chefboy24

I do understand your point of view. However, for me L'Impero has for a number of years been a primary touchstone restaurant, indicating whether I will find common ground with another person's opinions. I still have a strong recollection of spaghetti with a tomato basil sauce whose flavor was totally flat, and sliced venison, overcooked and with zero succulence. ← i really don't know what to say. i've been cooking tomato sauce since i was 5 years old (20 years ago). i'm italian. i went to cornell and the cia. i've eaten everywhere. and i haven't had a better spaghetti and tomato sauce, anywhere, including at least 30 italian mothers, or at any of the batali restaurants. if your venison was over cooked, you should have sent it back? in all my time that i worked there, nobody ever sent venison back. its too bad you had a bad experience, you should go back.

and i think he's totally looney for it. scott conant's food is amazing, it really is. if l'impero is enough to make scott: food and wine best new chef james beard award best new restaurant 3 stars from the new york times maybe you might think michelin could give l'impero a star. also, disclosure: i used to work there. i ate all the food. it's certainly at a 1 star level, here or in france or the uk or wherever. and while we're on the subject of italian food, felidia should have one, too. i agree that union square should not. it's an amazign restaurant and a really good time, great vibe, great service, but the food isn't really at the level of craft or gramercy or anissa or gotham. also i think it's a huge foresight that blue hill doesn't have one. the quality of food is just there, it is. blue hill and stone barns are some of the best meals i've ever had, anywhere. i can't speak about asian food because i don't eat it too often.

two words chinatown bus i externed in boston, so i know the trip well.

wd 50 is setting the standard for the next 20 years!?! god i hope not! can you imagine if every restaurant was like wd 50? nyc has room for exactly one (or maybe 2) restaurants like wd50. either you like crazy molecular food or you do not. i'm guessing you do not. i don't. and i certainly don't want to cook it. like you i don't really want to cook anything italian or asian, either. which leaves new american/contemporary and french. being that working for french people sucks...i recommend: bouley anissa blue hill craft cru gotham grammercy tavern picholine the modern veritas

haha i love this guy!

yo girl. ironically i'm thinking of going back to cooking. less b.s., less money then front of house, though. where are you at these days? blue hill?

definitely extern in nyc. a really good place to start, i think, is the michelin guide. i didn't have this available to me when i externed...... try to extern at a starred place. i definitely recommend the modern, tabla, grammercy tavern, even EMP i guess. gotham, craft, anissa... trail around on your days off from class when you approach your externship. pick the one that feels the best for you. most of your day will be spend interacting with other cooks so its hard to ascertain if they are genuinely nice people on your one day trail, but TRY. lot's of cooks and vibe's in new york can be really competitive and just shitty. try to find a place where cooks are nice to you, but a place also with a michelin star. the pay sucks. it sucks almost as much after you graduate. think $8/hr for extern and maybe $12/hr for grads. i know my buddies who extern'ed at french laundry and daniel didn't get paid fairly. fuck that, you should get paid for your work. you should also not pick thyme leaves and peel carrots and turn artichokes for your extern. you should get on the line.

well - i finally got the answer from jg's corporation service director he says lunch at nougatine is boom boom boom, in and out in an hour, which many people like to do. lunch in the formal dining room is designed for people who don't have to go back to work, or have 2 hours to spend on lunch.... and if you do have the time to kill.... there's really no reason to go to nougatine for lunch

i work at Jo Jo.. I thought it was $24.07 at all of his restaurants for a 3 course prix fixe, and $12 each additional course? With that being said, why eat in nougatine over the main dining room unless the dining room didn't do a pf lunch? edit: oh its $28 for 2 plates and $12 each additional plate, at jean georges... its probably $24.07 at nougatine.

why bother? buy a plane ticket to barcelona walk in the door and say you want to stage for a week, a month, however long

oh my god fourty six thousand dollars to work for free in 3 spanish restaurants and get a $300 knife set and some spanish lessons? jesus christ.

*yawn* just my opinion.

i think l'impero will/should definitely get one. country too. and chantrelle. also---eleven madison park. definitely one star. and daniel should get 3. union square cafe? ehh....remember, michelin is about the food, not what the restaurant did for cuisine/new york dining/etc.

zoe, savoy, prune frannie's and applewood , in brooklyn

Was that a joke ?....... Are you kidding me ? Real new yorkers ? or Real Tourists from Japan ? ← are you serious? you don't think new yorkers bought the michelin guide, or at least found out who had stars and who didn't? i have tons of friends in various industries (banking, law, teachers, etc), and while i don't expect them to be as foodie restaurant obsessed as i am, they do like to go out and have a good meal and they were curious about the stars. like nathan said, i can't think of a single book to recommend to anyone that shows you where to fine dine in new york better then michelin

I agree with you completely. It doesn't matter what Chez Pannisse and Union Square Cafe have done for cuisine in America. The star is about the food quality at these restaurants now. I do agree with you regarding your earlier post too. I think the 38 nyc Michelin starred restaurants with stars are very fair.....with a few surprises (no chantrelle, no l'impero?)

I think you are incorrect. Maybe you don't work in the restaurant business so you don't know... but... ← I think you're 100% percent correct, not just 80%. I don't know anything. I haven't known anything for years. I am in awe just being here. Just for the record I was voted as the most stupid person on eGullet the last three years running and the second most ignorant person in NYC for the years 1975 through 1988, finally capturing the title in 1990-94. So just read what I post with a grain of salt, a dash of hubris and hefty dose arrogance. Nothing I say has a measure of truth, an ounce of common sense or a milligram of experience. It's merely anecdotal. The one thing I've learned in these halls, don't voice your opinion if you're not part of a clique - mob mentality rules. It's been a pleasure. ← i still don't know anything about you or what you do or who you are, but it doesn't really matter, because by the way you talk about the new york times review and the michelin review makes you seem ignorant. it doesn't matter if you don't agree with the times or michelin, but these ratings and reviews can cause a restaurant to make or loose hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. fact. and that is where we disagree.

I think you are incorrect. Maybe you don't work in the restaurant business so you don't know... but... The Michelin star status of New York restaurants, now, affects business of these restaurants by hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars. You can guarantee that business has improved at restaurants with a michelin star, like BLT fish, anissa, spotted pig, cru, jo jo, oceana, wallse, etc. real new yorkers buy and read this guide and now think to themselves, "i want to have a nice elegant dinner...let's check the michelin guide.... hey, honey, we haven't been to wallse, let's check it out." the fact remains that all the new york restaurants with a michelin star pride themselves on this fact. it goes on the resume of EVERY single cook and waiter and sommelier and manager employed by that restaurant. it becomes part of the mantra and pride of a restaurant. "We are a michelin star restaurant." And restaurants without? You can damn well be sure that L'Impero, Union Square Cafe, are trying to get one this year and Daniel and Bouley are trying to get 3. In fact, I think the Michelin star system and the New York Times system, taken together, give a very accurate way to look at the quality of a restaurant. I'd take those 2 together over anything else..... Everything else is meaningless. NY Mag, Zagat, Time Out, Gayot, Crain's, whatever... it boils down to the michelin star and the nyt star. that's how restaurants advertise, that's what's going on your resume,those are the ratings that matter. Fact.

buddy you have a very valid point, but. this board is a lot of "foodies." self proclaimed. but there are many of us on here who have been new york city line cooks in 3 star settings. unfortunately, line cooks aren't really the internet posting type, they are not usually academic or into this sort of thing, even though in person we eat live breathe and are obsessed with food, hey, its our lifeblood. however, be careful. don't burn bridges. tom hasn't seen john schafer at grammercy in 4 months either, and john does a very good job running that ship too. but just be careful what you say, you may regret it later.

sorry that you had a horrible experience. the glory days aren't over.

if you are getting into new york late, go to mas(farmhouse) don't be caught up in all this talk of michelin stars and nyt stars and who's doing what and "you have to go here" then again i'm telling you to go to mas....but you seem to want great food, and a new york experience. mas is open till 3 am and is certainly the best late night food in new york, hands down.

had brunch there on sunday.....not bad not bad. pol roger was 16 a glass, in the smallest glass possible, and losing its bubble. the bloody mary was great. pickled herring in cream sauce - delish. eggs norweigian - delish. all in all a good brunch spot.... great lower east side neighborhood, you can go explore delancey and rivington and all of that. stained mirrors, black and white tile floor... small table and wobbly chair. it was very new york lower east side. i loved it. it is what it is.

seriously honestly just went there with my boyfriend 5 days ago, had a wonderful meal. they started us of for free with the most delicious tempura green beans and dipping sauce. had a nice littorai chardonnay, which they decanted. very oakey, full bodied, butterscotchy long finish. prefer their pinots but i always wanted to try their chard. heirloom tomato salad with feta - delicious, exactly what a tomato salad should be. sweetbreads - very nice, not the best i've had, but delicious, served with some carmelized nectarines for entrees: black bass with risotto - perfect braised rabbit , potato puree - perfect everything was wonderful, food, service. the room has such a terrific vibe. very ethan allen country house meets barn in provence. red ceramic showplates. good silverware & stemware. i totally recommend it, and its in a great neighborhood.

p.s. - interviewing at anissa this weekend!

god sneaker when will your pegu club love affair cease!?!? hehe first dates.....hummmmmmmm OH the bar on the 14th floor at the ritz carlton, battery park. also 230 5th......the rooftop, gorgeous gorgeous view, and asian bar lounge menu by zac pelaccio (of 5 ninth and fatty crab) also cookshop on 10th avenue red cat, also on 10th avenue