Sneakeater

I think that the evidence for it's being that is pretty substantial, when you look at the actions of certain community boards in blocking liquor licenses over the last several months.

It's being backed by people who think their neighborhoods are too noisy and full of B&T drunks.

Of course, Schiller's is a relatively new place that was carefully crafted to have that look.

This may be even worse than a foie gras ban.

Thanks, chefboy!

Wait. You mean that "fat" and "good flavor" don't mean the exact same thing????? This is undeniable. I'm sorry I wasn't able to avoid sounding "rapturous", cuz I don't feel rapturous about this place. I feel confused but generally pleased (a lot more pleased than you, to be sure).

The problem with places like 'Ino is that you can't be sure of getting a table without a wait. And on a first date, not getting a table and having to wander around looking for another place to eat -- or even worse, God forbid, waiting a long time together -- would, IMO, be disastrous.

According to rich, Union Square Cafe has a salutory effect on some dates.

Once when I still had a living spouse we went somewhere where we were like the only people in the room who weren't obviously on a first date. I wish I could remember where it was.

He can also take her to Pegu Club and hope they never make it to dinner.

Also Annisa.

I find Perry Street perfect for that kind of thing. Nice and stylish, but not obviously "romantic". Food is very good, but not over-the-top luxurious in a way that makes it seem like you're trying too hard.

Has anyone mentioned Prime Cut?

FWIW, "not more than the sum of its parts" was exactly what I also found wanting in this dish, although I couldn't put my finger on it.

Since there's a dearth of gorey details about NYC Atelier so far, here's a blow-by-blow account of my second meal. Smoked Foie Gras layered with Eel. An excellent excellent dish. This did not seem weird, the way that Wylie Dufresne's foie gras topped with anchovy did two or three years ago. It seemed like a perfectly natural way to serve foie gras. The eel was a good complement. Seared Squid with Chorizo. As Nathan said, the overcooking of the squid was an odd misstep. The high quality of the chorizo should not be underemphasized. Alsatian Pastrami. Just great. I'm not gonna make invidious comparisons between different smoked meats available in the City, but this is something I'm already craving again (and now that it's September I'll never be able to return to Atelier). It's served with a fancy horseradish condiment and fabulous super-buttery fingerling potatoes. I wish I were able to describe the taste. I can say that Alsatian "Pastrami" apparently doesn't taste much like the Roumanian real thing. Sort of like the difference between Nova Scotia or Scottish smoked salmon and belly lox. Steak Tartare with French Fries. I was hoping these would be the best french fries in the world, but they were just kind of good. OTOH, this was the best rendition of steak tartare (a personal favorite dish) I've ever had -- and by a pretty long shot. The quality and proportions of the ingredients were just perfect. As for the texture, I don't know how you describe an unctuous mush so that it sounds appealing, but it was. I wish I could go back for the hanger steak. The Famous "Sugar Sphere". This is more complicated than I'm able to describe without the aid of a pony. It's a sphere of sugar, made silvery, encasing a leechee ice cream (or was the leechee ice cream on the side with some other creamy matter within the sphere?) and other, tarter stuff. It's one of those dishes where you (or at least I) can't tell exactly what you're eating, but it's so cool, and so good, that you just sort of fall into a stunned enjoyment. Not a Wylie-styled "I've never even conceived of anything like this" type stunned. More a "this obviously took a lot of work and it was worth it -- wonder what it is, exactly" type stunned. Showy, to be sure. But delicious. And just plain cool.

I'm thinking that maybe David Cronenberg can make a movie where Jeremy Irons plays demented twin chefs.

To me, the food at Atelier is SO much better than the food at the Bar Room at the Modern (a place that I, too, like a whole lot) that I'm not sure it's a useful comparison. If I were to be forced to come up with a comparison at gunpoint, I might try Bouley Upstairs, although that one doesn't work, either. I think Atelier is really sort of sui generis. That was certainly the intention behind at least the first one. (I know: it's hard to call a member of an international chain sui generis.) It's hardly a brilliant observation to note that the problem with Atelier is going to be the value calculus. What's interesting to me (if not to anyone else) is how different my initial response here was from my initial response to Cafe Gray. When I first went to Cafe Gray, I thought it was so overpriced for the service and the surroundings that I was actively angry. So angry that I couldn't appreciate the food. I've come around in a big way about the food there. But I still think it's a fundamentally flawed conception. Which I don't think about Atelier. Trying to figure out why, I would point to two things. First, the room at Cafe Gray is tacky and noisy, and the service is (to me) substandard. The room at Atelier is quite tasteful. It doesn't strive for luxury, but my subjective response is that it achieves its apparent aim of providing a stylish but undistracting background for appreciation of the food. And, at least at the counter, service at Atelier is as professional as you could wish. Second, the food. I now love the food at Cafe Gray. But the style of cooking there is kind of demotic. Determinedly semi-casual. Taken in tandem with the room -- and again, as much as I enjoy it -- the food at Cafe Gray just doesn't seem like it should cost as much as it does. The food at Atelier is certainly a somewhat pared-down version of the very hautest haute. But I can't help but think it's a level (or maybe more like half a level: it's hard to talk about Atelier because it's hard, for me at least, to pin it down) above the food at Cafe Gray in terms of ambition, formality, and precision. (I admit that my response here might be colored both by a general preference for French cuisine and by my having been cowed by Joel Robuchon's inescapable reputation.) Think of Atelier's famous "sugar sphere" dessert. Is $20 an outrageous price for a desssert anywhere (let alone one eaten at a counter)? Sure. But is this dessert simply astonishing, both in flavor and presentation? You bet it is. Is there anything else like it in town? Not that I know of. I think the problem is that most of us (at least those of us who haven't been to other Atelier branches) simply haven't seen anyplace like this. It really is a unique concept. So the value calculus is kind of hard to figure. I think the prices should be lower. Indeed, I would have thought that the "Altelier" concept would require that it not be one of the very priciest places in town. But neither the prices nor anything else about Atelier prevented me from respecting, appreciating, and enjoying my two meals there.

I just called and was told that, since it's Labor Day weekend, they decided to take reservations from hotel guests only -- and they're booked for the entire night (including the counter, which I thought they normally weren't going to reserve after the 6:00 PM seating).

So in terms of quality, downtown Wolfgang's is pretty much equivalent to uptown Wolfgang's (no reason for it not to be)?

PS -- If it's all the same with you, I think I prefer "truffle hound" to "guinea pig".

I am really touched.

Not really, if only because it's hard for us middle-class peons (anyone who's not a middle-class peon please forgive me) to be relaxed when paying so much.

I'd also say Perry Street, but I understand that I'm more enthusiastic about the food there than many others. Maybe not quite "show stopping".

I'd say The Modern itself, too.

(Although I was originally gonna add "for pay" to that parenthetical. I don't know why I left it out.)