stetson99

They are currently finishing up a late lunch at Jean Georges at this very moment. The proposal will happen tonight.

There is no doubt in my mind that she will say yes, but we will all have to wait until the end of this weekend to find out for sure. I will give you kids an update after it happens. Hopefully there will be some pictures. I definitely appreciate all of your thoughts, and I promise that I will not leave you without providing the details of their trip. Thanks again for the help, guys. --William

This is a shame. An incredibly talented chef was involved with a potentially groundbreaking project that combined a new food dynamic with great cocktails. Unfortunately, it did not work. What went wrong? Was it the constant blog hype? Did it raise expectations to an unreasonable level? Did the modern public not 'get it?' Were the landlord and investors quick to throw in the towel? I do not know what happened. Everything I mentioned was for the purposes of discussion only. What do you think happened? --W

I want to thank all of you for your insight and information. My brother and his future wife are both very special to me. Thank you all for making this weekend special for them. I appreciate everyone's thoughts. --William

Daisy: Thank you so much for your reply and your thoughts. My brother and I went to 11 Madison Park around a year ago. We both loved the food and the environment. This is not what he is after though. He wants a view. I am certainly aware of per se. I gave this place my highest recommendation until I told him the cost. He certainly isn't poor, but the cost of the place almost knocked him out. He does not understand the context of per se vis a vis the french laundry, and cannot wrap his head around why The Best costs twice as much as The Second Best. I appreciate your thoughts on trying to make lunch at jean georges extra special. Is there anything else I can offer the two over the phone besides champagne?

Hey gang, I need your help. My kid brother is heading to new york city next month to propose. They will be there for one dinner and two lunches. He will propose at dinner. The kid could wants a view this evening. The food and interior design do not matter as long as the view of the city is great. Still, he obviously does not want the food to be terrible, of course. He is leaning towards either the river cafe or asiate. I am aware that neither serves distinguished food, but the kid wants a view. Are there any other places I should present to him? .... I set my brother up at jean georges for lunch on the day he will propose. I have spoken highly of this place, and he is looking forward to it. I want to know if there is anything I can do behind the scenes to make this lunch extra special for them? Can I buy them a bottle of champagne in advance and make it appear to be 'on the house?'. Same thing with dessert or extra courses? What is the procedure for this? Thank you all for the help!

I read somewhere that Sheldon Adelson did not put a buffet in the Venetian because he felt that this type of restaurant would be too low class for what he considered to be a very high end establishment. I cannot find the link right now, but I will post it if I can hunt down the story.

The School of Hotel Administration at Cornell offers one the finest bachelor level general business educations in the country - and probably prepares one for entrepreneurship as well as any bachelor level program. When I graduated and I am sure it is the same now, a hotel school student could graduate with enough accounting courses to pursue a CPA. ← Exactly right. I know a number of people that have business degrees from reputable hotel schools that went into entirely different industries and did exceptionally well. Some did this without even entering the HRMA industry after graduating. I'm not specifically speaking of Cornell either. My point is that with a degree such as this you are ultimately studying business. Sure the focus is on HRMA, but you still take classes on accounting, finance, insurance, marketing, legal, etc. A degree in the program is marketable outside of the industry. A degree from CIA is completely different. Right or wrong, you are still limited to marketing yourself as someone that can cook. I am aware that the program now includes classes on business and media, but the perception remains that the CIA only teaches a trade. Sure, it's the best in the country. If you want to be a chef, go to CIA. If you want a degree with the most career flexibility then head off to Cornell. If you can afford both then by all means go to both. Like the previous poster stated, it's apples and oranges. I couldn't agree more.

Cornell. Hands down. Not even close. Look at it as a degree from an Ivy League institution vs. a degree from trade school. Sure, CIA is greatly respected and admired, but it's still trade school. Either way you go you're still going to graduate with insurmountable debt, but at least you'll make a decent living with a degree from Cornell. If you have a degree from CIA you're probably going to be working the line while pulling in a whopping $10 bucks an hour when you start out.

And don't forget that the bottle of water they paid a $1.50 for is now offered gratis!

I completely agree with this statement. There was around a 30 minute lag in between courses after Gordon walked in. This wouldn't normally be a huge deal, but I can't imagine that it would normally take that much time to 'cook' and plate the cherries course.

The hall dining room. This half of the room was completely empty at the time w/ the exception of myself and Gordon+1.

It's funny you mentioned Jean Georges. I also saw him walking through the halls of the Bellagio near the elevator to my room in the spa tower. At first I didn't even recognize him. I simply saw the colors of the french flag on the collar of his chefs jacket, figured he may be someone important, and then saw 'Jean Geo..." stiched on his jacket. It took me about ten more seconds to realize that an icon had just walked past me. I wish I had my camera with me at that time. It would have been a good photo op. I also wish that I had the guts to interrupt Gordon while he was on a nice date with his wife. Now that would be a great picture. I'm too nice for that though. As I was the only person near Gordon's table at the time and had the only clear, direct view of him, I spoke to the captain and insisted that I rotate my chair at the table so I was not facing them. I did this to give him and his wife a nice evening out without worrying that this fanboy/foodie was gawking at him from time to time, even though I was really trying hard not to. I also moved because it's a little weird knowing that Gordon Ramsay is in direct eyesight and is watching you eat every single bite. I guess you have to be there to understand all of the dynamics of the situation.

I sadly did not have too many interactions with Joshua. Most of the the time he was on the other, more populated half of the restaurant. The bread was delivered by the captain most of the time. That guy was incredibly professional. Probably the person I had the most interaction with was the champagne woman. She checked in time to time, and towards the end offered a list of restaurants to check out in case the tropical storm delayed my flight back to Houston. Of course I'd already heard of most of them, but the attention was appreciated. In case you were observant, I was the sweaty young kid in his mid twenties, dining alone, who made the mistake of wearing a tie in that weather. The walk from the bellagio to caesar's may be short, but it's a killer when one is wearing a jacket and tie in that heat. Needless to say, that glass of champagne really hit the spot after it was served. It seems ironic that with all of the luxury ingredients like foie, truffles, caviar, and tuna belly that my favorite course ended up being the dish that focused on tomatoes. It was the perfect summer dish. I wish I could eat that every single day. Hell, I could even go for a large bowl that simply consisted of their tomato granite right now.

I had identical tasting menus at both Robuchon and Guy Savoy the same evenings as Bryan, although we were not in the same party. I'll probably go ahead and add my thoughts on these meals in this thread in the near future. I have to say that it is incredibly surreal to be in the middle of your cheese course while Gordon Ramsay and his wife are seated ten feet away from you. The very charismatic 'bread sommelier' was also a hoot.