kathryn

BTW, EMP has recently changed their lunch menu structure: prix fixe or Gourmand only. Now it is a two course prix fixe for $28, with desserts an additional $12. And of course you also receive an amuse bouche and mignardes (no hors d'oeuvres like those served at dinner). Lunch is served Mondays through Fridays.

I do not recommend them at Bouchon Bakery. They are giant (like the size of a hamburger) and too soggy in the center. Some are good, others are soggy. Also they coat the cookies in chocolate (!) which I find quite odd. I was quite disappointed in the quality control there. The seasonal one I tried was fine, not great, just fine. But those of the regularly available flavors were not good at all. La Maison's are excellent but they do not have a lot of flavors. However, they are flown in from France on a regular basis (every two days I think) in special macaron-sized containers. I love the salted caramel. Madeleine Patisserie has a giant number of flavors but they keep theirs in a refrigerated case and cold. You really need to let them come to room temperature. They are also on the moist/soggy side. If I get them, I leave them on the kitchen counter overnight to dry out. I like them well enough but they are not as good as others. Also note that a flavor like "raspberry chocolate" is raspberry flavoring in the cookie but chocolate ganache on the inside. Itzy Bitzy Patisserie (friend of a friend's bakery) is very promising but also on the moist side, and I find the filling to cookie ratio is a bit off. There is too much filling and the macarons are on the tall side. They have a selection of 6 flavors seasonally. The pumpkin was too moist and a little bland. And the chocolate caramel pecan was too busy. But the other four were good. No storefront yet though.

I regret to inform eG that the Benton's Old-Fashioned is no longer on the menu. Tried the Norman Inversion but found it too grapefruity, the Death Bed was excellent. Liked but did not love the Heirloom (Iuzzini's drink) -- spent a good amount of time trying to wrap my head around the muddled concord grapes. Falling Leaves, No. 8, and Black Flip are all back, thankfully.

2: Hopstop.com estimates it will take just under 2 hours to get to Oak Tree Road in Edison NJ from the Battery Park Ritz-Carlton on a Saturday afternoon. Bus -> 2 train -> Penn Station -> NJ transit train -> 20 minute walk. 3: The top tier restaurants open their books 28, 30, or 31 days in advance and usually start taking reservations at 9am or 10am in the morning by phone. Some also use OpenTable's online reservations system and put some tables online at exactly midnight that day (or at 9am the next day, etc). JG - starts taking reservations 30 days in advance, on Open Table Gramercy Tavern - starts taking reservations 28 days in advance, on Open Table, very popular Babbo - starts taking reservations one month in advance to the numerical date (if you want January 19 you need to call on December 19) at 10am via phone ONLY, not on Open Table, extremely popular Momofuku Noodle Bar - no reservations taken OpenTable.com is good for you if you want Jean-Georges or Gramercy Tavern. Be ready to pounce at midnight. IIRC, they put some tables online at exactly midnight EST. If you strike out on OpenTable call the next morning. If I am going to celebrate a special occasion and have chosen a restaurant, I typically call that restaurant a few days ahead at a slow time (say, late afternoon) and ask what their booking policy is (how many days in advance, when the lines open, etc). Jean Georges, and many other restaurants, aren't so good at updating their web sites in terms of operating hours. When in doubt, call and ask. BTW, Jean Georges just joined Open Table: http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=3154 And from their OT page, it says that lunch is served Mondays through Saturdays.

That's exactly what I meant -- they can't give you a firm time estimate.

Good luck -- the problem is that it's hard for the staff to figure out who's in it for multiple rounds and who's stopping in just for a single drink.

I've been there and they do last call shortly after 11pm. If you get seated before 11ish you should be fine. However, on weekends, the post-dinner wait time can be 1-2 hours.

...and Fran, and Christina, and the rest of the very hard working and deserving folks there.

We ended up waiting an extra 20-30 minutes for our 8:00pm reserved table at Babbo on Tuesday but the host said it was due to several lingering parties who had already paid the check. There were some angry people standing by me who'd been waiting in the cramped environs for a while. Otherwise I haven't noticed any change but I tend to dine on off nights or at no-reservations spots. Bruni's written about waiting despite a reservation a few times. http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200...-sweep-comme-ca http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200...he-hardest-part http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/business...ml?pagewanted=3 I think the NYT has mentioned in passing something about restaurants deliberately overbooking without going into details or naming names.

That was my experience at S&T, too, and I'm Asian-American. I think Little Pepper (Xiao La Jiao) might be spicier.

No chorizo challah yet. It's not ready for its debut.

The cakes seem really huge and unwieldy, and there's not a whole lot of space behind the counter for multiple people to maneuver.

Any recent reports?

Sneakeater, you were right on the lamb's brains. I still like the goose liver ravioli most overall, though. Schiacciata d'Uva (concord grapes!) last night was amazing. We should have ordered two.

I believe you can order the regular dinner menu at the bar, so that might be an option -- stop by for a drink, get a single dish, see how it is, etc. without the commitment of a full dinner.

Here's a good list of deals in NYC: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/11/recession_dining.html

They were in friends and family previews yesterday....we're pretty much at Ssam Bar all the time and were anxiously awaiting trying Christina Tosi's other creations. They didn't have everything on the menu by the time we'd arrived. I think they're going to make items fresh every day, and then when they run out, they run out. We went pretty late in the afternoon/early evening and didn't get a chance to sample some stuff, but I am certain we'll be back. You can order at the counter/display area, and then take your food to go, or you can enjoy it on site. They have standing level tables like Otto has. It gets a little uncomfortable after a while but I don't think the idea is to really stay there for an hour, like we did. You can also order whole pies, cakes, etc. in advance. We tried the chocolate cake (delicious, fluffy but moist) and pistachio cake (fantastic crumb). The cake slices are huge! You definitely need to share. They were sweet without being cloying. I was impressed how light and fluffy the cakes were, without being dry, or losing flavor. The pistachio was especially nice, given how unusual it is. Yum! We also tried crack pie (very rich and buttery but hard to finish), the pumpkin blondie pie (perfect and crave-worthy, really delicious, loved the combination of the two flavors). I really wanted to try the candy bar pie (chocolate, pretzels, caramel) but we were getting a little sugared out by then. My friend had the salty pistachio caramel soft serve (very salty, she ate only about half) and I spent some time sampling some soft serve toppings. Brown butter solids were awesome! The peanut butter halvah was great, too, nice and big, flaky chunks. I also liked the pretzel crunch and pistachio crunch but I think the brown butter might be my favorite. We also nibbled on the blue cheese polenta bread (basically what you'd expect), two types of milk (my friends liked cereal milk whereas I loved the Tristar strawberry -- like a high end Quik, I went back for seconds), and our volcano (amazing but steaming hot, quite filling, and hard to split). The volcano melted our plastic knife! It was delicious though, but I don't see how it could NOT be yummy. I loved the crispness of the carmelized cheese on top and the softness of the inside. Cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip was kind of unwieldy. It has a peak-like shape so the center stays moist and the edges turn crispy. Mmm, crispy edges! I loved the gooey nature of the marshmallow combined with the crunch of the cornflakes. Strangely addictive. Reminds me of the way I used to eat rice krispie treats a chunk at a time, slowly pulling away the chunks with my fingers into my mouth, if that makes sense. The texture might turn some people off, but it's not a standard cookie. Maybe think of it like more of a delicious cereal bar in a round cookie's disguise. The corn cookie was like a very nice, moist sugar cookie with a hint of corn flavor that got stronger over time. Subtly salty, too, but quite well done. It's thinner and flatter than a lot of the other cookies and more of a standard (but very well executed) bakery item. If you have someone who is hesitant about trying new things, this might be a good starting point. The salt really brings out the corn flavor after a while. The peanut butter cookie is also thicker than what I'm used to but there are nice bits of peanut scattered throughout. It had a very intense peanut flavor. It's pretty dense for a peanut butter cookie, which is a little odd at first. But the flavor is excellent. I thought the peanut butter cookie would be a little more crumbly. The blueberry cream is excellent as well -- it reminds me of blueberry cream cheese tarts that are made using Nilla wafers, but crossed with a muffin. The texture is moist but fluffy. The cream adds a creamy element that contrasts well with the slight tartness of the blueberries. I liked this one a lot but it's probably not everybody's cup of tea. The texture is quite muffin-like. The compost cookie is also probably not everybody's cup of tea. It's a bit overwhelming but I love the salty pretzel bits on top! I think there are also potato chip bits in there. There's also butterscotch chips (I think) and chocolate chips in the cookie. The saltiness of the cookie contrasts nicely with the chocolate and keeps things interesting. Some might think it's weird but I liked it a lot although I split the cookie with someone. It might get tedious after a while. It's also interesting to eat from a texture standpoint...I'm not sure if I like it right now simply because it's so novel. Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/72157609034540934/

Went here last night and ordered a raw bar dish, the charcroute plate, and a side, as well as dessert. Kampachi with Chorizo, Grapefruit and Smoked Salt - delicious, loved the mix of the meaty with the sour with the smoky. I was afraid the chorizo sticks would be overpowering, but overall I thought this dish was great. Charcroute Plate (smaller version): Mini Boudin Blanc was weird and mushy...not sure if it's always that way? It was also served cold. My first time trying boudin blanc, so I can't say. Mini Boudin Noir was tasty but a bit too bloody for me but my fiance liked it a whole lot. Crispy Pig's Feet were battered and deep fried squares of awesomely fatty goodness that fell apart in your mouth as you ate it! Yum! Terrine Tete de Cochon was delicious, fatty, not as smooth and spreadable as I'd like but it was seasoned well and tasty, especially spread on grilled slices of bread. Probably my favorite thing on the plate. Glazed Pork Shoulder was an odd circle of meat with a circle of at, and the fat fell off in one piece, this was served cold, reminded me of cold Asian chicken dishes, the main flavor I got from it was salt, overall it was alright. Pork Ribs were peppery and salty, quite well done, but a little on the dry side, and the edges got a bit tough, but the flavor was great. The pickled Cabbage was very nice and a good contrast to all the meat but there was too much on the plate. Fried Potato & Creme Fraiche were OK. I like shoestrong fries. These were more like spiced, baked potato wedges and less like french fries. Violet Mustard and Whole Grain Mustard were very nice accompaniments. I wanted to like this plate more than I did but overall they did a good job and I think it has a lot of potential to get better. Roasted Squash with Cashew and Bacon was fantastic. Crave worthy. A nice fall dish. Well roasted, really brought out the sweetness. Nice bits of fried brussels sprouts on top, too, as well as carmelized shallots! A must-try. Apple fritters - I thought these would be donuts, but they are literally circular apple slices, dipped in donut batter, and fried. Tasty but a little odd, in terms of consistency. If you are looking for a straight up fluffy or cakey donut, they ain't it, but they were tasty nonetheless. Overall, nice, and a lot of food for the price (especially the smaller charcroute plate at $22) but some components could have been better. Worth going back to as the chef continues to tweak, I think. Also, for those of you sensitive to noise, the entire bar area was crowded last night. They take walk-ins and you can also eat at the bar or in the front-room, which has some two-tops for walk-ins (similar to Babbo's set up). One thing to note: we were seated in the front on the raised platform by the bar and there was a group of 5-6 women at the bar who were obscenely loud. Loud enough that all 8-10 tables eating in our front area stopped conversation at least once, due to the shrieking. Eventually, they quieted down a little after being asked to keep their voices down by the staff. Also, the space is has a lot of air-conditioning vents, which is poor when you happen to be sitting right underneath one. Luckily, a request to a server got them to stop the A/C.

Here's what the menu PDF says Charcroute Plate with Mini Boudin Blanc, Mini Boudin Noir, Crispy Pig’s Feet, Terrine Tete de Cochon, Glazed Shoulder, Pork Ribs, Pickled Cabbage, Fried Potato & Crème Fraîche, Violet Mustard and Whole Grain Mustard $22/38

http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/7215...3858224/detail/ My party of four and I tried everything on the Henderson menu. Friends arrived at 4:45 and stood in line, we joined them shortly thereafter. Would it be worth a two hour wait to eat this food? Given that some of the items are available at other restaurants around town, probably not, but it was nice to give it all a go at the same time, with Mr. Henderson in the house and David Chang personally cooking marrow bones and dressing parsley salads. Celeriac & boiled knollcrest egg - eh, felt more like a bar snack, nothing out of the ordinary. Grilled chitterlings (Niman Ranch) - nicely cooked but I was not a huge fan of the texture, but liked the charred bits. It was nice to try but I think I prefer chitterlings/intestine in Chinese restaurants more. Deep fried lamb brains & green sauce (Jamison Farm, PA) - great, agreed that it was too small a portion, especially given the generous helping of delicious green sauce. I wished the tidbits were bigger. They were like tiny little brain-y jewels. I contemplated getting more until they started shouting "86 brains!" (A friend arriving later in the evening was devastated that they were already out.) Deep fried rabbit (Hudson Valley) - three nice big chunks, kind of like an "all dark meat" chicken, very tender and meaty, and ours were falling off the bone. Not very gamey, I thought. Overall, very well executed. Duck fat & garlic baked potato - simple, hearty, good. Warm pig’s head and bean salad (Bev Eggleston, VA) - eh, didn't really seem to come together for me, lacked cohesion, couldn't really tell why these particular items were together. Snail, trotter, sausage & chickpeas (Bev Eggleston, VA) - delicious but could it not be? the snails were soft and tender, as was the trotter, and the chickpeas added a nice textural contrast, I could see making this at home, when I craved a simple but hearty winter stew. I have the recipe bookmarked at home now. Crispy pig’s tails (Heritage Foods & Bev Eggleston, VA) - messy to eat and a little odd to me as I didn't really dig the texture. Fatty, not as flavorful as I had hoped. I miss the old Noodle Bar pig's tails prep. Confit of pig's cheek & dandelion (Niman Ranch) - we ordered two of these. The first order had barely any meat, unfortunately. But this was one of the highlights of the meal for me. Tender, meaty, flavorful pig's cheek with bitter dandelion leaves, lightly dressed. I hunted around for specks of leftover confit afterwards. Well done! Roasted bone marrow & parsley salad - a classic. We ordered two of these. Delicious. I noticed some people were served marrow that was a little pinkish but ours was not so. A plop of marrow, a spinkle of coarse sea salt, a ring of shallot, a single caper, and a few parsley leaves. Heaven. I used the remaining bread to sop up the delicious juices accumulating on my plate. With three sodas and three soft serve ice creams (fernet and mint, not bacon, as previous rumored on Eater), the bill came out to $60+pp with tax and tip. A lovely but pricey evening, overall. See you next year, Mr. Henderson? (Please stock up more on brains, thanks.)

The food is good but not particularly ambitious (which is fine with me). The menu is a hodge podge of items. It's perennially crowded and the wait can be long. Good place to grab a late night snack. Seating is cramped. Dark interior. Can be a little loud. Great bread, very nice bone marrow dish, good raw bar (small but fresh selection), tasty and indulgent desserts.

Yes, getting in for lunch is easier -- the price of lunch vs. dinner definitely has something to do with it.

BTW, some friends and I tried to eat here on Wednesday night at 9:30pm and apparently the last seating is at 9:00pm (!).

Actually, this is incorrect. A friend of mine had the prix fix lunch at Ssam on Friday. Three courses, $28. A pretty good deal but not as good a deal as Jean-Georges. If you were to choose between the prix fixes at J-G, WD-50, and Momofuku Ssam, where would you go?

Go to Essex Street Market just to eat lunch at Shopsin's (Tuesday - Saturday) and then walk quickly through the market afterwards, but it's not all that interesting in comparison to say, Zabar's/Fairway/Chelsea markets or the Greenmarket (M, W, F, Sat, 8am-6pm).