chefboy24

ah, napkins. picholine and per se are the only restaurants i know of that give you a new napkin every time you get up - but does this make a great service experience? not really. do i even really care if i'm at lupa and i go to the bathroom and my napkin is not folded into a perfect triangle by the time i'm back? i don't really care, but lupa's service is more warm and genuine and more fun than 99.9% of the restaurants in town - which is why i keep going back.

I am very passionate about service in fine dining, obviously, and I've waited a while to respond to this thread. I have a few thoughts: 1. The most important part of service for me in any restaurant is that the service staff is speaking to me in their normal, honest, genuine real true voice. Not some other faux-professional high pitched attempt at what a fine-dining waiter should say. Honestly, at a Danny Meyer restaurant, one waiter actually said out loud to my table, "this is a little treasure from chef to begin your journey." I swear to God. He was introducing the amuse bouche. WHO SPEAKS LIKE THAT? Nobody. It was just obnoxious. I've heard "I'd love to pour you ice water unless you would prefer bottled." Really? You'd love to pour me ice water? That's on the list of things you love? These may sound like little things but honestly.... in this town, its almost impossible to find someone in a good restaurant who will speak to you honestly, with their normal voice, using normal words. Waiters are always trying to sound fancy, or they think they need to be formal about something when they can actually just use their normal voice. I think the best speech is slightly snarky, witty, thoughtful, cheeky. And normal pitched. Only pros speak this way - its very rare. Also, in the words of Danny Meyer, "a genuine "you're welcome" is much preferable to a soulless "my pleasure." " He talks about how Ritz Carlton hotels give service, but he is about hospitality. Service, in fine dining, is getting the right food at the right time at the right temperature. Hospitality is about warmth and doing whatever you need to do to make that dining experience so unbelievably great to get guests to return again and again. I think Danny Meyer's book is brilliant and I couldn't agree with what he says more, but some waiters in some of his restaurants, unfortunately, seem to be reading from a script. 2. I would prefer a waiter who actually seems to care, who has great personality and attitude (but may not know every wine by the glass or every spice in a sauce)...to a waiter who doesn't seem to give a shit about you or his job. You should be able to read "I love my job" on the face of every great waiter (whether its true or not, honestly.) 3. Water service - please offer tap water first in your normal voice with normal speech before bottled water. 4. Food knowledge and wine knowledge is important, but a genuineness and a great personality goes much further for me. 5. Great service should always accomidate, the answer should always be "yes"... but at the same time, it is a restaurant's duty to educate. Doing this with finesse and elegance is rare. For example, if someone asks for the black bass with the sauce from the artic char, with a side of asparagus - a great restaurant should go to whole foods and pick up some asparagus...but the guest should nicely be told that asparagus is not in season and the chef designed the flavors on the black bass dish on purpose. To take it further - the fact that this guest really likes a side of asparagus should go on his opentable guest notes so the next time he returns, the restaurant can have asparagus ready for him. There is the story of the Union Square Cafe regular who comes in and always orders a ham and cheese omlette for lunch - which is obviously not on the menu. They gladly do it. 6. Technical skills are nice - please don't put your elbow in my face when you clear or pour wine, etc. It takes a few years of practice to move about a table with finesse. 7. Finally, don't mess up the order. All this being said, the best service I've ever received on 3 separate occasions was at Per Se. Per Se would be followed by Jean Georges, although some of those girls can be a little snooty until you win them over, but they are still miles ahead of the rest of this town. Daniel was flawless when they knew who I was, but when they had no idea the service was kind of off. Le Bernardin is souless and disappointing and they make mistakes, often, on the 4-5 times I've been there. Eleven Madison park is fabulous but a little stiff, Gramercy Tavern is very very good. Lupa for me is always fantastic, fun, genuine, awesome. Gordon Ramsay was flat out horrible all 3 times I tried it. I also find Yasuda to be totally arrogant while Soto and 15 East (Masato) are way more relaxing. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

i can think of hundreds of restaurants, that, believe it or not...have zero tables next to the kitchen doors or the entrance (due to a lounge), ... where there really are no bad tables per se, eleven madison park, gramercy tavern, jean georges, le bernardin, adour, daniel, gordon ramsay, veritas, the modern, perry street, i can go on and on and on. corner tables are always nice, though, and are sometimes in high demand. that is a different story. i would prefer one of the corners at gramercy or EMP than a banquette seated across if i were a deuce.

I had lunch at Oceana at the end of December (Christmas Eve day) and the place was a ghost town. Unfortunately, the manager (with only two other tables occupied) tried to seat me at the worst table. When I declined the table, he brought me to the second worst table--I didn't want to make too much of a fuss in front of my guest, so I took the table. The place (for the next two hours) filled only another 3 tables. The food was very good though. Unfortunately what I'll remember is not the food, but the stupidity of the manager. I might have considered returning, but the stupidity of the manager was a real turn-off. The wait staff was attentive. Funny how restaurants don't realize that the internet exists, and I can post here (and on other sites) and plenty of people are now aware that Oceana has service problems. Too bad for them. ← how do you know its the worst table? i've seated tens of thousands of people in my career and literally...some peoples "best table" is other peoples "worst table". you wouldn't believe it but its true.

hey all. buying new cocktail glasses professionally for my restaurant. the only ones i have found that i feel elegant enough for my dining room are the spiegelau "grandissimo" cocktails or the riedel "vinum extreme" cocktails. both are unfortunately 8.5 oz capacity i am looking for something super elegant, thin rum, rounded (not V shaped), clarity, and maybe 6 oz-ish capacity. i love bar milano's glasses, pegu's, d&c, pdt, etc etc. where can i get these glasses? Also! I would like my captain waiters to pour martinis tableside..... Am wondering where I can get martini/cocktail carafes (like the ones at bar milano), so waiters aren't walking thru a packed dining room with filled to the brim cocktail glasses. thanks in advance!!!

awesome review ue, your blog is always a pleasure to read. that duck is slammin'.

i just had to reply to this thread because i just served frankie b very recently for the second time at my restaurant. we have spotted him every time. i just wanted to talk about service here a little more. first of all - bruni almost never ever talks about service in a times review unless its bad. ditto adam platt. next - what is a service failure exactly? a screw up rate? i probably had 10 interactions with him directly recently. there's a million things i could have said. "may i enquire about your water preference?" "would you like still or sparkling?" "is tap water ok or would you like bottled?" "bloomberg water?" he could have had tap water poured in his bottled water. that would have been a screw up. but is that enough to demote a 3 star restaurant to 2? probably not. i could have not known the spices on the tuna, or the components of a sauce on the monkfish. i could have not described wines by the glass with passion, accuracy, and understanding. there are a million little service interactions that waiters have with bruni's table when he eats for him to judge. i firmly believe he has an overall impression of service based on the many interactions he and his dining companions have with who is serving him. its a general impression of service. but ultimately, the food is the star, and the service should match the food. on to the food. the kitchen and the line cooks certainly know who they are cooking for. they are definitely pulling their best steak, the best fillet, the newer mise en place, the larger favas, the bigger morels, etc etc etc. the plates are wiped and triple checked. you can absolutely see if something is not cooked correctly just by looking at it. ditto with an espesso (the freshest and creamiest crema, etc). in fact, i think the only food you can't really tell its quality by looking at it is sea urchin. the silver is triple polished and glassware too. but ultimately a restaurant can only do SO much once they know. say a hypothetical dish is a red mullet fillet (sous vide) with some peas, pea greens, cous cous, and some saffron broth ...... i dont know im just coming up with something. you can bet everything will be cooked perfectly....but ultimately.... is that dish a good idea? is it really absolutely fucking delicious? some dishes are genius because of the idea, the composition. the oysters and pearls at per se, egg caviar at jean g, that pig candy bar at eleven madison, the lychee and foie at momofuku ko. what im trying to say here is that when bruni comes in and samples most dishes, he will over time have a very good impression of the quality of the cooking and the thought and creativity (and hopefully originality) of the chefs cuisine, and i haven't read a review of his lately where he was far off the mark. him being anonymous is almost irrelevant at the end of the day ultimately i believe. a restaurant can only really present their best self when he is spotted, and a restaurants best night can really truly be a 2 star restaurant (otto, artisinal, little owl, august, etc). anyway those are my thoughts on the matter.

sounds delish try a 2:1 knob:vya sweet with some peychauds and an orange twist.. heaven!

More information at the Averna USA website. ← I'm game to give this a go, particularly after my embarrassment at not reading the rules carefully before hitting send at the Spirit World Raiders of the Lost Cocktail contest for Benedictine. However, the Corsa Italia Cocktail that I submitted got me thinking about the Averno as well. Here's the Corsa Italia Cocktail: 2 oz rye 1/2 oz Benedictine 1/4 oz Fernet Branca dash orange bitters & twist I've got to run out but I hope to fiddle around a bit with the Averna tonight along those lines, maybe nix the Benedictine... try yellow Chartreuse... I dunno. Anyone else interested to take a crack at a Sicilian vacation? ← there is a very brilliant bartender at dell anima who makes a brilliant averna cocktail... i believe he does it with some obscure orange liquor and a whiskey garnished with an orange twist. brilliant, balanced, delicious.

nonino picolt is worth it. we sell for $49 a pour best grappa i've ever had. i mean is louis xiii worth it? is drc? diminishing returns to taste the best, no?

astor center seems to be everything james beard house aspired to be (and failed to be) and more. thank god for this. the lineup of talent and raw passion and knowledge is astounding. totally psyched

you know...... sur la table has pretty elegent white bistro plates, i believe they are porcelain. actually, it is, here is the link: http://www.surlatable.com/category/id/101407.do check them out in the soho store...good prices too. but by fiestaware.....do you mean colored plates? what's wrong with solid white?

+Hearth for a glass of wine and a pasta or app. I have a hard time imagining "hopping" through Hill Country, but hey. Might also recommend Gramercy Tavern front room for an app or actually even a main, and 15 East for sushi. Um, yeah, except that I'd skip centro, barbuto, and perry street (I think the latter two are hard to do for "hopping" and I'm not that big a fan of centro) and hit Bobo and Sumile instead. Yeah, though if I got a seat at the bar at Babbo, I'd probably just engage in a full-on feast. Might as well throw in the kitchen counter at Beacon while you're doing this, although being able to handle anything else + robuchon is going to be a big hit to the wallet. ← wallse has a nice bar you can definitely nibble at! and of course spotted pig has some great snacks. and a trip to the west vill isn't complete without a taste at soto or barfry!

What exactly is meant by "fabrication?" They break down whole body fish, I'm sure, but what about meat do they "fabricate?" And what are they curing? ← had an arguement with my boyfriend about this meat and fish fabrication is an industry word used by chefs and butchers/fish mongers it basically means to break it down from a primal cut or a larger cut into an individual portion size for the dish fish fabrication is: scaling, gutting, heads/tails, deboning, portion sizing meat fab is similar, could be removing fat, frenching the bone, quartering a chicken, tieing a roast, etc etc. or, if you get an entire strip loin (or filet or rib eye or whatever), it could be portioning it into 16-20 oz cuts, for example.

totally agree, the west village has it. for me it's got babbo/blue hill/annisa/centro vinoteca/pong/perry street/wallse/cru/barfry/little owl/august/little branch plus murrays and citarella and florence meats

i'm curious, and you seem to be plugged in to the industry so maybe you'd know: does the staff treat guests differently on Friday and Saturday nights because they're assumed to be "amateurs"? I'm certainly no "amateur", but I do tend to go out on Friday and Saturday nights for reasons already stated here. I would like to know if I should be expecting special treatment on a Friday or Saturday night at Felidia, since the staff considers it "amateur night". Different food? A different experience in general? ← i'm not speaking for my restaurant, at all. i am proud of my service and style in the dining room. you will get the same great food and service any night.

i mean this is just ridiculous. it's just wrong. tourists and bridge and tunnel crowds dine on friday/saturday i have a LOT of investment banker friends, including my partner, a *retired* morgan stanley managing director. big dinners happen tuesday-thursday. fact. and i can tell you for sure, last night i didn't sell one bottle over $100. tuesday night? sold some soldera 1995, bryant family 97, conterno, giacosa, you name it. i never sell this stuff on a weekend. NEVER EVER. yes, i get it, professionals work 60-80 hours a week. me too. this has been my experience as a captain at gotham, dona, and now as a sommelier at felidia. and for the silly idea that top restaurants block off 8 pm tables on a friday/saturday night? http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=8&pid=210 a list of michelin star restaurants try making a saturday night 8 pm reservation on feb 9th you can, right now, get a 8 pm deuce reservation at : Anthos, cafe gray, danube, devi, dressler, fleur de sel, jojo, oceana, vong and 7:30 at: anissa, bouley, cru, saul, wallse, wd50 i'm not trying to be arguementative, these are just the facts. and no, we don't treat people differently on weekends. for me personally, i don't care if you are B&T, a regular, a celeb, a VIP, a first time.....if you are nice to me, i'll be nice to you. difficult people tend to not get a lot of perks, but that's not really news is it?

right. all of the high end restaurants i've worked in .......... "regulars" come in on a tuesday or wednesday night.

i have externed and worked in several michelin star restaurants. i paid my dues. i am still paying my dues. and i am doing just fine now.

why go out on a friday or saturday night in the first place? amateur night

i just know what i'm worth, thats the difference little man. and i know SEVERAL line cooks currently cooking at jean georges AND per se who absolutely externed in bumblefuck, ohio. they are good cooks, thats why they can hack it at jg and per se, now. the only kids who stage for free at 3 star michelin restaurants are kids with rich mommy and daddy's who can pay for them to live.

i can assure you they are not. ← The prices posted upthread tend to support chefboy's assertion that this isn't intended to be Michelin 3* establishment. However, chefboy's statement that "Ducasse is not going for michelin stars" — implying he would be pleased with zero — is ludicrous. ← i don't know really, i don't think it is a concern was joel robuchon going to be pissed if he didn't get a star at the four seasons? is he pissed he didn't get two? my money is on him not caring. my money is on him caring about the new york times review. is eleven madison and daniel humm pissed that they still don't have a star? probably not, although i think it is a joke that they do not have one. they could probably care less, as they're doing very well.

exactly. what i was told by all the powers that be for adour is that the concept is the most important...with rigorous standards for excellence of cuisine. they could give a shit about the stars - they are just going to do what they are going to do. also, during all of my 6 interviews with all those involved, they were very pleased that i have served frank bruni on several ocassions. they asked me what he was like, what he wanted to drink, etc etc. there wasn't much talk of michelin ...... i was also told that there were going to be a hundred wines under a hundred dollars. (that is not a very michelin 3 star idea, but i think it is a great idea). i was also told by thomas combescot, the wine director, quote "this is not a three star michelin restaurant. you need to get in, get out, sell the bottle, go to the next table, turn the tables, do not schmooze." end quote

i can assure you they are not. i was hired in october by thomas combescot (after 6 interviews), the ex wine director of alain ducasse at the essex house and current wine director of adour. i have spoken to everyone in charge there and i am certain of this. lets just say for me now.... it didn't work out, and i'm very happy. i will explain further when i have a second to breathe, as i'm working about 70 hours a week right now and loving it.

ducasse is not going for michelin stars. he is going for great cuisine and luxury. i'm about to drop a bomb on the nyc foodie buzz for ducasse on how fucked up the st regis is taking care of that entire mess - and what is really going on there with regards to how they treat employees. 7 page article in ny mag that came out yesterday.... and also - why gray kunz left in a huff. (anyone else remember the mysterious closing of lespinasse? i do.)