Sneakeater

My grandmother's dish DEFINITELY got better as it sat.

What interests me about the short ribs is that they're very remeniscent of a Russian Jewish sweet-and-sour braised beef dish my grandmother used to make (which I loved).

Having just gotten through a horrific extended work period, I treated myself to the game tasting menu at the bar last night. I was eating strictly for fun, and I'm not gonna do an extended dish-by-dish runthrough. But boy did I love it. It was a Superb Dining Experience. The only downside was that, cumulatively, it was too rich, and I ended up in sort of a food coma. With all the attention they've gotten since the renovation, you can no longer say Picholine is a Great Forgotten Restaurant. But I still sometimes feel it doesn't quite get its due as a member of the City's elite. Not JeanGeorgeDanielDucasse four-star, but up there with the best of what's below.

I don't want to start a fight about this, but I guess by robyn's logic people like me who live in Brooklyn would never go out to nice meals in Manhattan, and would never take the subway when we did. (Or, if the point is it's different for women, then my wife never would have gone out to dinner in Manhattan.) And I guess uptown people would never go to the higher-end Tribeca restaurants, either. I'm pretty sure I've seen all this happen, though. Even on birthdays.

Everybody else has got it just right. Sfloglia is a very good neighborhood place, but not worth a trip. Good, rustic Italian food, well-thought-out and well-prepared. You're happy to find it there -- obviously, the place is perfect for before and after the Y -- but most neighborhoods now have an equivalent. Started with a salad of pickled something-or-other (pumpkin? probably) with guanciale. A can't-miss dish that didn't -- but nowhere near Fatty Crab's celestial pickled watermelon with pork belly. Then, a good pasta of spaghetti under a light tomato sauce with (I think) shreds of lobster, topped by a big ball of black truffle mush. Sort of a junior version of the excellent (albeit ridiculously priced) spaghetti with light tomato sauce and caviar served at Atelier Robuchon. Of course, not nearly as good. But good. So far, we're veering just above OK. The best dish was my secondo, a baked orata (in paper) rubbed with pancetta (you cannot get a dish without a pork component in New York today). This was extraordinary. The fish was perfect. I can't tell you whether or not the pancetta rub added anything, but this was one of the best renditions of this familiar dish I've had. I don't remember anything about dessert -- which I have a feeling is a blessing. Fairly interesting, but limited, wine selection. You eat in so many places like this these days that it's hard to get excited about another one. For example, I'm not gonna make a special trip to Sfoglia when I can walk to Tempo or Porchetta (putting aside Al Di La and Franny's, which may be worth a trip). Nevertheless, this particular place is in a neighborhood that can use all the (very) good, fairly-priced eateries it can get, so I'm happy to see it. I don't think it deserved its initial hype, though (which I think sprang from its being an offshoot of a restaurant in a vacation town, where EVERYTHING tastes better).

What sane person wouldn't rather live in Brooklyn than California?

Give 'em time.

Were you joking? The process roosters go through to become capons is the same as the process men used to go through to become sopranos. Considering their lives, it may not be worse than being overfed.

Thinking about what to advise Si in this thread has really driven home a comment that Bux has made frequently: New York seems virtually unique among cities with major dining scenes in its relative lack of available high-quality walk-in tables. Unless you're dining solo at the bar, there are very few high-quality places here that you can reliably eat at as a walk-in. (You always might luck out -- but you can't be sure.) And the places that don't take reservations tend to have very long waits. When I travel, I frequently don't make dinner reservations. But I always advise people coming here to do so.

In that case, you should DEFINITELY consider adding EMP to your list. But, really, the restaurant it sounds like you're describing is Jean-Georges. Have you been there yet?

That's because you're pathologically opposed to making reservations. I don't see why two bleary-eyed jet-lagged travelers should put up with the risk of not getting seated (which has in fact happened to me at the Bar at the Modern).

FWIW, if I had just gotten off of an intercontinental flight, I would NOT want to find myself fighting for a table at Bouley Upstairs (as much as I like that place).

From what I've read (elsewhere than just Bruni) about STK, it sounds like the ambiance issues at STK go far beyond just having music playing, and have been taken into account (rightfully, if their descriptions have been accurate) by just about everyone who's reviewed the place. Eater even said that it's "only a restaurant [as opposed to a nightclub] insofar as it serves food."

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2006/11/nicole...dison_park.html ???????????????????????????????????????????????

In case Leonard Kim is busy for the holiday, don't forget Craftsteak with one.

I agree, but I think Porter House will be critic-proof. Unlike V Steakhouse, it doesn't need three stars to survive. Bruni's bottom-line is that the steaks are fine, and that's what most people will be looking for at Porter House. ← I agree both with Bruni's assessment and oakapple's assessment.

If I didn't know better, I'd think you were advising people who like assertively spiced food not to wait a year to visit this restaurant.

Although they do seem to have recurrent service problems.

Speaking of backlashes resulting from hype . . . .

Looking at the reviews linked by Eater, I think we're seeing an interesting backlash against this restaurant. I think it has to be the result of the hype attaching to Chef Neroni. If this place had simply opened, without all the press, I can't imagine anyone would think anything other than, "this is a well above-average neighborhood Italian place." I think all the hype has raised some people's expectations above what this modest kitchen is able to (and could be reasonably expected to) produce.

Unless he tries to prevent the coat check from returning your items.

Actually, with all this talk about the beer, it seems only right to note that they have the Yalumba shiraz/viogner -- a wine I have long enjoyed, if not adored or worshipped or anything like that -- as their cheapest red-by-the-glass. Nice.

I had something that involved honey-infused vodka. And milk (well, probably it was cream). I'm too embarassed to say what the other 10 or 15 ingredients were. Although one of them was coconut. Yuck.

I recently had dinner with missing eGullet poster H. du Bois at Sheep Station, Lower Park Slope's (or Upper Gawanus's) entry in the Australian Pub boomlet. (I hasten to add that we made plans to go there before this place was reviewed in "$25 and Under". What do you think we are?) Much has been said about how funny it is to have this niceish bar at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Douglass Street, in the midst of all those car parts shops. It really isn't that funny: I mean, geez, it's a whole block away from the Fifth Avenue restaurant, bar, and boutique strip. Anyway, things are gonna change there. Sheep Station is a nice enough place to drink. There's a bar/restaurant up front, and a lounge in the back. Have a beer. DO NOT HAVE THE COCKTAILS. The specialty cocktails are sickeningly sweet. Although it must be said that after I ordered one (while waiting at the bar for H. to arrive), all the girls at the bar followed my lead because of how yum-o they apparently thought it looked. The bartender was nice enough to remark, "You really don't drink things like this, I'll bet," when she set my cocktail in front of me. The food is a mixed bag. The meat pie was truly good. I was expecting something like a pasty, but it was an actual pie filled with minced and spiced meat. The lamb sandwich would have been good if it didn't have this mayonnaise-y dressing that I found rather repugnant. The fries were soggy -- but that might have been my fault for shaking too much vinegar on them. I always want to order the Australian burger at one of these Australian pub places, but I just can't wrap my mind around the combination of a meat patty, pineapple, beets, and egg. Maybe if I'd had more of those cocktails. Of course, talking about the food at a place like this misses the point. This is a place to have a few beers and forget the day's cares hanging out with a friend. In that sense, our visit to Sheep Station was a smashing success.

Why does New York Magazine keep talking about the bacon sauce on the lamb? http://nymag.com/restaurants/shortlists/24374/ THERE IS NO BACON SAUCE ON THE LAMB!!!!!!!