Table 8 at the Cooper Square Hotel

[Fat Guy]

Last May, as he was presiding over the death of Country, I called Willis Loughhead the "Best Chef You've Never Heard Of." I've been following Loughhead for a few years now, with increasing interest, through a series of unfortunate situations. First he was the opening chef de cuisine at the excellent Bar Room at the Modern, which received three stars from the New York Times just days after Loughhead departed. (Presumably all of the review visits occurred under the Loughhead regime, but as the chef de cuisine working under Gabriel Kreuther it's not as though Loughhead's name would have been in the headline anyway.) Country, where Loughhead worked for Geoffrey Zakarian but effectively ran the restaurant as an independent operation, seemed on course to be something promising but the rug got pulled out from under everything and it never happened. Now Loughhead is working under Govind Armstrong, of Top Chef and Iron Chef fame, at Table 8 in the Cooper Square Hotel. This is the third Table 8 venture from Govind Armstrong, the other two being in LA and Miami. And it just got the worst New York Times review in recent memory. No stars. The other reviews have also been mostly negative.

Since before Table 8 opened, Loughhead has been inviting me to come in and do a tasting. I just never got around to it, because as much as I love a free meal I don't have as many babysitting nights as are needed to stay current on everything. But the no-star review caused me to adjust my priorities. I just had to go in and see how Loughhead could be involved in such a bad restaurant.

I was expecting one of two things: either the restaurant would be terrible, in which case I'd just figure Loughhead made a bad move working there, or the restaurant would be good despite the no-star rating. I was equally prepared to conclude either way, though I couldn't help but note that the no-star review, which I can only describe as neurotic, didn't do much to justify the no-star rating on a food basis -- it mostly prioritized complaints about bathrooms, noise and general ergonomics.

It only took a few bites of food to realize how off-base the no-star rating is. It's true, the bathrooms are far away and weird. It's true, the restaurant is loud. It's true, the layout and positioning of the restaurant within the hotel are not great. And none of that makes the food any less good.

I don't really know how much of the menu is Govind Armstrong and how much is Willis Loughhead, nor do I particularly care. Both deserve credit for some really triumphant dishes, the best of which was a smoked pork chop that was possibly the best pork chop I've ever had: the smoke flavor permeated the meat without masking the pork flavor, and the meat remained quite juicy (probably due to brining but I forgot to ask). This dish is a regularly appearing special that shows up two or three days a week, with veal in the dish on the other days (the restaurant buys sides of pork and butchers them in house, so there are only so many pieces of each type to go around). The other best dish was grilled octopus, which I believe is pressure cooked prior to grilling and comes in an acidic dressing that, on its own, would be too acidic but is just right when used as a dip for the charred, tender octopus.

This is not to say every single dish we tried was perfect. There were flaws. I'll mention a few. And I struggled to recognize a particular style reflected in the menu, which seems more like a collection of tasty dishes than an expression of any particular focus. But there's no planet on which this is no-star food. Table 8 is serving solid two-star food with some dishes pushing the three-star envelope.

There's a section of the menu called "salt bar," and overall the kitchen really seems to love salt. So do I, so this wasn't a problem, but I've got to wonder whether the world is ready for this much salt. In any event, the salt bar items ran about 50/50 in terms of being great. The best dishes from the salt bar were a rabbit sausage and a lamb terrine. The country terrine and mortadella, to me, had off textures, though they tasted fine. I'll be interested to see how the charcuterie program develops, as I recall Loughhead doing some nice stuff at Country.

A salad of heirloom tomatoes from the Greenmarket was simple and good as could be. There was also a grilled vegetable salad that made good use of Greenmarket vegetables. "Corn risotto" was controversial at the table. I liked it -- to me it was like over-the-top creamed corn with pieces of guanciale throughout -- but others thought it cloying. Three fish dishes demonstrated a good range of skills with fish: seared tuna, pan-fried branzino and roasted swordfish over a bracing eggplant salad, all spot-on. Very good rack of lamb and roast chicken didn't compete with the aforementioned pork chop but were nothing to laugh at. There are some side dishes offered on the menu. The cauliflower sauteed in duck fat is well worth ordering. It is as good as it sounds.

Desserts, described in the Times as "unobjectionable," were consumed without objection -- with gusto, actually -- by our group. These are desserts worth real consideration, prepared by an expert pastry kitchen. My favorite taste was a macaroon (not a menu item; this is the petit fours offering) laced with white truffle. Surprising and different. It takes a lot for a warm chocolate cake to stand out in today's densely populated field, but I thought this one -- served simply with cherry compote and vanilla ice cream -- managed to do so because each element was so carefully crafted and it's hard to beat the combination. Buttermilk panna cotta in strawberry soup, from the lighter end of the dessert spectrum, was also noteworthy. I'd like to return at some point and focus more on dessert. As it was I was too full to appreciate them enough.

The restaurant was full of people who apparently don't follow the advice of restaurant reviewers. There were several large parties, including an outdoor-patio buyout by Modern Bride pursuant to a "world's greatest bride" competition or some such. The bride-testants were accompanied by a super-annoying videographer with a light on his camera that he must have salvaged from a police helicopter. Every time I was blinded by the stupid thing I considered the possibility of a no-star rating.

[Chris Amirault]

I was one of Steven's guests the other night -- or, given that the entire meal was comped, perhaps I should say Chef Loughhead's guest -- and had a similarly favorable impression.

Weird, Bruni-esque stuff first. I liked the decor, personally, especially the titanic midcentury modern lights that hovered like benevolent UFOs over the room. I'm hard of hearing and sensitive to noisy restaurants, and it wasn't nearly as bad as many other places I've been to, even with a boisterous table to our left and the world's greatest brides getting ready for their close-ups out the open door on the patio.

I don't really get the bathroom agita. Sure, they're down a set of stairs (or an elevator), but that's the case for a lot of hotel restaurants. In addition, there's a strange rapport that you develop with others waiting to relieve themselves as you stare at the hallway of unlabeled doors wondering what to do. I took to saying to diners heading down the stairs, "Choose any one; you'll understand," which turned into a fun sort of game after a while.

I've no ability to judge NYT stars with any care, but my rough sense is that 2ish to 3 makes sense, and that zero stars is frankly bizarre. The food top to bottom was very good to excellent, and, unlike a lot of newly opened places, the a la minute mains were, to my mind, stronger than the prepped-ahead appetizers. Something's going right down there.

The smoked pork chop deserves all of the praise that Steven heaped on it. I've devoted a few dozen hours to brining, smoking, and grilling pork chops seeking that level of precision and care and failed -- though not nearly as badly as most restaurants at which I've ordered such chops. The alder smoke, in particular, was both sweet and savory, and played off of the salt (again, I think it was brined, but not sure) and quality meat deftly. The table agreed that it was a bravura performance from farm to table, so to speak, with every step nailed.

Lots of other smart decisions throughout the meal. Pairing the octopus with the sweet celery hearts and salty olives was spot-on. When I saw the branzino had been pan-fried, I got worried, but someone knows fish down in that kitchen because it was perfectly done. Other people weren't as wowed by the lamb terrine as I was, but that may be because I ate most of the pickled tomatoes, which paired well with the fatty lamb. And I was on the pro-corn risotto (c'mon: embrace the creamed corn) side of the fence, myself, though I'd have loved to have had three times the number of guanciale crisps atop.

Even the slight food missteps were promising. The rabbit sausage, overpowered by a whole-grain mustard accompaniment, was nutty and flavorful without it. Change the mortadella name (it's more like a summer sausage in texture and cut into cubes) and I'd eat that daily. I wanted that cauliflower crisped by, and not merely tossed in, the duck fat -- but as Steven said, it's hard to complain about cauliflower in duck fat. Desserts were great, too, with the pistachio & white truffle macaron really making a statement -- a salty one, of course.

The beverage program needs some work. The Ca' Del Bosco came to the table teeth-numbingly cold, and whatever the design scheme, NYC humidity demands coasters for chilled drinks. The cocktail program certainly isn't up to the standards being set elsewhere around town. I am ready for the salt levels there, myself, but If I were T8, I'd be building the greatest straight-up gin cocktail menu I could muster; their salt bar concept would pair incredibly with gin drinks like Aviations, Martinez Cocktails, Pink Gins, and of course actual dry Martinis. Add a few sherries, a few vermouths, a couple different house-smoked nuts, and you could while away the hours on jamon de iberico, duck prosciutto, and so on.

One last point for denizens of NYC: the view from the roof of the hotel, where many catered events are held, is absolutely breathtaking. Maybe that's where the gin bar should be....

[Sneakeater]

I've eaten at Table 8, and agree with FG and Chris that the food is better than it's getting credit for.

But Chris's comments about the cocktails show why this place is so denigrated by anyone with any taste -- and his wildly optimistic hope that they improve their cocktail program (and put an emphasis on gin) suggests that he might be missing why that is.

This place will NEVER improve its cocktail program. The ignorant douchebag crowd that it caters to WANTS the sugary one-dimensional vodka swill that the bar here specializes in. The fact that this place obviously caters to a clientele that doesn't know or care about quality (and which is extremely unpleasant to be among) has blinded most observers to the quality of what's on the plates.

(I'll note that this isn't the fault of the chefs, but rather their backers who own the Cooper Square Hotel.)

You can see that this is what Frank Bruni was (over)reacting to. But I think it's colored most of the other reviews this place has gotten as well.

And frankly, speaking for myself, while I liked the food, I'd never consider going near Table 8 again.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Chris's comments about the cocktails show why this place is so denigrated by anyone with any taste -- and his wildly optimistic hope that they improve their cocktail program (and put an emphasis on gin) suggests that he might be missing why that is.

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I wasn't expressing optimism. I was dreaming a ginny little dream.

[Sneakeater]

I think we'll both have to dream that dream elsewhere.

[Chris Hennes]

The above reviews basically cover the whole deal, though I should point out that I may have been the only one at the table who didn't care for the corn (too sweet for my tastes). I'd also like to heap some more praise on the pastry chef (whose name escapes me, I'm afraid): in particular, the macarons were about as perfectly executed as I have ever seen, in addition to having very good flavors. All told there were several VERY nice desserts brought to the table.

I don't think it's too much to hope that a few decent cocktails make it into the program: certainly the food we were eating was probably every bit as beyond that sort of crowd as the cocktails would be, and that doesn't seem to stop Chef Loughhead from doing it. Hey, we can dream, can't we?

[Sneakeater]

I've got four letters for you:

THOR*

Also, the sort of people who go to Table 8 will buy the food because Govind Armstrong is hot (and, I am informed, was on television). There's nothing in the food that's particularly "advanced" or hard to understand so as to turn them off. It's just better than it has to be.

Good cocktails, in contrast, are a specialized taste that's hard to understand. Table 8 could make them, but nobody there would order them. You'd be surprised at what a hard sell gin is outside the world of cocktailians -- to say nothing about bitters.

It's not an accident that there's exactly ONE gin cocktail on the Table 8 list -- and even that one is so sweet as to be virtually undrinkable.

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* A restaurant opened in the trendy The Hotel On Rivington a few years ago. Featuring an honest name chef, Kurt Gutenbrunner. The crowd at THOR didn't need, like, or understand Gutenbrunner's food. He officially lasted about a year there, although word on the street was that he was actuallly out within a couple of months.

The difference between Gutenbrunner and Armstrong is that Armstrong is so photogenic. So he may get to stay at Table 8 for that reason.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[weinoo]

I've got four letters for you:

THOR*

* A restaurant opened in the trendy The Hotel On Rivington a few years ago.  Featuring an honest name chef, Kurt Gutenbrunner.  The crowd at THOR didn't need, like, or understand Gutenbrunner's food.  He officially lasted about a year there, although word on the street was that he was actuallly out within a couple of months.

The difference between Gutenbrunner and Armstrong is that Armstrong is so photogenic.  So he may get to stay at Table 8 for that reason.

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I think another difference is that Gutenbrunner actually cooked there (for a while). Armstrong doesn't.

Not a place where you're going to find a lot of "foodies," imo. Scenies, yes.

[Fat Guy]

As I've established elsewhere, I like people from New Jersey. More importantly, however, I'm pretty much agnostic on the issue of who's eating at a restaurant so long as it doesn't much affect the food. I also don't hold a lousy cocktail program against a restaurant because, if I did, I wouldn't be able to eat out very many places.