Sneakeater

Once my wife sent me out to buy "small frozen peas." I came back with a small package of frozen normal-sized peas. Her commentary wasn't pretty.

Word.

Chez Maggy is really good! (How many of them ARE there now?)

There's this place (which seems like more of a wine bar than the description would let on): http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=93885&hl=

I agree with Todd that one problem I have with restaurants in Manhattan is that they just aren't expensive enough.

Forget that. I'm working on my broad-noodle-infused artisanal cachasa. That suckas gonna make me the toast of the cocktail scene.

I don't want to get carried away with this, but I'm in shock. This was something I thought I could never ever cop to on a board like this -- and here I am following FG himself.

This is too funny. I was ashamed someone would see me carrying the Pennsylvania Dutch broad noodles out of the supermarket a couple of months ago, when I found I needed something at the last minute to go with some East European over-cooked braised meat dish I was making. (As soon as I step into the kitchen -- which is rare -- I start channelling my grandmother.) I thought they'd be tolerable, but they were delicious. I started looking for excuses to eat them with everything. I was actually jonesing when, a couple of weeks later, I went back to get more and found that my supermarket was somehow out of them. (PS -- If any woman I know ever somehow reads this post, do not imagine I am EVER going to cook anything for you -- or that you'd even want me to.)

That isn't the discussion I was referring to (just for the ecord-ray).

This is enormously relevant to another, unrelated discussion, which we're not having anymore.

Those people sitting next to you sounded like they were pretty young. Or at least frisky.

I agree with you, rich, that by the Bouley review the honeymoon was over.

Obviously a mouth-watering list. But I have to say, for myself, that if this turns into the kind of place that you can't get into without waiting or strategizing (like the original Momofuku, say), I'm just not gonna go there. I don't know what to hope for. Wild success, for their sake -- or not, for mine.

If you look at the first Bruni thread, I think you'll be surprised at how favorable much of the early commentary was.

I agree. The room absolutely has that vibe. I'd also add that many of the two-tops are so wide that you find yourself shouting at your date. You certainly can't hold hands across the table, if you're inclined to do so. (I alsays sort of think of the scene in Citizen Kane where we watch Kane's marriage deteriorate as the distance at the breakfast table gets longer and longer.)

To put it another way, I'd rate Kittichai two stars, too. But if Kittichai gets two stars, then Sripraphai does, too. The food is that much better.

Isn't Oriental Garden comparable? My own take on ratings for places like that is that the food is so fantastic that they are entitled to two stars even despite the lack of ambiance and rudimentary service. I have no problem with that, because I think the food is that good. It's not necessarily an outerborough thing. I'd give the Hell's Kitchen Grand Sichuan two stars. And I agreed with Ruth Reichl's two stars for NY Noodletown back in the Nineties.

This is where I'll bet I differ with oakapple. I'd give them both two stars. Sripraphai because of the fantastic food, but with no ambiance and negligible service. Kittichai for the inventiveness (and good quality) of the food and quality of the ingredients, together with the terrific ambiance and good service.

So Florence Fabricant reports today that Tyson Ophaso is leaving, and that Joe Ng is taking over the main menu as well. I'm sure that's indicative of, well, something or other.

Thinking about it over lunch, it occurred to me that what's funny is that this review is really a sort of fire-the-chef review for the guy in charge of the main dining room at the Modern. Hope Gabriel Kreuther has another gig lined up somewhere. There's certainly no hope of his taking over the Bar Room: that guy's set. Also, we now know what a pastry chef has to do to get mentioned in a Times review: leave.

And the thing is, you can see those two with your eyes closed.

Thank you.

I just want to pile on and agree that this is (a) extremely perceptive and (b) IMO, probably exactly right. I fixate on this because I think, in this respect, I am exactly like Bruni. The only difference between us is that I'm not one of the most influential professional restaurant reviewers in the world.

Please understand that I'm not arguing with you about this, oakapple, and I make no claims to understanding what is going on inside Frank Bruni's head. (I was going to say, "what (if anything)", but that seems gratuitously nasty.) It seems to me, however, that the Freeman's review was meant to be both an apologia and a retrenchment. Especially because, after that, his mean star ratings seemed (impressionisticly -- Leonard Kim can now log on and tell me I'm wrong) to have been lower than before.

For the little it's worth, I completely agree with two stars for Sripraphai and Spicy & Tasty (the latter only theoretically, since I've never been). But I think Little Owl, Dressler, Al di La, Red Cat, etc. are one-star restaurants. As much as I love some of them.