Pete Wells slams Per Se

[cdh]

All I can say is...  Damn!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/dining/pete-wells-per-se-review.html?ref=dining

[gfweb]

Keller got the Fieri treatment. Perhaps more deserved, if true.

[Chris Hennes]

Wow. Down to two stars? I guess I'll reconsider my plan to dine there in August!

[gfweb]

This should be a big financial hit for them. Sounds like a bad experience at half the price.

[bonkboo]

I can't imagine this will go over well in Kellerworld.  I suspect things will change.  For the better.  Immediately. 

[gfron1]

Of course heads should roll, but its Keller's restaurant. How he responds is going to be worth watching. What amazes me is in this day and age, that the staff don't know what Wells looks like.

[KennethT]

I'd be shocked if the staff didn't know what he looks like.  For many years, restaurants would get somehow get pics of the NYT critic and post it in the kitchen.  Granted, the critics wear 'disguises', but I really wonder if the staff doesn't figure it out.

[Chris Hennes]

29 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I'd be shocked if the staff didn't know what he looks like.

In which case, even knowing it was Wells, the meals were as lackluster as described? Ouch.

[AlaMoi]

6 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I guess I'll reconsider my plan to dine there in August!

 

lemme suggest a different tactic:  just forget the whole idea.  it was a dumper last fall.

[KennethT]

NY is always a dumper... it's part of the charm!

[paulraphael]

I've head some bad things over the last couple of years but chose not to believe them. This sounds really messed up. It's hard to reconcile anything we know about Keller with a slip remotely this big. Makes me wonder if he's ok.

[Kim Shook]

As I said in response to a friend's FB post:  Saw this. I'm surprised. He doesn't seem to do a lot of extraneous stuff - TV, magazines, etc. He's got restaurants and cookbooks. Period. And a rep as maybe THE top chef in the US. You'd think he'd keep a really close watch on his restaurants.

[huiray]

Well, even the French Laundry has not been at the top of the lists for a while now. And what about that HUGE kerfuffle about the health violations for Per Se back in 2014? And as for Thomas Keller being THE top chef in the USA - hmm, not sure about that.

[haresfur]

Almost sounds like the waitstaff don't like the no tipping policy.  Except for the poor review of most of the food. But really the price increase isn't that far out of line with inflation since tip is now included, and probably in the noise since you shouldn't apply the same factor to all industries. 

[rotuts]

""   You'd think he'd keep a really close watch on his restaurants. ""

 

what he needs to do,  as any Chain Mogul should do :  hire someone to do this.

 

he certainly can afford it.

 

""   ranging from respectably dull at best to disappointingly flat-footed at worst.""

 

doesn't sound like any stars were deserved.

 

$ 3,000 for a meal for 4 ? with the above notes ?

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[pkeibel]

Actually I don't put much stock in Wells' reviews. He has been very generous during his tenure (one of the most generous of all time) and only lately started to slam restaurants. His and my opinions are probably the least correlated of the recent Times columnists. I suspect per se has dropped a bit but not to the extent he claims. Wells is probably going more for the press.

[rotuts]

certainly we will never really know.  Indeed, NYC on the very high end of the Big Bucks Scale,  always contains a contest of Ego

 

but :

 

" dismal green pulp "  "Draining off the gluey, oily liquid"  " limp, dispiriting yam dumplings"

 

"as murky and appealing as bong water."

 

etc  etc

 

the question I have, even if the above is partly true, why didn't they just walk out ?

 

this should have been the last nail in the coffin :

 

" Wine glasses sat empty through entire courses "

 

 

after all, there would be no financial loss to them, would there ?

 

I doubt bookings will suffer at PS, but the BigBucksCrowd can now pile on .

 

 

Edited January 13, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[paulraphael]

There are at least a few French Laundry and Per Se alums here on egullet. I'd like to hear speculation from someone who knows chef Keller.

[rotuts]

Naw.

 

we deserve to hear from TK himself.

 

what are the odds he was even there for those evenings ?

 

the review has to be generating Buzzz  elsewhere

Edited January 13, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[Alex]

5 hours ago, pkeibel said:

Actually I don't put much stock in Wells' reviews. He has been very generous during his tenure (one of the most generous of all time) and only lately started to slam restaurants. His and my opinions are probably the least correlated of the recent Times columnists. I suspect per se has dropped a bit but not to the extent he claims. Wells is probably going more for the press.

 

He ate there three times over a number of months with, apparently, consistent experiences. However, it sounds like you think he was either exaggerating or being purposely selective in his examples, and that he felt a need to "go for the press.". Can you support those opinions in a way more substantial that simply stating your history of disagreeing with him?

[rotuts]

nope

 

"""  consistent experiences """

 

maybe  or not

 

he did not just have a bad meal

 

he had one that he and is buds should have left

 

Im taking at PS  you do not get your money  and  time

 

returned to you?

 

BTW I do have the winning lottery ticket

 

 

So I willCheck it out

 

but

 

 

...............................

 

 

[pkeibel]

With any reviewer you either agree or disagree with their tastes. Liking a restaurant is subjective what I find disagreeable you may be fine with and vice versa. He did a similar take down of Daniel by using a third party to see if his treatment was the same. I think that is a good tactic but signaling out only one restaurant to do that seems vindictive.

 

But for specifics he gave two stars to La Promenade (Chelsea area). We had a very good meal there, it may not have been three stars but better than his review suggested. He gave three stars to Nomad, 5 months later, my meal was good there but not as good as La Promenade and not a three star restaurant (I have been back and yes it is good but not equal to other three stars). He gave one star to Lafayette and our meals there have been equal to NoMad (but less ambience).  He gave two stars to Russ & Daughters and for a brunch spot it was better than that - but one shouldn't compare brunch and dinners spots. A similar comment about Santina. He gave three starsto Cosme, I could see why but I rate the food as good as the best  fine dining establishments in NYC.

 

My main complaint is that he usually gives two stars in a review (48% of the time) and those ratings are all over the place.

[Qwerty]

Ah yes, the inevitable tear down after the build up. Took longer than expected. Que the "I knew it was going downhill last 3 times I ate there" and the "Thomas Keller must be slipping" comments from the Can't Do and Never Was brigades. I'm sure I already missed some. The world LOVES this kind of stuff. 

 

There's nothing snobby eaters like more than a good take down piece--except maybe claiming that they knew it all along. 

 

 

[KennethT]

This is an interesting article, written the Eater critic Ryan Sutton.  He is known for his financial calculations, as he used to be the restaurant critic for Bloomberg.  It's an interesting take on people's psychology when it comes to restaurants as their prices rise....

[Chris Hennes]

Great quote from that Eater article:

Quote

Until that day, higher prices will probably annoy diners, not just at Per Se, but even at the city's worthwhile restaurants.