Bond Girl
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Posts posted by Bond Girl
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And don't get me started on Hearth...
Me too!
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That Euro trash blog was laugh out loud funny! In all fairness, I think the Spice Market is a good two stars, by giving it three, Amanda Hesser is driving her credibility to the ground.
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JG wrote the forward in Hesser's book on her husband.
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I'm with FG on this one, the review was not readable. I thought I would never say this but the Post actually have more credibility this time around than the Times.
The pastry chef is worth mentioning and so is Kunz. -
This may be a little one sided, but there seems to be a general trend among new restaurants to serve everything tapas style. When I had dinner at the Spice market a few weeks ago, I was told that the dishes come in small plates, and therefore I'd need to order a lot of small dishes and share them with my fellow diners. Last week, my dinner date couldn't decide between a Korean place down in the lower east side that serve everything Tapas style or 'Inoteca, which is an Italian place that serves everything in small plates. And, over the weekend, I had drinks at Megu, which, of course, served Japanese in small plates. I realize that variety is the key here, but whatever happened to beautifully plated full-size entrees?
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You need to get someone to treat you for dinner, Lauren.
(Or you could try downscaling your taste.
)Thanks for the report. I still have yet to try that place...
pan- hey thats why i only got an ap and dessert!!!!
i wish my taste buds were less sophisticated, alas they are not, but dont get me wrong, i d do il baguatto over babbo any day!!
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As a semi vegetarian, I would normally not have given much thought to an American Steak house, even though this one is supposedly disguised in a cozy French bistro décor and the press release promised some pretty interesting interpretations of American Classics. But, while at dinner last night, my dinner companion lamented: ‘Poor Laurent Tourondel, reduced to BLT Steak.’ Wait, this piqued my curiosity. Is this the same Laurent Tourondel that was at the excellent but ill-fated Cello?!!! I went home and checked out the press release. Yep, one and the same. Well, it’s a long way from Cello, but BLT Steak is not your average steakhouse either. Even though the menu contain American steakhouse classics such as Surf and Turf and a 40oz. Porterhouse, there are twists such as grilled foie gras BLT (doubled smoked bacon with grilled foie gras on popovers with gruyere) and tuna tartar with soy-lime dressing. There’s also a wide selection of fish to keep the non-steak eaters happy. Desserts include apple cobblers with green apple sorbet, carrot cake with ginger ice cream, orange raspberry sundae, and steamed banana bread pudding with rum raisin ice cream. So, is Laurent Tourondel really “reduced” to BLT ?(which stands for Bistro Laurent Tourondel) Not in my opinion. The chef merely expanded his repetoire and took on another interesting challenge.
Bistro Laurent Tourondel
106 east 57th street
Tel: 212-752-7470
source: press release from Bullfrog and Baum
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I think Lauren covered most if the basic facts on the meal. For my part, I though the food in general were good but lacked distinction. The somewhat over cooked grilled shrimp had some spice on it, but was overall wimpy in flavor. Therefore, I dumped a lot of tabasco on it, even though I would have preferred a much less tart spice sauce. The red fish was done better than the grilled shrimp, but again I was expecting something bolder, more explosive. (By the way, I had asked that the kitchen to make the red fish spicier, though what ended on my plate was hardly spicy at all) The bourbon sweet potato was truly wonderful, not the dense version that you expect, but the light mousse like consistency that went well with the food. As for dessert, I wasn't wild about what I had only because I don't like bananas and peanut butter and chocolate much less.
A word of warning is that while Lauren and I found the portions to be perfect, many others would have complained about the portion size. As for the service, Natzche won me over on that respect. I would go back but only if I can bring my own hot sauce.
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Although this is hardly news, John Villa's Dominics Restaurant seemed to be one of those secrets that Tribeca dwellers want to keep to themselves. The restaurant, which is housed in the former Pico space, is not exactly the place that comes to mind when one mentions dining in the Tribeca area. However, anyone interested in classic Italians food should at least check it out. The restaurant serves classic Big City Italian food featuring communal dining with hand made pasta, house cured pancetta and artisanal sheep's milk ricotta. Other old world delicacies such as Lardo on toast and Veal T bone Milanese are also recreated. Villa, the pulchritudinous chef responsible for reinventing the midtown Patroon and one time playgirl center fold, named Dominics after his Grandfather. This could be the best excuse to go downtown.
Appetizers: $6-$10, Entrees: $16-$29, Desserts: $5-$7
Dominics
349 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10013
Phone: (212) 343-0700
Source: press release from Bullfrog and Baum
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I've never been to any of JG's other restaurants. Are Jo Jo and/or Vong worthy contenders at their price points?
It's been a while for me, but as of 3 years ago I'd say they definitely were. Back then, though, JGV was running only three places, not 7 or however many it is now.
Try 16. He recently told me that he stopped counting how many rerstaurants he has.
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I would say Jean Georges remains one of my favorite restaurants in the city, though I can't say much for Vongs, 66 and the Spice market. No desire the go to the Steak house though.
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Here is my 2 cent, and it's coming from someone who happen to like Jean George personally. I think as a chef, JG is one of the most creative forces in modern cuisine. However, running a restaurant empire is quite different from being a great chef. JG has moved from being a great chef to being a great restauranteur, and sometimes profitability comes at a trade off and quite often it's creativity and care that is lost. And, when you have an empire that big, you start to have other problems that big empires have. Issues like staff retention, which is no big deal at little places, becomes huge issues in corporations because it becomes harder to keep up the consistency in quality.
I'm not sure if I agree with Fat Guy in that Asian fusion is out of sync with people's taste. May be I am wrong but people are going to like interesting food well executed no matter what kind of cuisine it is.
I ate at Vongs many years ago, and remember being very impressed with the food. Recently, I took a client out there and was terribly disappointed, not because what arrived on my plate was not creative and interest, but because it was so poorly executed.
I think without the Spice Market, 66 would have been slightly amusing. A place you would take business clients and out of town designer label friends to. With the Spice Market, you began to see a pattern of a formula being repeated. And, eating at a formularized restaurant is just a few notches above eating at a fast food chain.
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On behalf of everyone on eGullet, I would like to thank Chef Marco Canora for participating on the Q&A forum, and providing us with his insights on Tuscan food.
Many thanks also to Amanda Filley for he help as well as to all egullet members that participated in this discussion.
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Here is a way to get the crispy-iest skin on a fish possible as told by Cornelius Gallagher of Oceana. It works on fish like Black Bass nd Striped Bass. I've yet to try it on any other fiish. You first take the back of a knife and scrape down in skin, almost like the window squeege thing that Busbuy mentions. Then you get the oil really hot and put the fish skin side down, hold it down with a spatula or bacon press. When you think the fish is almost done, meaning that you can see a brown crust formiing and the fish isn't sticking to the pan, drop a dollop of cream fraiche, or a spoon of heavy cream into the pan. The cream will bubble and break. Shake the pan to move to move the cream around. Once it stops bubbling, flip the fish onto a plate for the crispiest skin possible or put in oven to keep warm.
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Went to the Spice market for a Schmooze meal. The place is the flea market version of 66, with pretty similar menu and price points. And, it is Fusion food because you can't tell if it's chinese, malaysian, thai, vietnamese, or indonesian. Wait! it might be Singaporean! (just kiidding!) Here is what the table ordered:
Vietnamese Spring Roll: This was a good spriing roll, eaten with bib lettuce and mint. But, it is a spring roll afterall and you can get one far cheaper at any vietnamese place. A far better version is the one Gray Kunz did for the Gourmet magazine party which contain Foie Gras, absolutely delicious and bursting with flavors.
Black peppered shrimp with sundried pineapple: most of the time when I go to a restaurant, complain that the chef forgets to season their food. But, this one iis so salty that it drowns out any flavor of the food under it. Paul Hanson, brother of Steve Hanson of BR Guest fame, asked me if what he's eating was pineapple or shrimp. Not a good sign.
Spiced chicken samosas with cilantro yogurt: I can't eat chicken but everyone seemed to like it.
Crunchy squid salad with ginger papaya and cashew: This is nice. Light and crunchy squid with fresh ginger and papaya. Good balance of texture and flavor.
It is at least interesting.
Shaved Tuna, chili tapioca with asian pear and lime: This dish starts out nice but the flavor gets tiresome after a few bites. The sauce that started out refreshing becomes soapy tasting. The Asian pear and chli tapioca is very interestiing to taste and is the better part of the dish. It reminds me of a marinaded pear that my aunt used to make but not with Tapioca.
Onion and Chili Crusted Short Ribs over Pea Shoots: I can't eat it but it seemed to be scoring major points around the table. Jean George peered over and saw the thumbs up from my dinner companions.
Lime Noodles with Vegetable Basil and Sesame: by far the worse dish we had, or may be it was a bad night, but this was sent over by the chef with his compliments.
The whole dish was simply too tart and very flat despite what appears to be matcha dumped into the noodles and signs of vegetable present.
Cod with Malaysian chili sauce and thai basil: This hits the spot for my spice craving, but it's a simple cod with Chili sauce, you really can't fuck it up very much...actually I take that back...now that I remember some pretty bad cod in my life. This is a simple and homey dish and a good one to order if you miss good asian home cooking.
For dessert I had a shaved ice with coconut sauce and asian fruits in it. I can't remember the name but it's that three jewel dish that Lauren had. I totally enjoyed it even though iit wasn't a great culinary feat, it was the perfect thing to cleanse my palate.
The ambience was very nice and the crowd was indeed beautiful. Then again, this is a place where the women servers wear backless uniforms. The service was a bit slow but friendly and helpful.
Would I go back? Only if someone else is paying.
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Not sure either, but I will try to find out and keep all of you posted.
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This may not be news to those in the industry, but at the Gourmet Party at Cafe Gray on monday night, I talked to Shea Gallante, the chef who is currently rennovating the old Washington Park space. From what I can gathered, it will be a new restaurant with complete new decor and ambience. Mr. Gallante was formerly a chef at Bouley's and he planned to serve contemporary European food at his new restaurant.
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Busy s the rght word. Do you guys know that a deal broker (is. some one who find you the money) can charge you up to 10% of what you want. So, if you want $1 miillion for your restaurant, you have to pay him/her $100,000. Then there is the potential investor, and they all seemed to want yoour blood for giving you the money, and a few even want more. A lot more. I feel like I've been schmoozng so much that water is starting to roll off me. Having said that I am having the time of my life, I learned how to eat and talk at the same time, and acquired a whole social calendar. Off to the Spice market tomorrow with another potential investor. Wish me luck.
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My insignificant other who happened to be the former Executive Chef at Nobu taught this one to me. You will need a thick flat blade knife. First you get rid of all the dirt from the oysters and you store them in your fridge flat with the deeper side (the curved side) down because oysters may open in your fridge leaking out the liquid in the shells, so if you store them like this, even if they open, the liquid won't go anywhere.
When you are ready to open the oyster, put the oyster flat on the table, dig around at the back of the oyster (the part that the shells would connect if you were to roast them open). You should find an area around the back of the oyster that you can slip the blade in. Once you get it in, twist to open. Slide the knife around the sides of the oyster to cut the muscle connecting the shells to keep the oyster whole.
Good luck.
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Or, you can just be good at playing computer games. I'll check it out.
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It had dawn on me after much ado that the whole issue here really revolves around funding. Before you have the money or commiitment to it, you really can't do shit. So, I went about educatiing myself on what is the norm in restaurant funding. I called a guy I know who's made millions running his own distressed fund private equity company. He told me that no deal is a bad deal, it's how you negotiated. If you are getting at least 30% then it's a good deal, just make sure you negotiate a good compensation package for yourself, he advises.
Another friend told me that what I needed was not proper investors per se but high net worth individuals who can afford to lose the money.
A third one asked why don't just take out a loan? I would have full control of my business then.
It seemed that there are more ways to skin a cat, you just have to decide on the best one for you.
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Anything man made like magerine and imitation crab meat. But, that's too easy a target. My own personal evil food: any bird (that includes chicken, duck, goose, turkey, fowl, quail etc.) And, any red meat.
I stopped talking about veggies I don't like because every time I made up my mind to hate them, I ended up eating them.
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Cinnamon ice cream, buttermilk ice cream or creme friche.
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Here is a reference point for you. I was at Hearth (approx. 80 seats) the other night, and was told that the place is no bigger than 2500 square foot. I don't think it's a particularly tight restaurant, but that's downtown and people like things cozy in that neighborhood. There was also a place that closed down in Union Square which was over 4000 square feet and seated 120, though I though they weren't usinf the space optimally. I think for something upscale you might want a bigger place.
The Tapas Fever
in New York: Dining
Posted
I forgot all about Casa Mono! Now I am seriously convinced that Tapas size plates comes at a higher margin.