Sneakeater

I certainly didn't say Varietal should have gotten a higher rating.

See, if we still had an "Underappreciated Restaurants Thread," I'd nominate Felidia. Even with its recent laudatory Times review, I never think of it. Even though, as Mayur says, it's clearly the best recommendation for Tallen (assuming the price and formality levels are appropriate).

Daniel will say he should go to Gino's.

Bruni's criticism certainly caused Will Goldfarb's career to take a turn that many of us have found very interesting and enjoyable.

The W is not terribly far from L'Impero. I've never loved it, but many consider it one of the very best Italian restaurants in New York. It's fairly pricey, though, if that's a concern.

You're right about the lack of any real discussion of the wine program (beyond the carping about the "grower champagne" card -- shit, I knew what "grower champagnes" were). That really is a surprise and something of a disservice.

Not wanting to micromanage, but in that case I would STRONGLY recommend a plan of: Dim sum at Chinatown Brasserie before Dinner at Momufuku Ssam Bar afterward. It would be perfect.

I stopped in for dinner at the bar a few nights ago. I liked the food somewhat less than what Chef Nawab cooked at Craftbar. It was all good, highly accomplished, but slightly boring. In other words, a classic neighborhood place, but not a destination. I started with fried smelts. These were better cooked than what you'd get in the midwest, but, paradoxically, not as good. Maybe fried smelts are better when they're slightly greasy, a bit overbreaded, and left in the frier maybe a few seconds too long. The chicken and dumplings entree, on the other hand, was very good. A strong recommendation. There's not much to say about chicken and dumplings, but this chicken was cooked almost perfectly: not overcooked by a nanonsecond. That isn't easy to do. Good beer selection. Decent small wine selection. Prices are moderate. The bartender was extremely nice. I doubt I'll be back. But if I lived down there, I'd be happy to have it around.

What I thought was intereseting about Bruni's review was the proportion between the discussion of the savories (high) and the desserts (higher than normal, but still low). This is different from most other reviews of Varietal that I've read, which were heavily weighted toward discussions of the desserts.

Big surprise that Frank Bruni doesn't like Jordan Kahn's style of cooking. Gee, never saw that coming. There is nothing remotely as interesting about Varietal as Robert's. Even most two or even three star restaurants aren't as interesting as Robert's.

1. WARNING re Bianca: It's small, and I have personally never been able to get in. (I guess they have these things called reservations . . . .) 2. WARNING re Mercat: Make sure it's actually opened, as as of its official opening day a couple of weeks ago and the weekend thereafter, it hadn't.

Sounds to me like they intend to eat BEFORE the performance, and therefore want to be VERY close to the theater. (Which is why I tried to recommend places within five blocks or so.)

In case you also want savories and not just dessert: Degustation Chinatown Brasserie (only for the dim sum) Il Buco (Also, not to be argumentative, Room 4 Dessert isn't all that close to the Public.)

You are correct about the tripe and yes, intestines are traditionally used for sausage casings. Funny thing, is I didn't see a lot of sausage or other charcuterie around, though I'm sure it exists. I wonder if they have other uses for them? ← There's a traditional East European Jewish dish consisting of stuffed cow's intestine. Maybe the Inca were one of the lost tribes.

What's interesting is that, from what you say in your post, the menu at least now on offer in the upstairs dining room sounds exactly the same as the menu in the pub. I wonder if that will change? I think they might have shot themselves in the foot promoting the place as "Canadian". (Just like Alex Urenas caused himself some trouble, initially, by having his food promoted as "molecular".) Aside from the poutine, and the cocktail with maple syrup in it, it really isn't Canadian at all. It's more Anglo-French (which sounds like it could be Canadian, but obviously isn't).

That's why God invented cardboard cartons.

There's DEFINITELY variation in the roast pork. Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes it's not.

For all the negative things I've said, I was there Friday. I missed this place, and will miss it a lot if it's closed. (Of course, it helped a lot that it WASN'T VERY CROWDED.)

I don't know if they plan on taking reservations for the pub part. When you go, you'll see that it makes complete sense for it to be all walk-in. But of course, things as they are don't always make sense.

As far as I know, you call the number for Jewel Bako.

Don't forget Varietal.

You think any of us were looking at THE TEXT by the end of that?????????

I was actually wondering, as I posted that, if there was a difference between "odious" and "odoriferous".

Meatpacking District. (Or, more to the point, the odious Meatpacking District.) (Actually, now that I think about it, it's always been odious, even before its transformation into Stupid B&T (sorry!) Nightlife Zone Central. It just used to be odious in a different way.)

At least for now, I wouldn't go to Kefi unless your kids are EXTREMELY patient. The waits to get in are enormous.