Brad Trent

I know the original post referred to lunch in Utica, but I followed the link to that Utica restaurant review site and found Fianchetto and figured I would pass on this warning! After reading positive reviews on Fianchetto, I can only imagine they are shill reviews posted by the owners because there is no way on Earth an impartial reviewer could give this freakish, poorly run joint more than two stars, and two stars ONLY if the service was better than what I experienced last night! First off, let me say that I wasn't expecting anything amazing...I mean, it's Utica and I live in Manhattan! But this place was recommended to me by a local I was working with so I figured he would know what was best for my one night in this depressed town. I overlooked the eclectic decor, the bizarre 'thrones' they have for chairs and the overly flamboyant attitudes of the proprietors. I was heartened when I saw a couple of boxes of Reidel wine stems sitting on the bar...I figured that maybe we would at least have a decent bottle of wine, but when I saw the wine list I was dumbstruck...the prices were so off the chart that if I wasn't so hungry I would have just turned and left on principal! Keep in mind that this restaurant is in an extremely run-down area and that the entire country is up to it's ass in a recession, but on what planet do you have $550 wines on a very small list? And it's not like they just had a couple of overpriced offerings...the majority of the list was in the multiple-hundreds of dollars! There were hardly ANY reds under $50!!! I settled on a very nice bottle of 2004 Agricola Punica 'Barrua' for only $75 (it's a $45 retail wine so why is the rest of the list so outrageous?!!) and then we focussed on the menu..... Once again we were bowled over by the prices! As I said, I live in Manhattan and when I see $30 entrees I REALLY expect to be impressed with the food. I chose a carpaccio app and a rack of lamb entree, my friend ordered the crab cake app and a flank steak entree...both came with a house salad...now the real fun begins! Our salads were drenched in an oil and balsamic dressing, HEAVY on the balsamic! The warning bells were ringing! My Carpaccio was simply thinly sliced beef covered in raw onions, some capers and a bit of salt & pepper...no dressing to speak of and basically bland! The crab cakes were presented with an excuse..."Don't worry about how they look...the chef uses mostly crab meat so they don't really hold together, but they taste great!"......what my friend got were two piles of crab goo...nothing 'formed' into a cake at all... and despite the claim of being 'mostly' crab meat, they were full of some kind of blah filler and were a complete waste of time. But the real treat was the entrees.....after a long wait (Oh yeah...before I forget...there was only one other table of diners in the place but the prep time was amazingly long!) the steak and lamb arrived, carried out by the chef himself because his partner was too busy with friends at the bar to carry the plates out himself! The 'chef' explained to me that he didn't separate the 5 lamb chops because he liked it that way! Well 'chef'...if I wanted a BLOCK of poorly prepared lamb, I could have blindfolded myself and don it at home and it wouldn't have cost me 30 bucks...cut the fukking lamb!!! While cooked well, there was nothing worth the tariff on my plate and the overcooked asparagus and burned roasted potatoes sealed the deal! The Flank Steak was also cooked well, but was totally uninspiring as well and was drenched in a salty Bordelais sauce. We finished and waited for either of the jokers who run this soon-to-be-out-of-business joke to come and clear the table, but they were now both playing with their friends at the bar......after flagging them down and paying the $200 tab, we fled into the skeevy Utica night, never to return!!! If you are reading this, trust me.....Avoid At All Costs!!! Go to one of the MANY bars down the block, have a burger & a beer, play a couple of rounds of pool and consider yourself fortunate!

My God! You have just made me the happiest idiot on the board today...we are less than three weeks away from a dinner at the Bristol and your post has my mouth watering! I was expecting a nice meal, but nothing like what you have shown us! Thanks for the post. BT

I think the 1 star rating is probably fair...I've only been back once since my first dinner there (after they got their liquor license) and my experience was about the same. For me, the one big problem with the place is the service! On my second visit I still had to beg for water, bread and a menu! And after we finally got the menus it took about 15 minutes before we saw the waiter! It doesn't take an adult 15 minutes to go over a bistro menu! The food is fine...c'mon, it's a bistro and that's how Bruni reviewed it. He wasn't expecting haut cuisine, but honestly, there are a lot of similar places I would rush to if I have a hankering for this kind of food but I really would have like to have been more moved by this place...it's only a couple of blocks from my apartment! Bruni did mention one thing that the wine-geek in me also noticed. The wine list is pretty thin on decent, affordable wines. I don't know many people that will pay the seriously high tarif for the better wines on their list when this place is, after all, a bistro. They either need to add another 5-10 bottles of more reasonably priced wines or lower their corkage (which they made $20 after they got their liquor license!) if they intend to get people (read: wine geeks) to come back. Most of the wine that I would want to try hovers around triple retail and I just can't justify that kind of money for this place. BeeT's

OK...now we're just gettin' silly! An egg-less souffle?!! What's next...Steak Tartare without the meat?!! BeeT's

"...lemon meringue pie, or what might have been a lemon meringue pie had someone in the kitchen put the pieces together..." BwaaaHaHaHaHa!!! Will somebody please tell just what the Hell is the point? Have we all gotten so bored with just eating GREAT food that we now have to have it broken down into it's base elements in order to get a rise out of us?!! Mark my words, the way this is going, in the next Jean Georges restaurant we'll be paying $150 to get dragged into the kitchen to have the master show us how to cook the food OURSELVES!!! BeeT's

They do allow corkage, but I'm not sure if that $75 number is right...if it is you had better bring some hi-test juice, and make double-sure they don't have it on their list! That kinda corkage is what us wine geeks call an eff-you corkage. If you insist on bringing your own wine then they're gonna charge you gold for the privilege. Face it, even with the high prices for the food, the real profit center at Per Se is the wine list. BeeT's

Some of you might know that I'm a bit of a wine geek and I have to say, it's been a long, long time since I've seen the Captain/Sommelier split on the tip line of a check in New York! In fact, the last time I saw it was at a 3-Star place in Paris! In my experience, even in very good restaurants (Babbo being one) the waitstaff pools tips and the Sommelier gets his fare share. I've never had a sommelier give off any vibes that he was slighted by not getting an extra tip and I would be really surprised if it would happen in New York. On the other hand, I suppose if the sommelier went over and above and really made your wine experience that much better tossing him a few bucks would be fine. BeeT's

Back to the Tasting Room for a sec... I just spoke with Rene and she says the apparent confusion about them leaving started when the Times reported that one of their cooks had left for 71 Clinton...Rene and Colin are still at the Tasting Room with Colin in the kitchen 5 nights a week! BeeT's PS: And as to whether it's a 4-star place or not...c'mon, I love the place but I'd say it's solid 3-star food in 2-star (OK...1.75) surroundings!

The "Team" has left The Tasting Room?!! Since when? I was just there a month ago and Rene and Colin were still there, so what "Team" can you be talking about??? BeeT's

OK...so me and two wine geeks take advantage of the zero-corkage policy at Gavroche last night. I made an 8:00PM reservation, and we all arrived shortly before 8:00...to a completely empty restaurant! And was it ever HOT in there...like 80+ degrees hot! I assumed that they were having air conditioning problems until the manager, Camillia Cassin, looked up from the bar and asked, "Did you bring wine?"...she then led us down the rear passageway to the garden, where everybody was dining! It was quite nice back there and at least 10 degrees cooler. And larger than I would have expected as well...the well-spaced tables surround a fountain that is in the center of the area and a wall of ivy towers 5 stories over the entire area. Of course however, there were no tables available so we had to retreat back to the main dining room to wait. The 5 minutes we were told it would be turned into half an hour but we were finally led back to a table. Then we waited for another ten minutes before a busboy brought us a basket of bread. No waiter appeared so we went about opening our own wine. Eventually a waitress showed up and gave us the evenings specials (that included a variation on the $9.00 wild mushroom ravioli in truffle oil appetizer...the special had shaved "summer" truffles instead. Of course I ordered it but was pretty surprised when the bill came and saw it was fully DOUBLE the price! Note to waitstaff: SPEAK UP ABOUT PRICING ON THOSE HIGHER-THAN-NORMAL PRICED SPECIALS!!!) Anyway, we ordered and requested water and red wine glasses...then we waited some more. After grabbing a busboy we managed to get water, and on the third try the red wine glasses appeared. I ordered the aforementioned ravioli appetizer which was excellent, if maybe the portion was a bit small. The mushrooms and truffles were a very good match and it was actually a nice, light start. The geeks shared the charcuterie plate of meats, duck terrine, mustards and sauces and liked it just fine. I'm not the one to comment on it though...not that I don't like that sort of thing 'cuz I actually eat like that at home, it's just that I never feel it's really anything to get all jazzed about when I go out for dinner. I had the $24.00 "rack" of lamb which turned out to be 3 smallish rib chops. If you're on the South Beach diet I guess this place might be perfect for you. They were fine but certainly pricey for the portion size. The accompanying roasted tomatoes and goat cheese over spinach was excellent. Geek #2 had the same but felt his lamb was too rare but he also loved the tomato dish. Geek #3 had the $18.00 steak-frites, a skirt steak in a peppercorn sauce that was fine, but I thought the frites were not nearly crisp enough. Tatrine is only a few blocks South and everyone knows how damn good their fries are! Myself and Geek #3 ordered dessert and coffee, but only my (very average) apple tart and vanilla ice cream showed up. I begged a coffee off of a busboy but by that time Geek #3 had bailed on his dessert. No refills were offered on the coffee...and we were off. Not hardly a rave review and it's too bad because the food is actually quite solid for what is is and the garden atmosphere is great, especially on a night like last night where it was nice to be outside and enjoy the breeze. The waitstaff, however, needs to seriously get in gear! I've got a rez for next Wednesday that I still may keep to give them a second chance...that says a lot, but they only get one second chance! I'll report back then... And for God's sake...turn on the A/C!!! BeeT's PS: Oops! What kinda wine geek am I without adding tasting notes?!! Asher (Wine Geek #2) has provided the following... 2001 Donhoff Oberhauser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett: Damn nice. Limes, slate, white fruit, vibrant acidity, echoes of flavor on the finish. Delish. 1996 Arrowood Reserve Cab: Had to be iced down because the alcohol was showing too much at room temp. Tannins are softening. Typical Cab fruit, starting to mellow with age but still solid. Oak is present, especially the vanilla notes, but is also mellowing. Overall, a good wine but not worth the money. 1985 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou: Started off musty, and we wondered whether it would blow off. It didn't. Corked. 1999 Martinelli Gewurtz, Martinelli Vineyard: Brad and Spencer both thought it tasted older than it really was. I found it to still be youthful, especially the palate that was dominated by lychees. But the wine comes across as flabby because of the low acidity. The 14.3% alcohol at times seems well-concealed and at other times, like on the finish, really packs a whallop.

Country manor?!! No...I have a REALLY big cellar that leaves no room for an apartment! Actually, yes...the cellar sits in Connecticut. I suppose I could be humble and say that it's not really as big as it looks (the miracle of wide angle lenses) but it does hold about 2000 bottles. As for when the egulleters will be invited to help drain a portion...between the wine board geeks and the few foodie geeks I know from the board I seem to have already begun the emptying process! BeeT's

Yeah...I've got a rez for next Wednesday but I wuz wonderin' if anybody had any thoughts. As for the BYO, yes, that's another reason I wanted to try it 'cuz I need all the BYO's I can find... A few shots of my cellar... BeeT's

Spice Market...probably the most over-hyped place I've spent a lot of money at in years! Bad service (waitstaff reaching over you to over-fill the unbelievably cheap-assed wine glasses without as much as an "Excuse me", wrong plates placed in front of you and YOU'RE supposed to move them around, items not ordered showing up at the table...blah, blah, blah!), food I would call average at best and so loud you need a megaphone to be heard! Yes, it's a great looking room, but I don't eat rooms! And seeing Jennifer Love Hewitt didn't add to my dining experience. Biltmore Room...Very good experience both times I was there, especially the second time when I asked for a pillow to put under my ass! What's with those chairs anyway? Don't they know if everybody has to ask for a pillow so that they can reach the top of the table they just might have a problem?!! And I'm 6'2"...imagine what it's like for the short folks! The food is excellent but as some have already said, not in the Bouley/Per Se orbit, but so what...the bar area is very nice, the room is great, even romantic in a certain way...I'd say since you've already tried both Bouley and Per Se the choice is obvious. BeeT's

Has anybody tried Gavroche (Philippe Roussel from Chelsea Bistro/Park Bistro/Montparnasse)...it's in my neighborhood and for the time being (until they get their license) it's BYO. BeeT's

I have to say, I hadn't eaten at Montrachet since I lived in Tribeca, oh...decades ago! But then they started that darned corkage-free Mondays and all of the wine geeks in town figured it was worth a look again. We all know that geeks will go just about ANYWHERE to grab a decent meal and still be able to bring their own juice, right? Look how many of us were hiking to the Upper West Side to eat upstairs at Fairway for a "passable" steak dinner...has anybody gone there since they stopped allowing BYO?!! Anyway, whilst I have had good meals at Montrachet on these Monday night geek-fests, I certainly can't argue with the "You will be fed well and sent home" statement. I've had both the tasting menu and a la carte and it's been...good! The room is feeling a bit dated (but not as dated as say, Le Perigord!) but that's not so bad. The staff always makes you feel welcome, the service has always been very good, and for what us geeks are using it for, a way to get "good" food to accompany our juice, it's a lot better than most NYC BYO's! Of course, after yesterdays review, I imagine there will be a "For Rent" sign in the window of a certain restaurant on West Broadway within the year... BeeT's