Sneakeater

There was a place on Flatbush Avenue near Grand Army Plaza opened by alumni of Le Cote Basque or somewhere like it that served an excellent Provencale Soup de Poisson. Unfortunately, that was in the late 80s or early 90s. Now, it's a Blockbuster.

Shill. [smiley face]

The cassoulet was as ever. Actually, for some reason (it might just be mood) I liked this serving more than usual. Great ingredients, well cooked -- but it lacked soul (whatever that means). Still worth eating, don't get me wrong. They're switching over to a different kind of cassoulet next Tuesday. I'll be back to try it.

Corton. But it's REALLY close.

Allow you? Raji, I'd encourage you!

Those were really good!

Fuck, you can rent Toro! Toro! Toro!

I find the cassoulet (which I usually have every year and will probably have tonight) admirable in its conception and ingredients but bland and unintegrated -- the way I find most things at Savoy.

In the several years I've known you, EMW, I've heard you refer to that on many occassions. I still have no idea what you're talking about.

A lot of people in this country prefer (or think they prefer) vodka "martinis", too.

It would have made you VERY unpopular with the rest of your row.

I agree with you about that. I'm only objecting to the part of the criticism of Lee (not any of yours) that complains that his food is "not Chinese" and "a muddle to understand". FWIW, I don't think Shang is a great restaurant, either (although like Oakapple I liked it more than you did).

Oh, I know you agree.

True, but this is 2009, not 1009 or 9. A Chinese chef, living in North America, is entitled to be as globetrotting as a chef of any other nationality. And people who then abjure the food as "not Chinese" are just being morons, IMO.

I hope you took it home with you. (Seriously.)

I have to say that I find that clueless. You could say the exact same thing about Jean-Georges or Grey Kunz and French.

I also think that, whether or not Fat Guy does, the New York food media as a whole penalize out-of-town chefs, period -- even if they do move here. I think it's clear Alain Ducasse has caught hell (didn't move here). And so, to take a fairly obscure example, did Tim Love (moved here). I think out-of-town branches pretty clearly face a skepticism in the food media that homegrown restaurants don't. I think Nobu happened long enough ago to be irrelevant. Then, it was so unusual for a well-regarded out-of-town serious restaurant to open a branch here that people were happy to have it. I think now, people are afraid of New York's turning into Las Vegas (which, come to think of it, didn't exist as a dining concept the way it does now when Nobu opened).

Now that I think hard about it, we talked at some length about the dinner that he'd just cooked and I'd just eaten, and then about his future plans for Tuesday Dinner. What else would we have to talk about?

A special at Hill Country that includes only the lean brisket isn't worth participating in. It would be as if Luger's offered an "all you can eat" grilled salmon night.

The second one from the left, top row, looks exactly like him.

No.

I have a strong impression he's been there pretty much continually.

Nothing really that interesting. We were chatting. I didn't really interrogate him or anything. I mean, you know, you've spoken to Chang, haven't you? It's like that. You're just bullshitting for a while.

In fact, the deplorable common practice here has become for a restaurant to open with all guns blazing, and then cheapen and dumb down its menu after the review cycle is over (without lowering prices -- instead often increasing them). Chef Lee is to be commended for not doing that. But his apparent opposite approach is just wrong-headed in the current NY media climate.

Gordon -- The New York print media aren't like Michelin (or not anymore, anyway). They don't start a new restaurant out with a low rating with the expectation it will get better as it develops. For one thing, there's no longer any practice here of periodic re-review, so in general, a restaurant's initial rating is it. Shang got its single NYT star, and unless it substantially changes its format, that's what it's going to be stuck with for the foreseeable future, even if the food and/or service improve. (And it seems clear to me that most of the drubbing Shang has been taking in the press has been over the food.) Thus, if a new restaurant doesn't "hit a home run right off the bat", it's pretty much cooked. We may not like it, but that's the way it works here now.