Sneakeater

Of course, for purposes of this thread they're also supposed to be good, in addition to popular. (I mean, it's hard to get a table at One If By Land or Tavern on the Green, too.) I meant for popularity to be kind of a neutral factor (meaning a place could be "underappreciated" in the sense I meant and still be popular -- or it could not be popular. Wouldn't matter.) So, to clarify, are you saying that you've eaten in each of those places recently and think they deserve more attention? I haven't eaten in Chanterelle in years (although I loved loved loved it back when it was on Greene St.), so I personally can't comment on the frequent accusation that it's either slipped or been far surpassed. But I'd certainly call River Cafe underappreciated. It may not be as surpassingly good as it was back in the days of its Parade Of Soon-To-Be-Famous Chefs, but as of two years ago it was still excellent. Although it's not as good as Picholine, it's sort of in the same position as Picholine was pre-renovation.

I recently ate at Del Posto very late on a Saturday. I was going to a movie (unescorted), and figured I'd make arrangements to stop by afterward, at 11, for the now-restored bolito misto. (If you can call ingesting mass quantities of boiled meat and sausage, after an antepasto and a pasta and before a dessert, "stopping by.") It was PACKED. I mean PACKED. (OK, maybe not Babbo-style I-can't-breath packed. But the more expansive room and less oppressive music at Del Posto militate against that.)

Maybe there should be a separate thread for "10 Most Important Closings."

I think the problem is that whoever split off this thread from the one where it originated entitled it "Top 10" restaurant openings, whereas robyn's initial post asks for the 10 "most important." Certainly, a failed opening can be important. Barca 18, for example, is important primarily because it failed.

Maybe Eatmywords wants to put it in the "Underappreciated" thread.

I've been to Falai. I remember thinking that portions seemed too small. I really have to give it another try. I'm sure it's better than my first impression was.

I really wanted to avoid this kind of dispute, but to me Hearth is one of the more OVERappreciated restaurants around here. I like it, but it gets mentioned so much on this board that you'd think it was one of the uniquely excellent places in the City.

Report back.

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT THE POINT OF THIS THREAD TO BE!!!!!!!!!

Although, from my own perspective, a restaurant where the chef wins a Beard award (whatever you might think of them) but it rarely gets mentioned here is a prime candidate for what I meant by "underappreciated".

Courtesy of Eater Sumile (How could I forget?)

See Post #13 above.

FWIW, that's exactly the kind of place I meant. (As is Esca.)

If you think "what foodies are talking about" is too amorphous, make it what this board is talking about.

Would you exclude Bouley Upstairs, then? (Which is, obviously, EXACTLY the place I was thinking of when I started this thread?) I guess what I'm saying is that I'd omit your third criterion.

Again to be clear, part of the reason I initiated this thread is that -- as is often the case on boards of various kinds -- the same set of "board favorites" always seems to get mentioned whenever anyone asks anything, even though there are other good options out there. To take one example, Hearth is a fine restaurant, but for all the play it gets here you'd think it was uniquely excellent, which it just isn't. So I thought it would be useful for us to remind ourselves of the very good places that tend to get excluded, for one reason or another. Mostly because people just don't think of them.

Just to be clear, as the thread initiator, I meant restaurants that may be popular, maybe even highly popular, but don't seem to get much play among foodies, even though they're toward the top of their class. (I obviously don't mean highly popular restaurants that aren't that great.) Either they've lost their buzz, or never had it. I'd say, as a rough criterion, places that don't (or no longer) often get mentioned in discusssions, or recommended in response to requests, on boards like this -- even though they are, in fact, highly recommendable. I mean, as you said, you can't get into my first nomination, Bouley Upstairs. How much more "appreciated" could it be, if that were the definition? I'm not saying whether Craft qualifies or not under that definition. (I'd say it's at best borderline -- I mean, it's hard to say that Craft is forgotten in these circles.) Just that the fact that it's hard to get a reservation isn't what at least I meant to be the controlling factor.

310 Spring St., near Greenwich St. I'm not cool enough to have a phone number. Email is (or was at one time) anchornewyork@gmail.com. Don't assume you can get in.

The Anchor is NOT in the Gramercy Park Hotel. The Anchor is not anywhere NEAR the Gramercy Park Hotel.

db Bistro Moderne

I was going to make the same comment about Perry Street.

FWIW, I'd pick Momofuku Ssam over Urena, too. And I'm a big fan of Urena.

I think the general consensus -- and I'm talking consensus, not my own personal knowledge; I've only eaten in Morimoto and not Buddakan -- is that Buddakan is significantly better than Morimoto. In fact, I kind of thought the reason Nathan included Buddakan on his list is because it shows that one of those club/restaurant barns can actually be good as a restaurant.

I totally agree about the excellent quality/price ratio at Bouley Upstairs. However, it is a rather unpleasant space, and I am generally not keen on hanging out for a wait of unknown duration. For the same amount of money, I'd rather be more comfortable and know for certain that I'll have a table at a pre-arranged time. ← I agree with that completely (which is why I don't eat at Bouley Upstairs more frequently). But that doesn't stop the original Momofuku (to choose but one possible example) from getting a lot of attention. To say nothing of DiFara.

See, to me what's so important about Bouley Upstairs is that you get David Bouley food for an almost ridiculously low price. Sure, it isn't as luxe as the food at the main place. But it's still recognizably Bouley, and for that reason, at least to a fan like me, fairly magical. It took me months after my first meal at Bouley Upstairs to stop thinking, everytime I ate in an upper-midprice place, that it isn't worth it because for the same money I could be eating at Bouley Upstairs instead.