Sneakeater

In the interest of (meaningless but necessary for an anal personality) accuracy, I guess I should have said "source" rather than writer, since now that I think about it, it was always articles where some writer was lucky enough to be escorted around by Ed S., leading to a bunch of useful tips and insights for the reader.

Guy Savoy outpost v. Bobby Flay is sort of a false dichotomy, isn't it?

I always thought the movie Mon Femme est une Sorciere mean, "My Wife Is a Sauce Chef."

I just want to say that the only reason I write so much about CB is that I so wanted it to be like that. And it (or at least the main menu) isn't. ← Thought this fascinating thread by ulterior epicure on the "China" board seemed pertinent: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=91566

I found those prices to be borderline unbelievable. But I'm still planning to try to get in there on a certain secret date when I have decided I will be one of only five or six people in the city.

That's a joke, right?

So I guess in 2006, $10 from 1971 is worth: $300-$400 using the KZ index.

This is my last post. I am going to go somewhere and kill myself.

Not to go along with any hijacking, but how much was an average omakase at Karuma Zushi back then?

With respect to Spice Market and probably Mercer Kitchen, I disagree. I don't think any of their current patrons goes to either of those places because of the critical ratings of the food. Vong I think may be a different story.

It's amazing that you could say in one concise paragraph what I blundered around for five or six. (Or, on second thought, maybe not so amazing.)

Since the menu, in my experience, doesn't change, how can you know what new items are on offer? Should you ask the server? Can you expect the server to know? (I'll note that last night, I was eating at the bar, and I was chowing down on the dim sum and rolls with such evident delight that the bartender comped me another order, of his selection, that he'd decided I'd especially enjoy. But it was still something on the menu. If there were "hidden" dishes, I might have thought he'd have sent me one of those.) (What's amazing is that, for all my grousing, I'll bet I've eaten at CB more than anyone in this thread but Eddie.)

Also, it's not like the slippage at Mercer Kitchen and Vong is new. As I keep saying, I had a terrible meal at Mercer Kitchen three years ago. Vong (and Mercer Kitchen, for that matter) has been off everyone's radar for years.* This new Times review is only a confirmation of what we all must have been aware of for years. ___________________________________________________________ * I mean, even before the review, would it occur to anyone here to even think of going to Mercer Kitchen? I ate there that last time literally only because I was meeting a friend for drinks at the hotel and we decided we were hungry but were too lazy to walk anywhere.

Thinking about it overnight, my problem with this "jumped the shark" stuff is that I think I just have a different take on this stuff than some others. Maybe I'm more cynical. I think I'm more realistic. But I don't expect these restaurant empires to maintain uniform quality. I said I was "shocked" at how bad my dinner was at Mercer Kitchen two or three years ago -- but I wasn't surprised. That was exactly the kind of place where I wouldn't think quality would be maintained. Certainly, when I went back to Spice Market a year after it opened, I was unsurprised that the food -- much of which had been quite good when it opened -- was nearly inedible. It would never occur to me to expect an excellent meal now in Vong, a restaurant whose initial appeal was based in large part on the then-surprising nature of the cuisine. And, although I've heard no recent reports of 66, I'd be surprised if it were still as good as when it opened -- do they still have the large staff of elite dim sum and line cooks supposedly recruited from a secret list of respected Chinatown restaurants, for example? JoJo's slippage is disappointing, but again, with Jean-Georges in operation, and Perry Street now open, it would be surprising if JGV paid much attention to his first independent restaurant. Clearly, he's moved on. (And I say that with regret, as JoJo was once my very favorite restaurant in New York.) I'm not condoning any of this. And I'm not saying JGV shouldn't be criticized for failing to maintain high standards at all the restaurants associated with his name. I'm just saying that I don't think it means he's "jumped the shark" in the sense that you wouldn't have high expectations for his next new place -- or that what's happening at Spice Market or Mercer Kitchen has anything to do with what you'd expect out of Jean-Georges or even, at this point, Perry Street. Look at another example. People are reporting a slippage at Lupa now that Mark Landner has moved to Del Posto. Does that surprise anyone? Will that make anyone any less excited about whatever Batalli/Bastianich's next venture will be? Does it change your expectations of Babbo? Does it even reflect badly in any way on Mario Batalli as a chef? In other words, I look at this problem as endemic to these chef-run restaurant empires. (Obviously, it has no applicability to restauranteur-run empires, like Danny Meyers's group -- a model that I think makes a lot more sense.) I'm not saying it's inevitable. I'm just saying it's not surprising. And, to me, doesn't really reflect on the chef-owner as a chef.

I guess my problem is that, just as I think JGV's residual luster caused people to overrate 66 and Spice Market when they opened (V Steakhouse I just don't know about), his apparent slide is now turning people against him more than he perhaps deserves (and remember, I had a terrible meal at Mercer Kitchen, too).

I don't want to come across as an apologist for a restaurant I happen to like, but I don't see any slippage in the Perry Street thread here. The three most recent reviews (all from last month) were from someone saying that his most recent meal there was even better than a previous meal there, somone who stopped in for appetizers and wondered how he had let the place escape him up till then, and (oddly) a review of your last meal there that reads like it's very favorable. Have you reconsidered in retrospect? FWIW, I had a dinner there Monday that (to me, anyway) was no worse than any other meal I've ever had there. Although the bread is as hard as a rock.

No, it started with Rosa Mexicana.

I'm pretty sure I said this, but I do want to be clear that I'm not sure I'd be making any trips into the borough just to go to Tempo. I thought it was very good, but it's not a destination.

I have only three words to say about mole in New York: Tulcinga del Valle

And yeah, the food is nothing like Cucina (at least in Cucina's early days, i.e., the last time I went).

So after reading all this I had to try Tempo. I sat at the bar, and had a cocktail, some wine, the porchetta, and a pasta. Tempo is neither as loveable nor as interesting as Al Di La (Tempo is pretty clearly a neighborhood place, whereas I could almost imagine traveling to get to Al Di La). But it is seriously good. I feel terrible for missing out on it so long. The cocktail was the "Junipero 102". We are now living in a time where certain places have set the bar so ridiculously high for cocktails (and for bartending technique) that it's almost hard to appreciate an averagely good-to-very-good house cocktail. So no, this wasn't as fabulous as, say, the "Coming Up Roses" cocktail at the Bar Room at the Modern, and maybe the bartender didn't even use a jigger. But it tasted very good all the same. So there. The wine list at this place is something to behold. Probably the best I've ever seen in Brooklyn. I can't wait to go back with friends so we can order from the bottle list. The "by the glass" list is misnamed, because they really serve by the quartino. That list obviously lacks the most interesting stuff from the main list. But it had a personal favorite (not the greatest wine by any means, but something that I just like) -- Sardinian vermentio -- so I'm not complaining. Anyway, the food. The porchetta was as good as H. du Bois said it was. Nearly up to Mark Ladner standards. The pasta -- a special -- was strozzapreti with speck (it was pork night there at the bar at Tempo) and peccorino. This was very good. Very very good. Good enough that it made me think I should go back there every night and run through their pasta menu. So another good Fifth Avenue restaurant. Probably my second favorite on that stretch (after Al Di La, of course). I'm so grateful to you guys for pointing me to it.

On people's impressions of Spice Market when it first opened, I also have to add the following, posted here on October 1, 2004 by my ATF restaurant critic, Mimi Sheraton: "above all Spice Market which I am crazy about..I'm thinking of moving in."

That was the problem with her review. It was "Gray Kunz this," "Gray Kunz that." You'd never have known JGV was even involved with the place.

Although, as I recall, most people thought at the time that she panned Spice Market only because she was bending over backwards to appear fair since JGV wrote the foreword to her book.

And everybody agreed that, even if 66, Spice Market, and V Steakhouse marked a falling-off, Perry Street was a comeback. (I know, that's a lot like this famous marital retort: HUSBAND (to wife after she accuses him of doing something): I didn't do that. And you did it first.)