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Michelin 2010


ulterior epicure

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Good grief, they're giving out MORE stars? Shouldn't they be taking some away? All I have to say is, at least one of the 18 new stars better be going to Eleven Madison Park. And, at least one other star had better be going to Corton.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hope EMP finally gets some stars. The chef seems very serious about his food. And I'm glad he finally named her pastry sou-chef as the real pastry chef. His "ideas" for dessert didn't suck, but it could be more focused. Angela is her name I think. Do they still have that Quark Souffle? Ever since I was a kid I didn't like the stuff. I tasted it there once, luckily for me it was drowned in passionfruit.

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I hope EMP finally gets some stars.

I will make a prediction: they will - at least one - in this next round of reviews.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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Well we can start the guessing now. In addition to EMP and Corton I would add Convivio and Marea, Le Cirque,and maybe at last Aquavit and Chantarelle. Also maybe they can overcome their asian bias (now that Tokyo and Hong Kong have books) and add Sushi Yasuda, Matsugen and Tabla. Well we are half way there any others? Did Babbo and Craft re-earn their stars?

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Well we can start the guessing now. In addition to EMP and Corton I would add Convivio and Marea, Le Cirque,and maybe at last Aquavit and Chantarelle. Also maybe they can overcome their asian bias (now that Tokyo and Hong Kong have books) and add Sushi Yasuda, Matsugen and Tabla. Well we are half way there any others? Did Babbo and Craft re-earn their stars?

EMP is overdue, and I would be very surprised if Corton does not get at least one. Le Cirque strikes me as a distinct possibility. I think Convivio is unlikely, because Michael White's flagship (Alto) has one star, and Convivio is less ambitious. Whatever Marea's merits, it hasn't been open long enough.

I am not aware of any changes at Aquavit or Tabla over the last year, so I would guess that the tire man will have the same judgment of them as he did before — in the book, but unstarred. Chanterelle is in the midst of a transition, which is coming too late for consideration in this guide.

I do not sense any anti-Asian bias in the book, as several Asian restaurants have stars. They may be the wrong ones, but that's a different problem. Matsugen, which is new since last year, is a definite candidate. The guide, for some unknown reason, has never recognized Sushi Yasuda.

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Has anyone been to Tabla lately? I went there when they had their "street food" menu. It was okay, you could definitely get better food in Queens or even in California. To eat the food up there in the dining room was weird. They had banana leaves as tablecloths. I remember this because I ordered tea and the pot burned the leaves. I just looked at our waiter and we both laughed. They should definitely get into the Chaat business. Them or Devi. I was at a chaat place in East Bay and the place was packed full of people. The price was cheap and it tasted good. Anyway, sorry. I've only been to Yasuda once and it was very good. I can only attempt to compare it to Kurumazushi and 15 East. And all those places are great.

I hope Spotted Pig and Wallsé maintain their stars. I imagine they would.

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I hope Spotted Pig and Wallsé maintain their stars. I imagine they would.

As far as I know, the rationale for Spotted Pig and Wallsé has not changed, so to the extent they deserved their stars before (this is disputed by some people), they still deserve them. I have worried, though, about whether the Pig still has April Bloomfield's full attention.

Every year so far has seen at least one demotion—not counting those places that closed or lost their chefs. Jewel Bako seems to me the most logical candidate, as it has had a star every year but is not close to the best sushi restaurant in the city.

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I've never been to Jewel Bako despite living right across the street. But I did go to Desgustation and I liked my meal there. But I haven't been there in awhile. Its hard for me to go to a place that has hardly any dessert unless its a Chinese place. I love going to the Pig, I use to go there quite often but currently away in California. My friends in the industry and I use to talk about Daniel getting a bump up. When Michelin first came out it got the two stars and Daniel played out like he didn't care. But a friend working there said he got all pissed off and even scaled down the number of tables available. True or not? I've only been there once and it was before the redesign so I don't know how many diners it can handle now. I would imagine he would want three stars, he's French for christ sake and from Lyon. He's making money without them, but 3 stars for a French chef would mean something.

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Degustation has a considerably better reputation than Jewel Bako. However, there have been no reports of a significant change there, so the case for it winning a star is no different than it was before.

I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

Of course, Bruni wasn't promoting the restaurant to a new level. He was just keeping it where it already was.

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

Right, because new upholstery is exactly what the folks at Michelin should be focusing on.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

Right, because new upholstery is exactly what the folks at Michelin should be focusing on.

I take it you are the #1 fan of their NY Twitter feed too?

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

Right, because new upholstery is exactly what the folks at Michelin should be focusing on.

I take it you are the #1 fan of their NY Twitter feed too?

Huh?

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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I've no doubt at all that Daniel Boulud resents being at two stars, when Vongerichten, Ripert, and Keller are at three. I don't know if enough has changed (aside from refurbishing the dining room) to push it over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if achieving a 3rd Michelin star didn't factor very heavily into both the execution of, and timing of, Chef Boulud's considerations in going ahead with a renovation at Daniel. How could it not? Bruni was enamored by it, could work the same magic with the Michelin inspectors.

Right, because new upholstery is exactly what the folks at Michelin should be focusing on.

I take it you are the #1 fan of their NY Twitter feed too?

Huh?

Michelin, while potentially focusing on furniture (If Daniel nets it's 3rd star), has also taken to having an incredibly awkard twitter feed for two US regions: NY & SF. They are spreading their wings it seems:

http://twitter.com/MichelinGuideNY

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Oh, I see. While I was aware they've started a Twitter campaign, I have no idea what twits they're dropping in cyberspace.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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Oh, I see. While I was aware they've started a Twitter campaign, I have no idea what twits they're dropping in cyberspace.

That was supposed to be tweets. Scout's honor.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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from bloomberg:

Three stars:

Daniel (new)

Jean Georges

Le Bernardin

Masa

Per Se

Two Stars:

Alto (new)

Corton (new)

Gilt

Gordon Ramsay at the London

Momofuku Ko

Picholine

One Star:

Adour

Annisa

Anthos

Aureole

A Voce (new)

Blue Hill

Bouley (new)

Cafe Boulud

Casa Mono

Convivio (new)

Del Posto

Dressler

Eighty One

Eleven Madison Park (new)

Etats-Unis

Gotham Bar and Grill

Gramercy Tavern

Insieme

Jewel Bako

Kajitsu (new)

Kyo Ya

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Marc Forgione (new)

Marea (new)

Minetta Tavern (new)

Modern, the

Oceana

Perry Street

Peter Luger

Public

Rhong-Tiam (new)

River Cafe (new)

Rouge Tomate (new)

Saul

Seasonal (new)

Shalizar (new)

SHO Shaun Hergatt (new)

Soto (new)

Spotted Pig

Sushi Azabu (new)

Sushi of Gari

Veritas

Wallse

WD-50

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And the extreme awkwardness of the NY Michelin Twitter feed continues:

"Tomorrow morning the star fairy, Jean-Luc Naret, will be calling restos with a new star. Please answer the phone, we ate & fought 4 U."

We fought for you??? With WHOM?? You are Michelin for Christ sake, can you imagine the France group pleading with French restaurants to pick up the phone when they call cause "they fought for them"? Someone in France has to shut this down soon no?

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Also, what's up with the crappy AOL speak in the twitter thread? Maybe they had to fight with the French parent of the guide over Gchat to be taken seriously after crap like this. Also, to put L'Atelier Joel Robuchon in the same category as Casa Mono seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

Edited by Ochowie (log)
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Also, what's up with the crappy AOL speak in the twitter thread? Maybe they had to fight with the French parent of the guide over Gchat to be taken seriously after crap like this. Also, to put L'Atelier Joel Robuchon in the same category as Casa Mono seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

I am going to make two assumptions. First, the NY stars are not meant to have any connection to what the restaurants would have received if they'd been in France. Second, restaurants from different genres are not directly rated against each other.

The second assumption is also the system that the New York Times uses. After all, I believe Frank Bruni once gave two stars to Le Cirque and the Little Owl in consecutive weeks. Robuchon and Minetta Tavern both have the identical three-star ratings from Bruni. There are tons of seemingly dissimilar restaurants that have identical Zagat ratings.

If you make those assumptions, then the ratings of L'Atelier and Casa Mono are understandable. The twitter feed, I agree, is absolutely moronic.

Edited by oakapple (log)
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