robert brown

Tommy, you sure do play a mean pinball. I'm sorry if you didn't read the rest of the post. I think it is interesting, and hope the thoughful and caring readers think likewise. I spent a fair amount of time on it and see nothing in it to evoke a mean-spirited response to an even-handed submission.

I first heard the statement “New York is the restaurant capital of the world” about three years ago from Ruth Reichl during her appearance on the Charlie Rose program. Since then, I have come across it (or some variation of it such as “gastronomic capital” or “food capital”) several times. Jean-Georges makes the claim; the New York Times food writers write it every now and then; the culinary historian Alexandra Leaf recently staged a discussion at the 92nd Street Y based on this thesis; Tim Zagat says it a lot-not surprising given the two hats he wears- and just a few days ago Eric Asimov’s New York Times obituary of Jean-Louis Palladin quoted Drew Nieporent as follows: “They” (meaning the French transplants Palladin, Jean-Georges, Daniel, and Gibert Le Coz) “elevated us, and arguably we became the food capital of the world”. I have often discussed this proposition with family and friends and am anxious to know what the e-Gullet readers think of it. One can approach discussing it from several angles such as the conceptual rigor of the premiss; if you think the premiss is more a statement of quantity versus quality; or if a smaller place than New York or other large cities can qualify as the gastronomic or restaurant capital of the world even if the food and drink are local or regional; i.e Lyon or San Francisco. If you have traveled to or are are living in, or have lived in other well-endowed food places, you may want to compare other cities to New York, or if you have had a preponderance of good eating, drinking and food shopping experiences in New York, perhaps you can give us your idea of what might motivate people such as the aforementioned to go on the record as they do. In other words, is the premiss self-serving hype or is there solid evidence to back it up? Feel free to limit yourself, as did Ruth Reichl, to restaurants if you don’t want to tackle gastronomy in its other manifestations. (Edited by robert brown at 9:47 pm on Nov. 29, 2001)

Bux, maybe I'm eating in the wrong places here in NYC! However, we came across the broiled live shrimp in garlic and oil at Dim Sum Go Go recently and have had them twice this past week. There almost as good as the San Remo ones, and you may even think you're eating on the beach in Golfe-Juan!! But more important, if the meal you described at Ducasse of Paris is competitive with his place here, I had better bite the bullet and go there (ADNY) Add what Steven writes and maybe I'll have a conversion. I hesitate because the Louis XV has gone from great to mediocre and thought maybe Ducasse was spreading himself too thin. I guess he's ignoring Monaco or the Prince is worried about money. But how close do you really think the two Ducasse places are food-wise? To answer your e-mailed question, I got the "Bad Trans B" virus and don't want to send out e-mails until it's fixed. I got e-mails from other e-gullet people I never sent private e-mails to; only just invoked their names on the site. Maybe some techie can tell me how that happened. (Edited by robert brown at 7:47 pm on Nov. 29, 2001)

Margaret, In general I agree with you that ordering a la carte yields better results. However, there are times when I will order a tasting menu; usually when I am in a place, most likely overseas, that I know I will never return to, and if the tasting menu offers dishes that I am able to recognize from the literature or word of mouth that are the "big deal" dishes. In New York I almost always avoid tasting menus since there's inevitably a limit as to how good the cooking is going to be, and I would rather eat a full portion of a product that I stand a chance of enjoying regardless of how the chef might have mucked around with it. I also have an inherent wariness when it comes to "theme" menus. I keep in mind, however, that truly great restaurants often offer a degustation that turns out have been a good choice. Did you come across any "vide grenier" sales on your trip?

Armani suits.

Rosie, absolutely not. The best steak house is my house after I bring home a porterhouse from Lobel's (about once a year). Seriously. though, I agree with Macrosan's conclusion about the wafer. I assume you're talking about just straight-ahead unadorned steak since I have had Fiorentinas here and abroad I have liked just as much as Peter Lugar's steaks. Of course I would never say no to one since among its breed there doesn't seem to be any steak place that clearly outdistances it.

Ruby, the problem is is that Babbo waiters pours the water in such a way that they segue from one bottle to the next in such a way that you think you're still on the first bottle. Most people aren't even paying attention except, of course, e-Gullet readers. Anyway, the noose is tightening on Joe and Mario and their happy band of skullduggeryers. (Edited by robert brown at 11:20 am on Nov. 20, 2001)

It's all right, Steven. At least no one can accuse you of not bringing home the conversation.

BABBO. Unchanged for the week. Tonight the waiter poured from a second bottle much more seamlessly than last week’s waiter; I had no idea if my refilled glass was from the first bottle or the second, due in part because he used a separate table for the wine and water bottles. Because I had to be on my best behavior, I did not bring up the matter in question to the waiter, the manager, or on the complaint card. Nonetheless, nothing has changed, although I did take note that the water boy at the beginning of the meal asked me if I wanted “Still, tap, or sparkling” in that order. Bottled water at Babbo is a dollar more than I thought: ů., not Ů.

I'm going there tonight (11/19) and will report back. Even though there will be only three of us, I'll drink enough water to induce a second bottle from the waiter. The men's room there is nice, so why not?

Bux, it all goes to show that there are regulars and there are regulars. If you're rediscent about being candid or expressing your real feelings in some way, then you are a regular attendee as opposed to a regular who gets special treatment. With an owner or manager who really knows you, you should be able to point out a flaw in a way that gets the point across without ruffling any feathers. Maybe the problem with your friends is that Mario has a piece of too many restaurants. (It sounds like another distressing story, regardless). (Edited by robert brown at 1:09 pm on Nov. 18, 2001)

Generally it's warmer and more damp than it is in NYC. 40s-50s temperature-wise. But there's the occasional sucker punch of cold and snow. It's best to be prepared for somewhat cold weather. Just call me M. Meteo!

I think Bux has it just about right. I'm just curious about one concept that I'm not sure of where it leads or if anyone has any insights. But as someone who once took a statistics course (and had no idea what was going on from the start), I am wondering if the distribution of stars across a given country can be insightful. How many genuinely good starred restaurants are there in impoverished gastronomic areas such as eastern France (around Metz, let's say) or the Midlands perhaps, or even Amsterdam-the place that got this whole thing started. If you look at the France Michelin hotel and restaurant maps, you can see that most stars probably cluster the most from Paris heading southeast into Provence. (My France Michelin is in, of all places, France) Could and should someone factor that into one's dining choices? However, as Steven pointed out, Michelin probably thinks Roelinger is relatively fine for a restaurant in Brittany, yet there are fans such as Steven and the Gault-Millau that think it is the top. I'm not sure that what I write here goes anywhere other than to put forth the proposition of using the Michelin in a broad-based way to decide whether to eat in a one star (and on rare occasions) or a two-star in a marginal gastronomic area as opposed to going simple and local. (I know: don't tell me about Michel Bras). (Edited by robert brown at 11:24 pm on Nov. 16, 2001)

Jake, not bad at all for waking up in the wee smalls from jet lag! Your reports are sensitive and evocative. Did you major in art history? (By the way, we have the world's greatest Zurbaran authority in the family). I was particularly interested in reading about your meal at Guy Savoy. He clearly didn't grow up eating kosher. My wife and I had two of our most fun Parisian lunches at the restaurant he had soon after his finishing up at Troisgros. Just a smallish former bistro in the 8th, I believe, where everyone dining in the place chatted with each other. Guy Savoy also packed us a free picnic for our flight back home. I guess his enterprise has changed a lot, as has his cooking. If there is someone who epitomizes the expectation of a third star that never comes, it's him. As a good person, he certainly deserves it. Keep those reports coming.

Glenn, just for the record: On Nov. 5 I sat upstairs at Babbo and a waitress gave us a second bottle without asking. On Nov. 12 I sat on the ground floor and a waiter opened a second, and then a third, bottle. It's clear to me that there is a restaurant-wide procedure at work. By the way, what is your restaurant and where can we find it? Consider this a no-spam zone. (Edited by robert brown at 8:44 pm on Nov. 15, 2001)

If the waiters at GT charge for each bottle of water without determining if you were willing to pay for it, that is not incredible service. Truly great restaurants are mindful of integrity in every "transaction" (in the broad social sense). That's why truly great restaurants are so hard to find.

J, when is the next installment? Bux told me he was planning to eat at the casual Helene Darroze restaurant. It will be interesting to compare your meal with his. (The upstairs part had about the worst service I ever came up against when I was there in the summer of 1999, not to mention the most arrogant, unapologetic maitre d'hotel imaginable who said to me when I got up to complain,"I know there's a problem with the service, and she (meaning Helene) knows there's a problem with the service". But the food was marvelous. Anyway, lots of us love to hear about dining in Paris and appreciate your taking the time to share your experience. Also, does anyone know when Bux and Patrice are due back? (Edited by robert brown at 2:25 pm on Nov. 15, 2001)

Steven, I'm sorry. I meant a second additional, sequential bottle, not two at the same time.

Man, I had no idea my churlish complaint would bring out a mob!! I was so grateful to Steven for putting out the first post since nothing is more embarrasing than starting a thread that gets no replies. I must fall asleep when I sit down in a restaurant since my meal at Babbo was really the first time I have been fleeced in this way. Usually, though, I ask for a bottle of water right off the bat or companions who arrive before I do have already ordered it. I should have been aware at Babbo that something was up when the waiter asked me first thing if I wanted still or sparkling water. I may just have to print out this page and bring it with me to Babbo Monday night Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply. Together we can eradicate this scourge. (Edited by robert brown at 11:59 pm on Nov. 14, 2001)

Andy, if I read you right, there are three situations. One is a restaurant like the one in LOndon you mentioned, Le Recamier in Paris, and the Four Seasons Grillroom in NY that gets the publishers, editors, agents lunch crowd;Second is the places that get artists, writers, celebs, out for dinner socializing such as Da Silvano, Nobu,etc; and third, the celebrity chef places like Trotter's, Aureole, French Laundry that gets out the cookbooks. I think that sometimes someone in an artistic or lliterary field will fund or start a restaurant that will then attract denizens. In NYC Elio's is such a place as it was partly started by someone in publishing. Or a personality can start paronzing a restaurant and that will attract fans and Sycophants. Warhol caused rhis to happen to Da Silvano for a while and, of course, many other restaurants during his time. I imagine that there is much more to it than this and that Steven can certainly expand on it. As the song goes, "It Can Happen to You" (and we hope it does).

Steven, you were also right about being confronted. I didn't mention that I was surprised that the waiter had read the card while running the credit card. I assumed that someone would write me a note or phone me. (I can't recall if I wrote my address on the card, but they certainly had my phone number). Why not try The NYT? Your article idea is a good one. Do they (Is it Nancy Newhouse, Newhall (?) who is the editor?) see you as a threat, the enemy, whatever?

Andy, I haven't been to Da Silvano in a couple of years. For me it's a restaurant that I go to once, forget about, and then think of it suddenly with the anticipation that I'll have one of the better Italian meals in town. It's good, but never as good as I think it will be. It does get a toney, famous art patronage, but it strikes me as quasi-neighborhood, quasi- serious eaters from uptown restaurant. I see it as solidly second-tier; not on the level of Babbo and a few others. I guess you could call the food some blend of "internationale" and Northern/Central Italian like lots of other Italian in New York. Maybe someone has a more recent take on it. Oh yes, it's not a real friendly place.

Something keeps happening at Babbo that unsettles my stomach. During my first visit eight days ago, I caught out of the corner of my eye our waitress refilling everyone's water glass with a fresh bottle of “aqua frizzante" (Ů.00 per). I made nothing of it at the time, but during my return visit two nights ago, my wife and I and another (and more thirsty) couple were the recipients of two refills. When I received the bill, I filled out the comments and suggestions card that came with it by writing "ASK before you start pouring another bottle of water." When the waiter returned with the credit card chit, he said, "We open another bottle because one bottle isn't sufficient for four people", to which I answered, "It's presumptuous, and this is the only restaurant I've ever been to where this is done." Since when is a 750 ml. bottle necessarily insufficient for four people? And what about two such bottles? The waiter made no effort to apologize or take a bottle or two off the bill. Now this may sound petty and curmudgeonly, and something along the lines of a self-appointed member of the Restaurant Polizei taking a pot shot at a sophisticated and complex enterprise; but what about the patrons for whom their visit is a splurge? To have an extra ů-8 dollars added on to a bill that at Babbo can come close in to almost 贄. a head is not inconsequential, especially when no one tells you whether or not you're going to be charged for something poured in your glass without warning, besides which they sneak up on you having already opened the bottle and just start firing away. Even if one bottle isn't enough to quench four people's thirst, what about the option to switch to ice water from the tap? I also didn’t like that there seemed to be no apparent higher authority to complain to such as a head waiter, manager, or maitre d’hotel. I’m going back next week and hope that they have abandoned what I believe to be a high-handed, till-filling tactic. If not, I’m going to write out exactly what I wrote on the first suggestion card. I hope my first visit to Babbo will have turned out to be more than love at first sight gone sour by greed. (Edited by robert brown at 12:57 pm on Nov. 14, 2001)

It depends how you consider the tasting menu Wilfrid had. While I got you here, how do I get to the wine store in the Bronx?. Yesterday I went under Arthur Ave. going the wrong way on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Given the nature of Sotheby's legal troubles, they shouldn't be offering fixed-price dinners in their restaurant.