egg, and fish products (including DASHI) I bet they can accommodate...

Agreed! No agendas. There is NO list on Egullet which is what makes it great. And once you get to know people's MO, you can get amazingly subjective info here.

We don't have good BBQ in Vancouver, but I'm willing to drop Blue Smoke since the consensus seems to be that it's OK/good, but probably not worth it given the time we have.I've heard lots of excellent things about Masa. I'm not sure how Japanese in Vancouver compares to what you have in NY, but I can get o-toro, kanpachi, hamachi, chutoro, etc. quite easily here. And $350 for one person is certainly quite pricey. Is Yasuda or Sugiyama a big step down from Masa? What can we expect to pay, per person, at these two restaurants? ← Well, if you don't have any BBQ in Vancouver, then I'd grab some dry-rub ribs @ Daisy Mae, they're damn good and keeps you in Midtown... I think in terms of authenticity and sourcing of ingredients, shipping in ingredients from Japan and all over the world, you get another level in NYC.. I know there's a decent amount going in Seattle and VC, and you have the yield of the ocean right there, but that's what I'm told... Masa is an "ethereal experience", Sugiyama is somewhere in between with the premiere Kaiseki in NYC, and Yasuda is probably one of the top 3 sushi experiences you can have without going to Japan...

What are their Korean picks? the ones on the cheap list? if so, kinda random

If you've had Ding Tai Fung, you don't need to go to Joe's - didn't they open one in NYC? or am I thinking of Tokyo?? I'd toss Momofuku, I think you will be underwhelmed, and go for lunch at one of the luxe places...

You know, it's apples and oranges really - Zagat's a survey So I guess you'd have to compare it to the editorialized lists, NY Magazine, NY Times, etc. etc. What do you think?

Yeah I was talking west coast in general... and AFAIK it's Hong Kong East, yes - lots of Hongers and Indians

I guess the Zagat Tops lists... it just always seems a year or two behind the times...

Golden Unicorn - Probably the best of the dim sum BIG rooms Gum Fung (what is this?) - same, in Flushing

Yeah that number for NY does not include the VAST majority who are here on student visas, shortterm work assignments, and just plain undocumented... it's a ton. There's a reason there are dozens of hostess bars operating just in the 5 boroughs... The population is so steadily rotated in that NY places demand authenticity. I know several Japanese in VC (mostly college students up there) and they say while Japanese is well represented and benefits from the amazing fish caught fresh in the pacific northwest, VC doesn't hold a candle to NYC... I like her list + bryanz's suggestions, also agree nix BBQ, but if you're putting together a culinary tour of NYC but avoiding all asians because there are asians in VC, I think that's a shame... East Coast and West Coast asians of all type are pretty different for me, because you have so many more 2nd and 3rd generation asians on the west coast, east coast is, to put it bluntly, a lot more FOBby

Well, I just think on the whole it's written as an outsider's perspective, with all the NYers here left bickering over the validity of it....

Well that's pretty subjective, don't you think?

There's been a lot of discussion about this. I think it has little to no impact on NYers, only with a particular tourist set referring to it. I think it's caused more controversy than anything else, so their little PR plan worked, but clearly there are some blatant omissions and inclusions that fly in the face of the community at large...

I don't think Michelin knows Japanese; clearly euro-centric. Jewel Bako and Gari on there with others not?

You said it yourself, you have "decent" Japanese on the west coast. With by far the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, NY is the place. Your list is mostly French, yet Japanese is the new French. The only problem with Nobu is that his dishes are mirrored elsewhere; the menu hasn't changed much in a decade, but the world has... If I were you I'd add Masa (if I could afford it), Sushi Yasuda or Kurumazushi, Yakitori Totto or Aburiya Kinnosuke, Sugiyama, perhaps Matsuri or one of the other big rooms, I can keep going if you want... If you are near VC definitely all manners of Chinese are skippable, perhaps Korean, Vietnamese too BTW, How about Mas?

mm let's just say my pronunciation is a lot better than my vocabulary, so in certain sitatuations, like restaurant banter, I'm pretty much fluent, but in other situations, pretty clueless... My time in Japan was working in television, and my Japanese senpai, who is the same guy responsible for bringing over and localizing Iron Chef, advised me to throw out any textbooks and find some drinking buddies. so situationally it's pretty damn good, but the longer I stay in NY the more I lose it... what's it to ya? ← My thought was, when you call to make reservations, they may think you're Japanese, or may favor you because you speak their language. Or it could be what you said, that they simply have trouble communicating with people who don't speak Japanese. ← I tried a few times making reservations in Japanese there, but at a certain point, she went off into this long explanation in Japanese and there were a few words I didn't understand.. she was explaining the policy. So at the risk of making a mistake myself, I just call in English. Plus the staff's English has gotten a lot better in the 3 years they've been open - it's been a lot of the same gals the whole time...

mm let's just say my pronunciation is a lot better than my vocabulary, so in certain sitatuations, like restaurant banter, I'm pretty much fluent, but in other situations, pretty clueless... My time in Japan was working in television, and my Japanese senpai, who is the same guy responsible for bringing over and localizing Iron Chef, advised me to throw out any textbooks and find some drinking buddies. so situationally it's pretty damn good, but the longer I stay in NY the more I lose it... what's it to ya?

Yeah again I'd reiterate, the masala at Madras Mahal is so good that meat is not required. You're not going to get that level of south indian at other places but there are a lot of white tablecloth midtown indians like Dawat, Divan and Utsav that have really great tandoori and other meat dishes - If not Midtown, Tabla and Devi (maybe Tamarind too) are HIGHLY recomended and at any Indian you are going to find tons of veggie options - in the east village, Haveli has been very good and they have both north and south indian mmm no I recommended those indian places as if you were a pure vegan - the chicken at Totto is "jidori", very high quality fresh-killed chicken, which your hubby should really enjoy. Also, if you've had fresh Japanese tofu made that day, your tune about Tofu might change... Totto, donburiya, zaiya, you're just going to have to trust me! they don't have websites. Zaiya is almost fast food, but just a lot of options there -