marcus

Yes, this is the key point. The newspaper reviewer, for whatever discipline, is only responsible to the public. Worrying about impact on the industry, advertizers, or other parties with a business interest is a slippery slope that, in my opinion, should never be contemplated.

Wouldn't it also be technically illegal for you, as management, to accept a tip offered directly?

This is an authoritative description of at least one model for compensating sommeliers and is likely the most common for very high end restaurants. This is actually the usual model for compensating salespersons in most industries. In general, it's the salesperson that gives the Xmas gift to the customer and not vice versa. If the sommelier is making a commission on the sale and the servers are being tipped on the bill, I see no reason to provide an additional tip to the sommelier, it doesn't seem to make sense. The commission should provide sufficient incentive and motivation. According to Tommy's linked artice, a lead sommelier earns from $75,000 to over $150,000. If a sommelier is included in the tip pool as indicated by some, then they would receive a percentage of the tip based on how the restaurant evaluates their contribution, it might well not be the exact percentage of the wine sale, but that is really an internal matter that may vary from restaurant to restaurant, and that a customer couldn't really deal with. In this case, the customer's tip still takes into account the cost of the wine which is one of the highest markup items on the bill. Double tipping in this situation also doesn't seem to make sense.

So where does the sommelier fit into all of this complexity?

I would be interested in a precise picture of what typically happens with tips in a high end restaurant. As most tips are paid via credit card, it's not clear to me how this tipping out process takes place. Also consider that the credit card company is also taking a slice. In addition, my understanding is that many high end restaurants have gone to a true teaming approach where all of the employees effectively serve all of the customers. In this case, a common tip pool would make the most sense. With regard to tipping the server on food sales and the sommelier on wine sales, this is clearly not the case. The server is tipped on the entire bill including wine. Any tip to the sommelier would be over and above that. How the bartender gets tipped for drinks served at the table is another interesting question.

If sommeliers are included in the tip pool, then wouldn't they be required to pay any tips that they receive back into the pool, or do they have a special status?

I can assure you that the pizza at Otto, which I had quite recently, is not at all like a Neapolitan pizza, the crust is hard, almost tough, not soft and chewy. I can also say that I didn't like Otto's pizza at all, but that is a separate point.

I only saw the tomatoes on the pizza after they were baked, but to me they looked like cherry tomatoes cut in half, they were small. I am trying to recall whether they were placed with the cut side up or down, but I'm drawing a blank. It is likely that they were the pendolini described above.

Great post and pictures, brings back memories. I found Trianon marginally better than da Michele, but I made the mistake at da Michele of ordering the extra cheese option which made the pizza quite soggy. I experienced no service problems at Trianon. One pizza that we tried there was the DOC, about twice as expensive, 6 euros, and made with buffalo mozzarella and fresh cherry tomatos according to the official recipe. Italians don't really order this, but I thought that it was actually the best pizza that we had in Naples and we tried about 7 major pizzarias. Best pizzas in the world without doubt.

I wouldn't describe Ducasse as narrow, some of his dishes can be quite complex, but yes everything is in control and in balance. The Bresse chicken albufera with white truffles that I had at AD/PA last automn was one of the finest chicken dishes that I've ever had in terms of succulence and perfetion of flavor and flavor balance, but it didn't knock me over the way that Bocuse's Bresse chicken en vessie once did. I would have liked more white truffles too, even if it would have put the dish over the top, it would have been fun and worth it. But, Ducasse certainly uses luxury ingredients. Delouvrier, I believe, aims at flavor intensity at the expense of these other characteristics. Deep down, my guess is that Ducasse might regard him as a bit unrefined.

Lespinasse with Kunz at the helm was the finest restaurant in NY in the past couple of decades, I have said this before, and I have only the highest regard for Gray Kunz. He was reputed to have problems of temperament and interpersonal relationships, and the comment of mine that you quote, was strictly relating to how he would adapt to the challenges of Cafe Gray where he will be dealing in a high volume, high turnover environment, where those issues will be stressed. I wish him the best. On the other hand, I stand by my comments regarding Delouvrier, a talented, but in my opinion, flawed chef. Les Celebrites, was if anything more of a mess than Lespinasse, and I don't believe that it was doing great business. The kitchen was clearly not well oiled, dishes came out at odd intervals, and there was a lot of inconsistency. I think that managing a kitchen, and mentoring rising young chefs are two different things, and one can be good at one and not the other. I also think that Delouvrier's strength is opulence, and Ducasse's is restraint and rigor, the whole may be greater than the some of its part, or there could be a disaster in the offing. We shall see.

Although Delouvrier is capable of producing wonderful dishes, his pigeon with a black truffle sauce at Les Celebrites is possibly the single best dish that I've had in NY, one has to view his tenures at both Les Celebrites and Lespinasse as unsuccessful. I believe that he failed as a kitchen manager, and his menu was uneven as well. He never developed a definitive style or a clientele that was inclined to repeat visits. There was also an element of sloppiness in his dishes which is the antithesis of Ducasse. Perhaps he will have significantly more support across the board in the Ducasse environment and will do better.

A jacket with no tie is perfectly acceptable at Le Bernardin and will not raise an eyebrow. However, probably two thirds to three quarters of the men will wear ties.

I appreciate the replies from: mmerrill, vigna, docsconz and ianeccleston, all of whom have provided interesting and actionable recommendations. I have printed the thread, and will report back.

A personal view, yes, and one that I don't believe is correct or broadly shared.

I don't believe that the relevance of the French Michelin guide depends only on its 27 3 star restaurants of which 10 are in Paris. There are many areas of France that have only a few one star restaurants or perhaps a single 2 star. Even being directed to one and two star restaurants has value, and the same will be true for NY. It will still represent a view of the best available, which is what people are really looking for from a guide. My own view is that they will create 3 star restaurants for NY, even if they have to lower or change their standards.

They have a numberof challenges in adapting to the NY scene. During the period of expansion of the Red Guide out of France in the late 80s early 90s, there were articles in the press that Michelin had considered a Red Guide for NY and decided not to do it because the NY restaurants were too inconsistant, not just changing rapidly over months, but just day to day delivery of meals. They felt that their readers would not have the same levelof assurance as to the anticipated quality of following the guides recommendations that Michelin stars would give them in Europe, and probably correctly so. At this point, they have probably concluded that they need to accept the risk, and they are also not quite as rigorous as they used to be, themselves.

Yes, it was right across from the Malaysia restaurant. It's probably around 10 years since they moved out. My initial impression was that after the move, the price went up and the quality down. More recently, there have been a number of positive reviews making me think that its worth another try.

Your use of language must be very different than my own. How can this not be taken as a very serious criticism? I do agree with your comment, which is one of the reasons that I don't like Trotter's at all.

My wife and I will be visiting Sicily end of this month and I am seeking recommendations for restaurants, pizzerias, wine bars, gelaterias, pastry shops, etc. I would particularly appreciate recommendations based on personal experience. With regard to restaurants, we prefer excellently prepared local cooking to the international style nuova cucina, unless we have very strong recommendations. At this point the only restaurant of this type that we are strongly committed to is Mulinazzo in Villafrati. We are currently leaning towards trying Duomo in Ragusa and I Tre Bicchieri in Catania and against Casa Grugno in Taormina and Il Dehor in Agrigento. Any further thoughts on these restaurants will be welcome. We will be starting in Reggio Calabria in order to visit the museum and see the Riace bronzes, and from there going to Taormina, Siracusa, inland to Piazza Armerina, Enna, and Caltanissetta, then along the Southern Coast and up to Erice, Palermo, Monreale, and Cefalu. We will have an apartment in Siracusa for a week which we will use as a base for visiting Noto, Modica, Ragusa. Siracusa is a particular problem, as the Gambero Rosso's only rerstaurant recommendation for the entire city is Don Camillo. There must be something more. The other place for which I would particularly appreciate recommendations is Palermo. Although I believe that Palermo is an excellent restaurant town, most of the information that I have is ambiguous. The only genuine must that I've identified so far is Focacceria San Francesco.

I have stayed in Toulouse a number of times, and I agree that the center is quite pleasant. I flew in there as a jumping off point for trips either to the Dordogne or the Pyrenees. I just can't imagine what a tourist would do there on day 2. There is very little in the immediate vicinity, and I would generally consider 90 minutes out and 90 minutes back, as further than I would want to drive to most local attractions.

Trinacria, on 3d Avenue around 28th street. Not really a restaurant, but NY's greatest sandwich shop ever. Gone at least 20-25 years.

I can't fathom why you would choose Toulouse, an industrial city, the center is moderately attractive, over places like Reims and the Loire valley. It seems that you're travelin further to find less. Pastel is an excellent one star restaurant that is grounded in terroir, and is one of the restaurants that I would point to as best in its category, without being a candidate for 2 stars.

I find Patricia Wells to be perceptive, but she's a soft reviewer, not sufficiently critical, and you need to read between the lines, sometimes possible, sometimes not. There are a number of the more simple restaurants that are in her Paris book that get unstinting reviews, but are truly ordinary. These are restaurants that get an 11 or 12 from the Gault Millau, and that's what they deserve. Her actual negative comments regarding Hiramatsu earlier this year were so unusual for her, that they provoked significant comment. I think that NYT triumphalism is misguided, and I would suggest that people take a look at Figaroscope, www.figaroscope.fr to see how the French do it. Look in the restaurant section and you will see that they review 5 restaurants a week, at least one new, and rate them via one to four hearts, or a broken heart for a negative review. Information is provided for each restaurant in a useful and organized fashion and you can click to read the specific article, each about 100-125 words knowledgeably and systematically focused on the food. Very much like the NYT, the previous month is available on the free site. My understanding is that Figaroscope is the leader for Parisians who closely track the local restaurant scene, but there are additional credible sources, Gault Millau magazine, Pudlowski, the Le Monde reviewer and others which contribute to an active debate. In NY there is only the NY Times that has credibility and its not doing a very good job. $25 and under is useful, but the Diners Journal is totally imponderable and Sam Sifton is a disaster, I don't get the feeling that he knows anything about food. There has been lots of debate about the qualities of the main reviewer that don't need to be rehashed, but the fact that most of the 4 star restaurants haven't been re-reviewed for possibly 4 years is unacceptable, and to my view, a large black mark. Michelin was criticized for visiting some restaurants as infrequently as once every 18 months, although they stated that they visited the 3 star restaurants at least a dozen times a year. The vast majority of NYT restaurants get one major review and then never again. Do Figaroscope and the Michelin guide compete? My view is that they do on the edges, but that they are largely complementery and there is lots of room for both. Keep in mind Bux's important point that the Michelin guide is primarily targetted at travelers, whereas the local newspaper is primarily targetted at residents. However, I know that many Parisians buy the Michelin guide as well, because they view it as the most rigorous, the most serious, and as providing the rating of record.

I didn't mean that at all. I should have capitalized Cones, I was referring to the place on Bleecker Street.