Celebrity chef restaurants in New York City

[larrylee]

BLAH... "in New York City."

*slinks away*

[zabar816]

Chef Laurent Touroundel.

BLTs are opening up everywhere! I was at my dentist and in the waiting room he had a copy of BLT magazine.

Sirio Maccioni of le cirque is very famous,

[LPShanet]

Chef Laurent Touroundel.

BLTs are opening up everywhere!    I was  at my dentist and in the waiting room he had a copy of BLT magazine.

Sirio Maccioni of le cirque is very famous,

←

Actually, the example of Laurent Tourondel makes a pretty good case AGAINST supporting celebrity chefdom. It's a classic example of what people complain about when they look at the phenomenon: absenteeism by the name in question, institutionalized food, and hype over quality. His original place, Cello, was a real restaurant, with interesting and delicious cooking. I had one of the best meals I've ever had, anywhere in the world, there once. Since then, he closed Cello, and opened a series of places that he doesn't do the cooking in, and which vary from quite good (BLT Fish) to surprisingly ordinary but solid (BLT Prime) to completely Emperor's New Clothes (BLT Burger, which can't even compare to a JG Melon, Odeon or other standard decent burger). I'd certainly take having Cello back over the pile of varied stuff we got in return.

As for Sirio, he isn't a chef and never was...he's a restaurateur. He's better compared with Danny Meyer or the like. And it seems his "style" of place isn't really resonating with NYers anymore.

P.S. Let's bow our heads for a moment to the loss of Rocco. Those who ate an Union Pacific in its prime know that the boy can actually cook. The fall was a bit hard to watch.

[LPShanet]

Chef Laurent Touroundel.

BLTs are opening up everywhere!    I was  at my dentist and in the waiting room he had a copy of BLT magazine.

Sirio Maccioni of le cirque is very famous,

←

Actually, the example of Laurent Tourondel makes a pretty good case AGAINST supporting celebrity chefdom. It's a classic example of what people complain about when they look at the phenomenon: absenteeism by the name in question, institutionalized food, and hype over quality. His original place, Cello, was a real restaurant, with interesting and delicious cooking. I had one of the best meals I've ever had, anywhere in the world, there once. Since then, he closed Cello, and opened a series of places that he doesn't do the cooking in, and which vary from quite good (BLT Fish) to surprisingly ordinary but solid (BLT Prime) to completely Emperor's New Clothes (BLT Burger, which can't even compare to a JG Melon, Odeon or other standard decent burger). I'd certainly take having Cello back over the pile of varied stuff we got in return.

As for Sirio, he isn't a chef and never was...he's a restaurateur. He's better compared with Danny Meyer or the like. And it seems his "style" of place isn't really resonating with NYers anymore.

P.S. Let's bow our heads for a moment to the loss of Rocco. Those who ate an Union Pacific in its prime know that the boy can actually cook. The fall was a bit hard to watch.

←

By the way, sorry for the rant. It was certainly a bit off-topic. I just get sad when we lose the good ones. Back to the point at hand...in terms of layperson recognizability, I think the original list is pretty close, and has to be kept short. Flay, Batali, etc. There was a brief time, 15 or more years ago, where people could have made a real stretch and might have included Roy Yamaguchi on the list. I'm not sure if he's ever even seen the inside of his NY outpost, though.

[raji]

Would any chef who's appeared on Iron Chef count? Or only the iron chefs?

By any account, as NYers we are pretty incredibly lucky, or rather we deserve it given the crap and cost we put up with to live here... if you've ever talked to an out-of-towner as they are all giddy to go to Batali's or Flay's or Nobu, and realize that we have so MANY star chefs resident in NYC, and better than that, can go to all the restaurants that THEY go to...