"New Paradigm" Restaurants

[oakapple]

A good case made here for Momofuku perhaps embodying an important trend in restaurants.

←

this is the point! but you have to call it something.

←

Momofuku Ssam Bar does seem to break the usual mold. My reservations about the NP meme is not with Momofuku Ssam Bar, but with all of the other purported NP places. All of the others make a plausible—in some cases, a more plausible—case for being included in some other trend, or indeed several trends.

Now, if we see two or three more places clearly indebted to Momofuku Ssam Bar, then we can say there's a paradigm, and that MSB was its progenitor. What we have right now is an isolate.

Edited May 30, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[Nathan]

A good case made here for Momofuku perhaps embodying an important trend in restaurants.

←

this is the point! but you have to call it something.

←

Momofuku Ssam Bar does seem to break the usual mold. My reservations about the NP meme is not with Momofuku Ssam Bar, but with all of the other purported NP places. All of the others make a plausible—in some cases, a more plausible—case for being included in some other trend, or indeed several trends.

Now, if we see two or three more places clearly indebted to Momofuku Ssam Bar, then we can say there's a paradigm, and that MSB was its progenitor. What we have right now is an isolate.

←

I think we might be trending toward an agreement here. for me, at least, Ssam Bar is the trend-definer....the other places fit best in the paradigm when seen in light of Ssam Bar. but I'd assert that Ssam Bar is the definitional foundation. this is where upcoming places like Tailor intrigue me...is it going to be a more casual version of WD-50 or is it going to be a molecular version of Ssam Bar? or something else entirely?

[JohnL]

"trend definer"--I can live with that!

Interestingly (at least for me) is how the current scene is evolving.

The interest in food has been growing on a large scale:

food TV

more national food related magazines than ever (I just noticed "The Art of Eating" on the rack at WF)

probably more chefs with formal training (chef schools rather than the traditional apprentice system only).

the fascination with ingredients and sourcing--Pollan et al.

"Four Star chefs" elevating foods/cuisines like hamburgers and hot dogs, barbeque, sandwiches and more plebian foods like short ribs and organ meats appearing on "four star" menus. The Keller take on coffee and donuts is a classic example. (blue collar items on a blue nose restaurant menu). Name chefs like Jasper White who elevated shore/beach foods to the four star experience then goes back going down market with actual shore dining joints.--"beach shack" to add to "shake shack"--the haut "shacks" trend.

Counters as an option to the white linen tablecloth experience. Noodle bars are a distinctly "food for the masses" cuisine in the Orient so why not "elevate" that experience?

There's a lot going on!

[Nathan]

"trend definer"--I can live with that!

Interestingly (at least for me) is how the current scene is evolving.

The interest in food has been growing on a large scale:

food TV

more national food related magazines than ever (I just noticed "The Art of Eating" on the rack at WF)

probably more chefs with formal training (chef schools rather than the traditional apprentice system only).

the fascination with ingredients and sourcing--Pollan et al.

"Four Star chefs" elevating foods/cuisines like hamburgers and hot dogs, barbeque, sandwiches and more plebian foods like short ribs and organ meats appearing on "four star" menus. The Keller take on coffee and donuts is a classic example. (blue collar items on a blue nose restaurant menu). Name chefs like Jasper White who elevated shore/beach foods to the four star experience then goes back going down market with actual shore dining joints.--"beach shack" to add to  "shake shack"--the haut "shacks" trend.

Counters as an option to the white linen tablecloth experience. Noodle bars are a distinctly "food for the masses" cuisine in the Orient so why not "elevate" that experience?

There's a lot going on!

←

yup...probably the most exciting team to be a foodie since traders began bringing foodstuffs from Asia and the Americas to Europe.

[Fat Guy]

Which is why it's so bizarre that Adam Platt recently penned "This Is Why New York’s Not Hot". I guess if you totally miss the point of Momofuku, it's hard to see what's going on right under your nose.

[oakapple]

Which is why it's so bizarre that Adam Platt recently penned "This Is Why New York’s Not Hot". I guess if you totally miss the point of Momofuku, it's hard to see what's going on right under your nose.

←

I think it's fair to say that the pace of exciting new NYC restaurant openings—which is what primarily drives a critic's life—has slackened considerably since 2-3 years ago. That's what Platt was writing about.

I mean, unlike the rest of us, Platt can't keep writing about Momofuku Ssam Bar week after week—even assuming he shared our enthusiasm for the place. Bruni bought into the Momofuku program as much as anybody, but look at his last half-dozen reviews. He's clearly having trouble finding new places to write about.

Edited May 30, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[JohnL]

Restaurant reviewing is not just a matter of writing about exciting new trends and openings.

there are thousands of restaurants in New York many of which have not been reviewed.

there are many "old" places which could use a new review a fresh look.

the writers are becoming as jaded as the dining out public.

media outlets are looking for every word every visual to increase circulation to sell copies get viewers--to hold a very fickle and flighty public's attention.

it's no longer about the public record or providing useful information.

[oakapple]

Restaurant reviewing is not just a matter of writing about exciting new trends and openings....

media outlets are looking for every word every visual to increase circulation to sell copies get viewers--to hold a very fickle and flighty public's attention.

←

They are running a news business, after all, and writing about what's new is an awfully big part of that—probably the main part.

[Fat Guy]

Which is why it's so bizarre that Adam Platt recently penned "This Is Why New York’s Not Hot". I guess if you totally miss the point of Momofuku, it's hard to see what's going on right under your nose.

←

I think it's fair to say that the pace of exciting new NYC restaurant openings—which is what primarily drives a critic's life—has slackened considerably since 2-3 years ago.

.....

He's clearly having trouble finding new places to write about.

←

Is there any statistical support for the slowed pace claim? The "exciting" component is subjective, but the number of openings in a given market segment should be measurable. Just looking at 2007 news releases and alerts that I've received -- a ten-minute process of reviewing my email archive -- it would seem that, if nothing else, there are plenty of places to review. Perhaps not every one of these is review-worthy, but plenty are. Some are too new to review (but I've not included 2006 announcements on this list), others have indeed been reviewed. Most, of course, have not.

Borough Food and Drink

Tailor

P*Ong

Spitzer's Corner

Hudson River Cafe

Landmarc at TWC

Wild Salmon

Zipper Tavern

Insieme

FR.OG

Resto

David Coleman new chef at Tocqueville

Inn at LW12

Brian Young new chef at Tavern on the Green

Ben Pollinger new chef at Oceana

Ed’s Lobster Bar

E.U.

Amalia

Blue Ribbon Bar

Alchemy Restaurant and Tavern

Mercat

Hurapan Kitchen

Parigot

Jawn Chasteen new chef at SeaGrill

Caffé Falai

Retsina

Tasca

Kefi

Spotlight Live

Broadway East

Nelson Blue

Perilla

Sandro's

Soto

Harry Cipriani reopens in the Sherry-Netherland

Saucy

Zagat lists 108 significant-enough-for-Zagat openings thus far in 2007, a figure that doesn't include significant chef changes, the Four Seasons, Katz's, Max Brenner, etc. We're only about 22 weeks into the year. Pretty sure this link will get you there. Gayot is constantly announcing interesting new openings. This is a recent list. I'm sure I've missed plenty.

If there are no restaurants to review, why does Frank Bruni need more space to publish all his opinions? Surely he's not writing more because he has fewer restaurants to write about.

No, I don't think there's a lack of activity on the New York restaurant scene. This is a very exciting time. Only a critic with profound lack of imagination could be struggling to find interesting places to review.

[docsconz]

There are a lot of openings, but not many that have really caught my attention to compel me to plan a trip to the city. Sure, there are plenty that I would be happy to try if I lived there, but for real buzz, I'd say that it is lacking compared to previous years. Quantity does not necessarily equal quality. I think that this is one reason that Momofuku has received all the attention that it has.

[Fat Guy]

There are a lot of openings, but not many that have really caught my attention to compel me to plan a trip to the city.

←

That's because you're stuck in the old paradigm!

[docsconz]

There are a lot of openings, but not many that have really caught my attention to compel me to plan a trip to the city.

←

That's because you're stuck in the old paradigm!

←

Maybe!

[Dave the Cook]

It's interesting that Fat Guy mentioned Richard Blais (here, in case you missed it). This is a guy who's got great haute as well as modern credentials (at least for this side of the Atlantic): CIA graduate; internships with Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller (his time at the French Laundry coincided with Achatz's); Fish Fellow at the CIA; stages at, among other places, El Bulli; a chance at the Iron Chef America trophy (he lost). Today (among other projects), he's in charge of a modest midtown Atlanta restaurant (Element), where he's been charged with revitalizing a less-than-successful bar/restaurant. The owners have given him near carte blanche; Blais might not have this much freedom until he opens his own place.

Partly to educate the inherited staff, and partly to inform diners, Blais has been adding an inspirational message at the bottom of each day's menu (as others have pointed out, frequent menu changes are a symptom of new-paradigm restaurants). The first few days, it was a sentence about Marco Pierre White, or something to the effect of "we will find mediocrity and shoot it, then cut out its tongue and shoot the tongue." But when I visited the place on Sunday, I picked up a copy of the previous night's menu. Here's the last part of it (the scribbles are the product of one of the cooks; I snatched this off the line):

Much of what we're talking about is right there in this excerpt: haute cuisine and rustic ingredients -- and vice-versa; an embrace of classic techinique combined with modern, even molecular, cooking (it's a Blais conceit to use boldface or italic to alert the reader to an unusual manipulation); a rejection of the three-course assemblage; reduced price points; the presence of the chef.

One could dismiss the inspirational reference to this topic (I can attest that it's the source of the term) as self-consciousness, sarcasm, or dismissal, except for this: in January, when I was planning a visit to New York, I asked Chef Blais for recommendations. The three places he suggested were Momofuku, Upstairs at Bouley and Room 4 Dessert.

[oakapple]

There are a lot of openings, but not many that have really caught my attention to compel me to plan a trip to the city.

←

That's because you're stuck in the old paradigm!

←

Yeah, but of the restaurants you included on your long list, not one is a "new paradigm" restaurant. The only conceivable exception is Tailor, but as it isn't open yet, one can only speculate.

To disprove Platt's assertion, one would need to have a comparable list from about three years ago, to see if there's a difference. I do agree that "exciting" is subjective, and difficult to measure. But whether you happen to like Platt, judging "excitement" is part of what a critic is there to do.

[Fat Guy]

If you're stuck in the old paradigm, which says the only interesting, worthy, artful, reviewable haute cuisine comes from highly leveraged mega operations with Molteni island suites, Rational combi ovens, Turbochef at the souffle station and a brigade of 27 working in a Cafe Gray-style display kitchen designed by Jimi Yui, then sure, there's nothing interesting about Tailor and P*Ong, about the new gastropubs and Spanish-tapas-influenced openings, about the new Greek trend.

But the new paradigm says you don't need all that form to achieve culinary artistry, you only need the substance of great ingredients and superior skill and knowledge. If you have that, and you strip away the other form elements of haute cuisine, then Jim Pechous can stand alone at a stove Upstairs with a couple of assistants and cook serious cuisine for a restaurant full of people. Richard Blais can take a small culinary SWAT team into an unremarkable cafe and turn it into a serious molecular gastronomy destination in a matter of weeks. The DNA of haute cuisine has been resequenced. It had to be, or the tyranny of multimillion dollar investment would have remained an insurmountable barrier to entry for all but the most established names -- a sure recipe for eventual stagnation, and for reinforcement of the tastes that encourage such stagnation.

While a critic's job is to judge excitement, a critic's job is also not to miss foundational changes to the state of the art. And that behavior is especially puzzling when it comes from a critic who doesn't even like the traditional haute-cuisine format. But I guess in order to understand a new paradigm you have to understand the old one first.

[oakapple]

If you're stuck in the old paradigm, which says the only interesting, worthy, artful, reviewable haute cuisine comes from highly leveraged mega operations with Molteni island suites, Rational combi ovens, Turbochef at the souffle station and a brigade of 27 working in a Cafe Gray-style display kitchen designed by Jimi Yui, then sure, there's nothing interesting about Tailor and P*Ong, about the new gastropubs and Spanish-tapas-influenced openings, about the new Greek trend.

Hey, you're changing the rules mid-game!!!

My contention is that the "new paradigm" is old, and there are many, many restaurants—not just the five you claimed, and not all of them new—where these trends can be observed. You then provided a long list that included none of your five restaurants. If you're saying that all of them (or many) are NP, then that's great: we're finally on the same page. I just wonder why it took us so long to get there. But you'd have to concede now that New Paradigm isn't New.

I don't think you can blame Platt for failing to consider Tailor and P*Ong, neither of which was open at the time he wrote his screed.

[docsconz]

...and Tailor still isn't open. BTW, that is a restaurant that I am anxiously looking forward to and will be sure to include during my next visit to the city. Whether it fits into any paradigm remains to be seen. P*ong is a place that I would very much like to try as well. Adour, very much an "old paradigm" restaurant should be opening late this summer. That should be interesting as well.

One of my biggest issues with the "new paradigm" at Momofuku was the lack of serving utensils and odd and difficult presentations for dishes that were meant to be shared but as a result were somewhat difficult to share. Maybe I would have liked it better if I was by myself at the counter where those elements wouldn't have been issues.

[Nathan]

well the NP, like any trend/paradigm/milieu has many roots and antecedents. I don't think anyone is asserting otherwise. furthermore, like any complex phenomena, it's on a continuum.

I think that Ssam Bar, and to some extent Bouley Upstairs, is the definitional restaurant. it's the one that you look at, say "this is unique" and then you look around and start realizing that there are a few other restaurants evincing the same weltaunschaung and quite a few more that share some characteristics. sure. but that doesn't say anything about the existence or nonexistence of the NP. the proof will be in whether there are more restauranteurs that follow Chang's example. I think there will be...and it looks like there are.

[oakapple]

P*ong is a place that I would very much like to try as well. Adour, very much an "old paradigm" restaurant should be opening late this summer. That should be interesting as well.

I visited P*Ong a few weeks ago (report here), and I was very much a fan. Unlike R4D, it has table seating and serves savory courses.

One of my biggest issues with the "new paradigm" at Momofuku was the lack of serving utensils and odd and difficult presentations for dishes that were meant to be shared but as a result were somewhat difficult to share.

←

I think very few restaurants are going to go quite as far as Momofuku in stripping away so many of the standard amenities. And indeed, among the other purported NP restaurants, none of the others do. This is unsurprising. The standard amenities exist, by and large, because people want them.

I think that Ssam Bar, and to some extent Bouley Upstairs, is the definitional restaurant.

I'm afraid I just don't get Bouley Upstairs—and it's the only alleged NP restaurant that I've visited twice. (That's not because I dislike the others, but because there are so many other places I want to try.) Bouley Upstairs seems to me totally conventional, and not in any sense pathbreaking.

The proof will be in whether there are more restauranteurs that follow Chang's example.  I think there will be...and it looks like there are.

←

All of the other alleged NP restaurants are older than Ssam Bar, so it clearly cannot have influenced them. Which restaurants that are in the works appear to you to be Ssam Bar-influenced, other than Chang's own next restaurant, Momofuku Ko?

Tailor is the only restaurant-in-the-works that NP advocates think will fit the pattern. But Tailor has been the works a long time. You could argue (and I will argue) that R4D and WD-50 are the godparents of Tailor, not Momofuku Ssam Bar.

Edited May 31, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[Nathan]

I was actually referring to Element...but I think there will be more.

I think it's a variety of trends that are now merging into a sort of "critical mass"....if Ssam Bar didn't exist, someone else would have done it.

[Fat Guy]

This is the tasting menu at P*Ong that you get for $59. I haven't tried it -- hope to soon -- but it certainly reads new-paradigm haute-cheap:

p*ong suite menu

leafless salad of spring vegetables, red miso, yogurt

burrata and american paddlefish caviar, tomato and bagel chips

shrimp and mango ceviche, thai chili, cilantro, cachaça-lemongrass mist

bluefin tuna tartare, black olive, seaweed, meyer lemon sabayon

sweet maine crab, lemon, tarragon, chives, green apple mousse

american wagyu carpaccio, shiso pesto, sour plum, maldon salt

stilton soufflé, walnut crust, basil-arugula ice cream

miso ice cream and evoo cake sandwich, wasabi candy, strawberries

chevre cheesecake croquette, pineapple, walnut, chocolate-coffee fudge

malted chocolate bavarian tart, caramelized banana, ovaltine ice cream

per person/ 59

[Fat Guy]

Just to head off some of the inevitable reductionism, it's worth pointing out that there are a couple of issues being discussed here. The main focus is the new paradigm, defining it, arguing about it, etc. But there was also a claim asserted that the New York dining scene is dull, there's nothing to write about, etc.

Refuting that claim involves two main points: first, that it's fundamentally not true, in other words both numerically and substantively there are plenty of interesting restaurants opening that are eminently reviewable, so you need to be really out of it if you can't find anything to review -- not every one of the 108 (to use Zagat's number) potentially reviewable restaurants to open thus far in 2007 is a new paradigm restaurant, I hope that's clear; second, that the new paradigm and its precursor and related trends (gastropub, tapas, dessert bars, etc.) are exciting when viewed from the perspective of the new paradigm -- but when viewed from the perspective of the old paradigm (can we call this the docsconz/JosephB "Where's my spoon?" paradigm?) they're just crowded, uncomfortable, spoonless.

The answer to "Where's my spoon?" by the way, is that it's in the kitchen. Pretty much all a new paradigm chef needs is a spoon (preferably a Gray Kunz Sauce Spoon), a stove and a saucepot (actually about a dozen Bourgeat 7/8 quart; 4-3/4" miniature saucepots) -- and maybe some sodium alginate. The rest comes from the mind of the chef applied to the ingredients. There's no intermediary of the church of Alto-Sham.

[docsconz]

I think I like "haute cheap" more than "new paradigm" because that brings together disparate styles and I can buy that being more of a specific trend though that did not start with Momofuku. Momofuku is an idiosyncratic version of "haute cheap". While it may someday be considered a trend-setter, I don't see it yet.

[docsconz]

Just to head off some of the inevitable reductionism, it's worth pointing out that there are a couple of issues being discussed here. The main focus is the new paradigm, defining it, arguing about it, etc. But there was also a claim asserted that the New York dining scene is dull, there's nothing to write about, etc.

Refuting that claim involves two main points: first, that it's fundamentally not true, in other words both numerically and substantively there are plenty of interesting restaurants opening that are eminently reviewable, so you need to be really out of it if you can't find anything to review -- not every one of the 108 (to use Zagat's number) potentially reviewable restaurants to open thus far in 2007 is a new paradigm restaurant, I hope that's clear; second, that the new paradigm and its precursor and related trends (gastropub, tapas, dessert bars, etc.) are exciting when viewed from the perspective of the new paradigm --  but when viewed from the perspective of the old paradigm (can we call this the docsconz/JosephB "Where's my spoon?" paradigm?) they're just crowded, uncomfortable, spoonless.

The answer to "Where's my spoon?" by the way, is that it's in the kitchen. Pretty much all a new paradigm chef needs is a spoon (preferably a Gray Kunz Sauce Spoon), a stove and a saucepot (actually about a dozen Bourgeat 7/8 quart; 4-3/4" miniature saucepots) -- and maybe some sodium alginate. The rest comes from the mind of the chef applied to the ingredients. There's no intermediary of the church of Alto-Sham.

←

Just to be clear, I did not assert that the NY dining scene is dull, just that not many of the new openings are particularly exciting to me. There is still plenty of good food to be had in NYC.

If being spoonless is part of the new paradigm then keep it because that doesn't make any sense as a viable element. I have no problem at all with paring down some of the embellishments of fine dining, but basic hygiene is not one of them. Either provide proper serving utensils or prepare the dishes in such a way that they aren't needed.

The church of "Alto-Sham?"

[Fat Guy]

Incidentally, for me the epiphany came not at Momofuku but at Upstairs. It was when I saw Jim Pechous banging out Bouley-level haute cuisine (and hamburgers) with just a plancha and a bunch of those little saucepots that I sat up and took notice. It was significant for me to see that because I was able to place it against the context of dozens of meals at the other Bouley restaurants dating back to the late 1980s. I recognized the components of most of the dishes, and to see that Bouley's food can be reconstructed in a postmodern haute-cheap style made me realize the rules had changed. That combined with the ambience, approach and audience of Upstairs really defined the movement for me. Momofuku, on the surface a very different restaurant, eventually revealed itself as a kindred spirit. To pick up on what Nathan said, Momo-Ssam didn't exactly invent itself or the paradigm -- rather, it rose to the paradigm.