chefboy24

How long a wait time was it? ← at least 45 min-1 hour.

i have to wait a month sometimes to have dinner at 3 star restaurant. 2 months occasionally for a 4-star. ← i guess you don't know how to get a reservation?

i went around 6:30 today. christ who the hell waits on that line its a hamburger!!!! !!!! i dont understand people. i wanted to try it, but i wouldn't even wait that long to get into a 3 star restaurant.

insane brunch! review to come. totally 3 star (nyt) experience. 100% i'll be back.

very interesting!! i wish i knew how they knew, too. i served frank bruni last monday. good times. jg will definitely get 4 again, no question. i mean if he gave country 3, obviously jg will get 4.

mjr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm on the waitlist. tried chiboust instead. *fingers crossed*

bold words when you go thru..... what....... 3 chefs de cuisine in 5 years? still, some of the best meals i have eaten in my life were adny and ad monaco.

No one is "hounding" anyone, it's just a spirited discussion, last time I checked, that is what the whole forum is for. I guess we just read in different styles. I understand the fact that people may talk about chefs in a general context and trust me, this is the least of my worries. To write a detailed review about how a chef ORCHESTRATED a specific preparation in a tasting menu when you can factually prove he wasnt even in the country is absurd. Nothing wrong with saying "kitchen" or "named" sous chefs/CDP's/CDC. Some people just dont feel like dropping $800 on dinner for two based on the romantic journalism of who is in the kitchen. ← its more likely that the executive chef (celebrity or otherwise) has already come up with what the tasting menu is going to be (whether its 4, 5, 7, 9 courses, etc), which of his a la carte items are going on the tasting menu, the portion size, the order of the menu, etc etc. even if he's not in the kitchen that night, he still came up with the tasting size portion of each course in his tasting menu. and further. if frank bruni (or steve cuozzo, or adam platt, or whoever) is in the dining room that night, and the restaurant is in its review cycle, you can *guarantee* that the chef (and not one of his sous's or line cooks) is plating up that food for the reviewer.

i used to cook at country. geoffrey and doug are in there, all the time, every day, (upstairs and down, lunch and dinner), and have been since september. the menu comes from both of their minds, some dishes from geoffrey, some from doug.

my dad is up visiting from tennessee. (he moved back down there). i grew up in westchester however.. he's meeting me in westchester for lunch (stopping thru on business). i haven't seen pops since september, since i got the new apartment in brooklyn. so i'm thinking blue hill at stone barns. dan barber was my graduation speaker at cia and i've eaten at blue hill a few times in the village. so aparently brunch is $42 , 3 course price fixed. sounds good. but i work in the biz and i want some sort of hook up. anyone know anything? fabulous food babe? or. does anyone know any great lunch/brunch on sunday in westchester near white plains? i'm obviously trying to get something for nothing, but i have nothin but love for dan barber, and $$ is hard to come by for me. thanks.

you can go to otto, on 8th street & 5th avenue. have a quartino of wine in the front room. really great vibe & energy, excellent wines by the glass (quartino). tell them you're going to babbo for dinner. they'll hook you up.

No - did not make it. But I'm now dating a food savvy woman who lives in Ithaca and that might make a good weekend destination - thanks for reminding me! And if you pass through Ithaca be sure to check out Carriage House Cafe - a new place on Stewart Ave near Buffalo - just below the Cornell campus. Excellent food, simple menu with fair prices (reasonable considering the quality of the ingredients) and they serve world class espresso drinks - they really are that good. There's also an on-premises bakery that bakes the best baguette I've had in years. ← i just went there a month ago visiting alma mater dude $8 breakfast! great food, great ingredients. horrible service tho. best bargain on the planet, imo.

yup. beautiful photography.. altho its a little advanced and written like you already understand the basics of alsace/loire/burgundy/bordeaux/rhone/champagne. which isnt really basic, come to think of it. OHHHHH french wine for dummies. another great book. seriously.

i feel like im taking crazy pills!@ BEEF stew. STEWED. BEEF. who cares if theres lemongrass/ginger/garlic/scallion/whatever. syrah/shiraz. rioja amarone aglianico how bout a hermitage or croze hermitage or cote rotie? or an australian shiraz.

true. i'm a sommelier in manhattan now, and when i was front of house at cia, i definitely provided better service them my classmates. i think its safe to say of that any given class serving you in the front of house, maybe 70% of them will initially want to be a linecook--->sous chef--->chef. the other 30% will be into front of the house right out of school. but then again, no one at school thought of front of house at "neccesary evil." thats pretty harsh. obviously everyone knows how important it is. also - you cycle thru all the restaurants, whether you want to or not. so if you had a more pleasant time and better service at caterina, it may be that specific group of students was more talented. (which happens a lot).

well. here's the deal. eating at cia is way more about a whole experience then the actual food/service. its about checking out the training ground for possibilily the single most influential location for future chefs (except maybe bouley and gotham). i can't even tell you how many famous chefs came out of cia. (portale, colicchio, bourdain, scott conant, rocco, andrew carmelini, dan barber, list goes on and on and on. first of all, you're 90 miles from nyc. so its nice to get out of the city once in a while. while you're up there, theres other things to do i suppose. millbrook vineyards is close by and worth a visit. their pinot noir has been on a few nyc winelists, for sure (l'impero for example.). the campus setting is gorgeous. its right directly on the hudson. the main building was renovated and its looking beautiful. dont go for the campus store because you can get all the cookbooks in there on amazon and all the cooking tools on jbprince.com. you should definitely do a tour of the campus, see the main dining hall, all the kitchen/classrooms, etc. that part is fun (if you haven't seen it before). the bakery cafe has a lot of bread/pastries that you can take home. really good stuff. another benefit? the prices!!! you can see the menu's and wine lists currently online right now specifically: wine. at escoffier, if i were to go back to eat tomorrow, i would totally order: trimbach, cuvee seigneurs de ribeauperre, gewurtztraminer - $46 guigal, condrieu - $48 moreau, chablis, grand cru "les clos" $76 drohin, chambolle musigny, red burgundy, 2002, $64 they also had a paul jaboulet aine hermitage for something about exactly the same price you'd find it at sherry lehman i mean these are crazy deals!!! at bounty: roederer estate, nv, $40 iron horse 99, 1999, $48 robert sinskey, carneros, pinot $$58 david bruce, russian river, pinot, $54 the food at escoffier is the most dated. but the prof there used to be the maitre d at oceana. the chef was a sous chef at la cote basque. pretty cool.. you will have the table all night, the room is pretty, the view is awesome, open kitchen. tableside rack of lamb, dover sole, bananas foster. the food at american bounty has gotten much better since chef eisenhauer took over. she was at prune and savoy in soho, nyc for a while. the food at caterina di metici is good italian. the room is gorgeous, new, the nicest of the 4. another benefit: the kids are actually genuine. if there are mistakes, everything will be comped. it is a school, not a business, afterall. i think i might be goin up to visit sometime soon and drinkin some of those wines i mentioned.

i think i might do applewood tomorrow night and maybe ici sunday night?

i know some 23-27 year old waiters who could charm the pants off the most demanding guests while running circles around the more "Experienced" older waiters who are jaded, tired, slow, and just dont give a shit anymore.

yes! he's also the chef at dona. which just opened last monday. here's my review: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=84161

Is this legal? ← no. but i wish him good luck as i'm pretty sure there are only 5 women sommeliers in manhattan, and they're not going anywhere.

any worth going to? i have thursday and sunday off, thinkin about checkin out some restaurants. http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/Pages/RSC/dinein.htm#BHill full list i would prefer to stay in park slope/carroll gardens/cobble hill/bourem hill or something on the F train i'm thinking about: jolie (the manager was rocco's @ union pacific, correct?) taku (familiar with the menu as a buddy of mine cooks there) applewood blue ribbon

I used to know things, but not anymore. ← well. had a wonderful dinner at dona last night. let me just say this used to be the bellini space, on 52nd & 3rd. it was renovated recently and its gorgeous. everything is yellow, the banquets, the flowers (and there are many), the chairs. gorgeous dining room & bar. onto the menu: the chef is michael psilakis from onera. made famous from his sweetbread tasting menu over there. he's got 2 stars at onera and will probably get 3 at dona. this menu was all about italy & greece. 4 course tasting menu similar to l'impero. uncooked/cooked/pasta/meat or fish. for $58. folks this is a steal! i started with a "crudo" plate of kumamoto oysters & sea urchin. fresh fresh fresh! my date had the tartare plate....actually had some raw marlin on one dish with yellowtail on another. delicious. moved on to apetizers. i had scallops & sweetbreads. delicious! this is what sweetbread is all about. there were some candied kumquats, bacon, a syrup. this dish was heaven. my date had the sardines which came with alittle salad & vinaigrette. very nice as well but not as good as the scallop & sweetbread. pasta was amazing. i had the gnudi with truffle butter. pleasure filled bombs of happiness. my date had the butternut squash tortelli. very unusual, surprising. tasted like baking spices & apple pie. delicious. for entree i had the cod, meaty & firm. came with some asparagus & a mushroom broth. my date had the dorade which she loved. the wine was fantastic. the sommelier is a woman and she knew her stuff. we had wine paired with each course & can't remember all of them except one....a rioja blanco called allende. delicious! peachy cinnamon oak elegancy i didn't know was possible from white rioja. didn't have any desserts .i was stuffed and it was late. my only problem was that there was no music in the dining room. oh, also, the clientelle. the most fake tan plastic surgery upper east side 55+ year old beasts. gross. i'm talking bleach blond hair puffs & tan leather skin & channel everything. not that i really cared, i had a nice corner banquette. but this seems to be a foodie menu, not a steamed vegetable & plain fish place. hopefully the foodies will come. maybe what i saw was the davidburke & donatella crowd. ?? not sure. service was flawless. really knowledgeable waitstaff, smooth, choreographed. beautiful china & stemware. i dont know if that prix fixe will last. because that is a steal.

spot on mate. 4.5/5 imho.

ah huh so morimoto is somewhere between 10 and 12. making it tied for first or more then first, with daniel and per se? either way, who cares if its 9 or 10 or 11 or 12. the point is: it sucks. and it will fail. and 10 M restaurants in nyc dont really fail.