Mix (with Doug Psaltis as chef de cuisine)

[Felonius]

There are far too many places in Midtown where I can spend ridiculous amounts of money for lunch or dinner. I will reserve my dollars for the few places where I know there is someone with exceptional talent in the kitchen giving their best effort. Mix used to be one of them. Cafe Boulud still is. Mix without Psaltis is a done deal for me....

[Fat Guy]

The Times "Off the Menu" note implies, to a neutral reader, that Psaltis was responsible for gimmicks like "the must of Mix" and the petri dishes, and that the chef change was about addressing that issue.

Yet when William Grimes reviewed the restaurant in October, a different position was articulated in the Times: "Somewhere deep in the kitchen of Mix in New York, a chef is struggling to get some attention. His name is Douglas Psaltis, and he has talent. His instincts are wholesome and honest. But he has a lot of visual and conceptual clutter to break through, courtesy of Alain Ducasse and Jeffrey Chodorow, two overheated imaginations working at full throttle to make Mix a nonstop thrill ride."

I believe both of the above accounts are imperfect, but they are more interesting for being at odds with one another.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't forsake Mix just on account of Psaltis's departure. The whole Ducasse system is engineered to avoid particular dependence on the chef-de-cuisine. If Didier Elena left ADNY to become the chef at some restaurant back in France, and Ducasse replaced him with a top toque from one of his other establishments and made the proffer that it will be business-as-usual at ADNY, I'd say fine, I'll keep going to ADNY because the Ducasse system is more important than any one chef. But here we have a bizarre situation where the chef on the scene, who was doing great work, has been unceremoniously dumped and scapegoated, the PR apparatus is generating suspect explanations, and there is a strongly developing presumption that dumbing down will be the order of the day. Should the indicators keep resolving in that direction, Felonius won't be the only customer Mix loses.

[Felonius]

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't forsake Mix just on account of Psaltis's departure. The whole Ducasse system is engineered to avoid particular dependence on the chef-de-cuisine. If Didier Elena left ADNY to become the chef at some restaurant back in France, and Ducasse replaced him with a top toque from one of his other establishments and made the proffer that it will be business-as-usual at ADNY, I'd say fine, I'll keep going to ADNY because the Ducasse system is more important than any one chef. But here we have a bizarre situation where the chef on the scene, who was doing great work, has been unceremoniously dumped and scapegoated, the PR apparatus is generating suspect explanations, and there is a strongly developing presumption that dumbing down will be the order of the day.

I agree. Also, in my opinion the influence of Chodorow may be good for managing cash flow, but not the cuisine. I've had a few meals at Tuscan (on an expense account, thank goodness!), and if that's any indication where Mix is headed, I'm not interested. Severely overpriced yet average food, poor service and wacky bathroom designs seem to be Chodorow's specialty.

Wasn't Chodorow also behind the restaurant at the Hudson hotel? Another nightmare.....

[slkinsey]

Yea. Kind of puts the lie to their spokesperson Susan Magrino's statement to the Post less than 5 days ago to the effect that "it was 'premature' to say whether the menu would change."

[Foodguy]

Perhaps not exactly on topic, but I had a horrible experience at China Grill on Saturday. Short version: Make a 9:15 reservation, entire party there by 9:05 told to wait at the bar, check in at 9:30 told that it would be at least 9:45 before being seated. We asked why hadn't anyone mentioned this before, and we were told, and I quote, "It is China Grill on a Saturday night, what do you expect?" I asked the guy if he was kidding. I was ready to leave my companions suggested waiting, finally we leave at 10pm and the guy in the front is still giving us an atitude about how our wait is not longet than anyone elses's. During the whole evening was their even a hint of an apology.

The point of all this is -- if this how the front is going to be run at Mix -- well good luck.

[Marlene]

Hello Foodguy! Nice to see you here

[given]

so i guess this is my first post on egullet. yay for me.

anyways, i used to work at MiX and i know doug pretty well. he's a superb guy with nothing but the best intentions for anything he involves himself with. he even offered to prepare dinner for my girlfriend and i by ourselves if/when i ever decide to propose to her :) (which will be soon)

not that i would ever know how to really take him up on his offer, but i think it shows the graciousness of a truly modest person.

my fondest memory of working with doug was when i had a little wine left in a very expensive bottle from upstairs that a guest had asked i give to the chef in return for a great meal. doug told me to give it to the line cooks, because he prefers strawberry boons..

what a cool guy.

anyways, i dont work at mix anymore for the very reason im sure doug has now moved on. the fact is, from even day one, there was a recognized split between the BOH (french) and the FOH (US). it was truly ignorant and unhelpful for a restaurant just trying to get into its stride.

nonetheless, doug was in the kitchen at six AM and leaving at midnite every day of the week.

i just watched an episode of the restaurant a couple nights ago, and while i must say rocco dispirito is a complete dipshit, i think jefferey chodorow's wife characterized his personality the best when she was making small talk with rocco's mom. if you missed the show or simply dont care, it was obvious that "CHINA GRILL" doesn't care about food or service, etc... they are concerned with the green baby.

doug only got the best products delivered fresh daily. his cooks were loyal and passionate. however, imho, jefferey probably noticed he wasnt making his 1000% profits like he might make at his shitty other restaurants and, instead of staying the course and concentrating on the good aspects of mix to move forward, he has decided to do a complete rehaul. i find this ignorance truly disheartening in a time when artisans are being recognized for their abilities....

meanwhile, doug is probably hard at work in a kitchen somewhere pushing his craft forward and making people happy with his food... the old fashioned way.

i tend to think of doug psaltis as the NOT CRAZY howard dean of the culinary world. grass roots all the way..

[Pan]

Thanks for sharing that with us, and welcome to eGullet! I hope you stick around or at least check in from time to time to update us on your progress.

I wish you all the best.

[tan319]

given,

Thank you for your post and sorry, very sorry, that you guys got screwed like this.

Mix was very much on my mind while watching Chodorow and his group of asses on 'The Restaurant'.

Question for you.

Why would Ducasse involve himself with a guy like this?

Is the new crew going to be using Sysco peanut butter?

All the best to you!

[Fat Guy]

I'm pleased to announce that we just sold eGullet to Chodorow for $22 worth of beads, trinkets, and Sysco peanut butter.

Hmm. I think I have several stories confused.

[bourdain]

Mix was very much on my mind while watching Chodorow and his group of asses on 'The Restaurant'.

Question for you.

Why would Ducasse involve himself with a guy like this?

Is the new crew going to be using Sysco peanut butter?

All the best to you!

Finally!

Someone is asking the BIG questions.

[tommy]

was that sysco peanut butter? i haven't followed the thread that closely, but that would be, um, strange.

[tan319]

Change the name to Mess.

Jinmyo, you crack me up!!!

To clarify my question about say, Sysco peanut butter( ), what I meant was if a guy like chowderboy wants all of his restaurants to use his vendors, would it not follow that he is going to be using those huge companies like the above?

Who, incidentally, are very,very "nice" to clients who spend huge amount's of money with them.

It makes it a lot easier for the organization too, correct?

Maybe people will see that dew wrapped fool of a corporate chef manning the store too.

He should be pretty good with peanut butter & jelly...

[given]

Someone has to tell me how to use that cool little enclosed space for quoting other posters. but to answer your question...

"Why would Ducasse get MIXed up with Chodorow?"

I have to think about this... gimme a few e-moments to myself...

ok, im better.. now, where was i... oh yes.. i sorta see ducasse as the scorcese of the food world. its sort of a far-stretched analogy, so ill try to show you what i mean. martin scorcese started with small movies that were almost homages to filmmakers in the past... goddard, etc.... as a lot of people will attest to, his movies are some of the most brutal, romantically violent displays ever to reach american film.. and contain some of the most tragically developed characters ever on 35 mm.

only one problem... the average person knows scorcese's name, but can't pop off more than two or three films of his. SO HOW DOES HE MAKE PROFIT?

what was he to do when he wanted to make money? considering the fact that with all of his genius, CAPE FEAR was the movie that made the most money by FAR, m.s must have decided to join the big dogs; because his last movie, though containing mindblowing performance by Daniel Day Lewis (No relation to American Idol's John Peter Lewis) :), the movie was a complete buyout for the daddy warbucks over at miramax. i actually liked the movie a lot, but it had too much structure.. leonardo di caprio and cameron diaz? sounds like an independent movie to me!!

the point is this.. you can never really know why an artist sells himself or his craft for maximum profit, and in Mix's case, its obvious the numbers were in the red...

i believe in mr. ducasse, but ill tell you something.. i believe in doug psaltis much more.. ducasse is almost like the president of some small artisan country now. he doesnt make much decision-making when it comes to day-to-day operations. on the contrary, he has hired a lot of people to make decisions for him that he can turn around and fire whenever they dont turn a profit.

on a sidenote, thanks for the warm welcome to the board!

[Fat Guy]

This is Ducasse's Bay of Pigs.

As a strong believer in both Ducasse and Psaltis, I've got to agree with Given -- who by the way was the best waiter at Mix -- that this whole incident feels like a bait-and-switch, a sellout, a betrayal, and a "deniability debacle."

I don't think any reasonable person would begrudge Ducasse the right to make some money by lending his name to a Chodorow-type crapola emporium. But that's not the story the true believers were told: Mix was supposed to be serious, Mix was serious, serious chefs and cooks like Psaltis and his kitchen team staked their reputations and livelihoods on it, writers like Jeffrey Steingarten and I championed it, and then this.

I suppose Ducasse simply lacks the economic leverage to tell Chodorow to go fuck himself. Still, he could have handled this better. Here's hoping this was a one-time mistake and that Ducasse can earn back the credibility he sacrificed when he stranded his troops on Chodorow's beach.

Admin: The discussion thread archive for Mix under chef Damon Gordon may be found here. The discussion thread for Mix under chef Francesco Berardinelli and renamed as "Francesco at Mix" may be found here