vivin

Sounds like we are talking of exclusively South Indian vegetarian places. The best and BY A LARGE MARGIN, is the newcomer - Sarvanaas located on North Eastern corner of Lexington Avenue and 26th Street.

This past Sunday we arrived to learn that the restaurant was in the hands of a sous chef we didn't know. There's no discredit to either Dan or Juan, that the meal ran smoothly and had we not been told, we would have assumed the top brass was cooking. Actually, it's very much to Dan's credit that he's not missed. It's what a great restaurant is all about. The first time I understood I could eat as well when the chef owner and executive chef weren't in the kitchen was at Daniel. My son-in-law was sous chef in those days, so I wasn't all that surprised, but a great chef running a great restaurant these days needs to be more than just a great cook. ← Bux, I am glad to hear that about Blue Hill. It is one of my current favorites. However, in my opinion, you can not generalize that to Daniel if your son in law was in the kitchen. In fact, I often offer up Daniel as the example for the opposite. We have had very mediocre meals at Daniel (their 30 dollar glass of wine recommended for one of their signature dishes was so bad that we had to send it back). The one fantastic meal at Daniel happened when we were in the company of someone who knew the chef owner. The contrasting meals underscore my preference for high end restaurants that have the owner/chef in the house.

I second the L'Impero suggestion.

My advice is to eat in the bar area at Babbo (they have a few tables that you will get if you get there when they open) OR at Blue Hill. Gramercy Tavern is over rated food. The service is friendly and good. 60 dollars will take you much further at Babbo, in my opinion.

Go for some Korean. Or Land Thai on 82nd and Amsterdam. Excellent food.

This is what I see: Michelin inspectors have divided up the restaurants into two categories - ONE STAR and BETTER THAN ONE STAR. The two star category seems to say to me - These did not make three stars because of something but are better than one star. I would venture a guess - Lack of consistency in the two star restaurants (I have been to all four) might have been the issue separating them from the top tier. If they were to move Le Bernardin to the two star category, I would say my hypothesis gets even stronger. The one star is necessarily a hodge podge category where the restaurants all have something strong to recommend them (caveat - I have not been to all of them) but fall short on other criteria preventing them from rising up to the next level. Other comments - NOT surprised to see Flay absent from the list. Surprised to see Gotham Bar and Grill and Gramercy Tavern on the list.

forkAndPen, The pasta dish was 60 Euros. I remember paying 80 dollars for the white truffle pasta dishes at Babbo. This was much better, period.

Fatty, Your experience mirrors mine. I love Babbo and have been dozens of times. However, the white truffles I have had there are exactly like you are describing. Small, not very good and dry. The server had index finger on the truffle and was trying hard to shave it on the dish. As an aside, I just came back from Rome. Linguini with red mullet and white truffles was a memorable dish at La Rosetta. The aroma of the sea and the earth was a seductive and heady combination. The white truffle slices (can't call them shavings) were the size of my palm!!! Ok Ok, more objectively, they were about 2 inches by 1.5 inches. Most gorgeous truffles I have ever seen. Wow.

I went a week ago. Had two apps that were excellent. Roasted Corn Soup and Tomatoes - various kinds in a vinegary dressing with herbs. Topped with a sorbet of watermelon (I think it had some tomato juice in it as well). Absolutely delicious. But then, that is what I have come to expect from Blue Hill. Tomato season is definitely not to be missed at this restaurant.

Guess it is time to go back. Glad you enjoyed it. I first went to WD-50 right after it opened. It keeps getting better and better.

I would suggest going to places that are cooking at the peak of their ability. Blue Hill, L'Impero (you already got WD-50) Avoid places like Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe - places living on their reputation. Always underwhelming.

I have had lunch at JG/Nougatine at least ten times and it has always been very good. The restaurant is divided into Nougatine Room and The Restaurant. The lower prix fixe is offered at the Nougatine only. The prix fixe generally has good choices. There is also a la carte menu (slightly more expensive) if you do not like your choices. The waitstaff is very helpful in pointing out the good stuff. The main restaurant also has a prix fixe of a different sort. They offer 2 plates for 24 or 3 for 36 dollars. The plates are somewhere between an app and an entree in size. In my opinion, the offerings at the main restaurant are better. If you are going to end up ordering from the ala carte in the Nougatine room (different choices than the main), you might as well go to the main room. I have come to the point that I will go to JG for lunch only. It is my favorite highend for lunch. If you want to keep the bill under control, watch out for the drinks/wine. hope this helps..have a good time in nyc.

iheartoffal, FYI - If you ask nicely, they WILL let you order a la carte off the tasting menu. We did just that on Sat night. The food was superb (just as I remember from my last two visits). Me and my friend ended up sharing 4 apps and 3 main courses :)

1) To be clear, the problem occured AFTER the scallop course. At the point I refused the scallops, I had communicated my condition to them FOUR times. It was the course AFTER REFUSING the scallops that got me into trouble. Also, if I have any way to avoid shellfish, I do (and have done it for years). In this case, there was no way to avoid it in my opinion. 2) If I were careless, I would have problems like these a lot. 3) The key point is, it was already done at that point. I could not have made it any better for myself by kicking up a fuss. I do not like to be a pain in the ass for restaurants (my dad has owned restaurants for 50+ yrs). All I am debtating is - why would it happen at Masa where attention to detail is a key ingredient to the experience.

Finally went to Masa last weekend. Others have done a good job of describing the place. The fish is from nirvana no doubt. I will refrain from commenting about value because this kind of fish I have never seen in my life. Definitely worth going for at least once. However, I did have an issue that I am struggling with. I am allergic to all shell fish - a concern that I was assured was not a problem when I made the reservation at Masa. I arrived at the restaurant and the hostess asked me about it again - it was obviously duly noted in the reservation. Then our server asked us who the person with the allergy was. All seemed to be taken care of. The first sushi course, however, had scallops for me. I brought the issue up with the server immediately. She assured me that it was not a problem. The other sushi piece gave me a little irritation in the throat - contamination from the scallops maybe - I am very very sensitive. The next course was grilled shitake mushrooms that were very tasty but were obviously either brushed with or contained some shell fish ingredient that I could not detect just by smell. At this point, I had to decide whether to keep eating or to stop. I drank a lot of ice water and iced the inside of my throat and my allergy reduced to a irritation. Instead of kicking up a fuss about the whole thing, I decided to keep going, especially for the sake of my party. I was also a little defensive about bringing up my allergy again and again (after all, I chose to eat sushi despite my shell fish allergy). Although I enjoyed the rest of the meal less than I would have otherwise, the fish was absolutely amazing. However, I got sick after I left the restaurant. Thankfully, I felt better after I threw up after reaching home. My question to you guys is - having been to a lot of Japanese/sushi places and never having the problem before, is it too much to expect a place like Masa to make sure a person like me - who is very sensitive to shell fish but still wants to enjoy sushi - is taken care of. I did call them up and they apologised and offered to really take care of me the next time. I do want to take my wife there but am kind of cheesed off by service lapse I encountered. Suffice it to say that my very expensive meal was tarnished. I did want to bring it up and see what others think about it.

I am of a similar opinion. Daniel is underwhelming AT BEST. Unless you have someone who personally knows the owner call ahead for you, my bet is that you will be too. The same goes for other similar restaurants. I have been to numerous restaurants like Daniel in the city - Union Sq Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Veritas, Daniel's other restaurants, Eleven Mad etc. I would also like to add Smith and Wollensky to the list. Jean Georges has been good to me over the years but I can't say the same for spice mkt. Restaurants I would not mind going back to - Babbo, Jean Georges, Blue Hill, Ducasse.

Having had a lot of discussions with friends criticizing my 3 star binges in Europe, I have to say that FG has surmised the situation very well. If you are a VIP, you can get a stupendous meal at Daniel. Otherwise, the risk of getting a mediocre meal is high (too high in my opinion). ADNY and Per Se minimize that risk. If you look at it that way, the probability of having a great meal times the expense at the likes of Daniel, JG, Bouley etc is in my opinion lower than that at ADNY (and from all accounts Per Se where I have not been yet). In other words, my contention is that you could eat two times at these other places for the same price as once at ADNY and have a lower expected probability of having a great meal. I would rather dine less often than go to these high risk places.

Payard has afternoon tea with an excellent selection of their pastries. Better than St. Regis and the Ritz (the other comparable places I have been).

I more or less agree with the review. I have been to Babbo literally dozens of times and my opinion is that you get 4 star quality food at 3 star prices. Moreover, the quality is way more consistent than some of the other places such as Bouley (that can knock your socks off but more probably won't on a given day). Whether or not this is because of perceived compromises on the other aspects of the experience, I believe it is intentional and reflects Mario's personality and beliefs.

I had a very similar experience about year and a half ago. Good but not great. OTOH, I had lunch at Jean Georges. The spring menu in the main dining room had a couple of knockout fish dishes.

QUOTE Butter chicken originated in the 1950s at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi where they made the sauce by adding butter and tomato to the lefover chicken juices in the marinade trays from which they used to sell hundreds of portions of Tandoori Chicken a day (The Great Curries of India, 91). This is interesting. It is my contention that since the tandoori chicken uses a yoghurt based marinade, the taste of the sauce would be somewhat different than what it was (been a while since I tasted Moti Mahal's butter chicken). Most of the Moti Mahal's in Delhi are in one way or the other associated with the familiies of the original partners. I will try and get more information from my father if people are interested in the Butter chicken story.

I have been to Babbo literally dozens of times and there has been only once when the service was less than exemplary. Out of these, once we were a party of 6 and two people showed up about 40 minutes late. They did not seat us for 30 min (as is their policy) so we had to hang out near the bar. Eventually, the host did seat us and we ordered wine and our friends showed up 10 min later. At no point in the entire evening did I feel that they had been less than gracious for something that was, indeed, our fault. In a business as affected by the business cycle as this one, how can you not expect any loss of service when you hold up their table for 45 minutes on a Fri/Sat. Babbo meals tend to get better the more interaction I have with their staff. It is definitely that kind of place. I have seen out of town tourists from the midwest having a fabulous time at Babbo because they interacted well with the staff, took their suggestions and made the effort to get to know how best to get have a good meal there. I have also seen people making requests that might seem reasonable to them but not getting anywhere at the Mario restaurants.

Even if I knew Nehru, I would not admit it in public :) Yes, and yes.

>> MotiMahal´s Butter/Chicken popularity has do do with a rumor that Nehru on his official trips abroad took the bawarchi from Moti Mahal; Rumour, you say. I know the man.

BBhasin, What is the restaurant you are talking about?