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Spice Market


grillboy

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I looked into Spice Market yesterday, not to eat (as our dinner plans were elsewhere), but just to see what the fuss was about. Vongerichten's exteriors aren't ostentatious. Like 66, you could quite easily walk right by Spice Market and not notice a restaurant is there. JGV's places are destinations in themselves, and he doesn't need to worry about attracting walk-ins.

The décor, which reputedly cost $5 million, is the Real Deal. At every turn, it just yells "Wow" at you. It seems that food alone isn't enough to make a restaurant these days. All of the major openings are as much about scenery as they are about food. My friend, who works in theater, told me restaurants are now hiring Broadway set designers to design their interiors.

We were particularly intrigued by the sensuous private rooms at the back of the downstairs bar, where you pass through a curtain of gauze into a world of your own. I wonder how those creamy white luxuroious sofa pillows will look after red wine is spilled on them a few times.

At 6:00pm on a Saturday, the upstairs was already starting to buzz, but the downstairs bar was as yet nearly empty. We detected only the slightest whiff of annoyance by dining room staff who could tell we were there only to gawk. They were happy to let us take the tour and examine a menu.

In another thread, FatGuy described Spice Market as:

a trendy high-volume club-lounge tapas place

That seems to me unjust (well, not the "trendy" part). Spice Market is a real restaurant. It has appetizers, main courses, desserts, a bar and a wine list. You can get a real table, place a real order, and get served, just as at any restaurant. It isn't purely a lounge, and it isn't a tapas place.

Can such a place be three stars, if perfectly executed? (I am not saying it is perfectly executed, since I haven't sampled the food or the service.) I go both ways on that question. Spice Market clearly lacks the elegance of the typical three-star restaurant, but maybe our definition of three stars is too heavily biased towards traditional high-end dining. I am still thinking about that.

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I have no trouble accepting that in the hypothetical scenario you describe above a fully performing restaurant would be eligible for three stars. But Spice Market does not conform to the hypothetical scenario.

It's a gorgeous place with a great buzz, and from sticking your head in and reading a menu you might get the (mis)impression that "It has appetizers, main courses, desserts, a bar and a wine list. You can get a real table, place a real order, and get served, just as at any restaurant." But anybody on this thread who has eaten there will tell you the restaurant doesn't work that way. You order communally and they dump small plates in the middle of the table in a constant flow -- they don't serve "just as at any restaurant." Instead, they tell you, obnoxiously, that "the food comes as it's ready," which is the same thing they do at Asia de Cuba, another restaurant I'd describe as more club-lounge than restaurant. The difference being that at Asia de Cuba the family-style dishes are too big for one person to eat, and at Spice Market the family-style dishes are too small to satisfy one person. This is not even getting into the street-food aspect of all this: it's one thing to have some chicken wings on your menu and otherwise serve three-star-type food. But Spice Market's menu is laden with egg rolls, spring rolls, chicken wings, and various other straightforward dishes that collectively just don't have the ring of three-star cooking about them. And this is all quite aside from the fact that, as you can read here plenty, the kitchen is not performing at a particularly high level and that the service is pretty weak.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Nicole Kidman gives a thumbs down on portion size but a big thumbs up on the staff here

Curses.

Missed.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Just kidding.

Good for the waiter dude.

Who's probably an actor who is hoping to use this to get Kidman's leverage working for him.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Good for the waiter dude. Who's probably an actor who is hoping to use this to get Kidman's leverage working for him.

And it was leverage that saved her.

"If it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's a Fall gig'' -- Mark E. Smith

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Good for the waiter dude. Who's probably an actor who is hoping to use this to get Kidman's leverage working for him.

And it was leverage that saved her.

So even steven then for the best deal.

Go, waiter dude, go!

You could be in Dogville 2: This Time It's A Musical.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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  • 4 weeks later...

Spice Market has yet another glowing review to its credit. Bob Lape of Crain's New York Business awards 3 stars in this week's issue:

Most of all, Spice Market is filled with happy people. Even Chevy Chase doesn't seem to be having as much fun as a well-dressed couple romancing nearby. In ebullient spirits ourselves, we start sharing appreciated dishes with delightful table neighbors: a sculptress and a professor.

There's a lot to get ebullient about in the upscaled Southeast Asian "street food" created by Chef Vongerichten with advice from Gray Kunz and meticulous execution by chef de cuisine Stanley Wong. Mr. Wong's innovative and adaptive skills are well-known from his flexible stint at TanDa.

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The triangular packets of moist, aromatic goodness respond exponentially to the cilantro yogurt served with them.

This is almost as good as

"Between the wings, your chopsticks make their way to slices of mango, there for relief."

:blink:

Soba

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Spice Market has yet another glowing review to its credit. Bob Lape of Crain's New York Business awards 3 stars in this week's issue:

There's a lot to get ebullient about in the upscaled Southeast Asian "street food" created by Chef Vongerichten with advice from Gray Kunz and meticulous execution by chef de cuisine Stanley Wong. Mr. Wong's innovative and adaptive skills are well-known from his flexible stint at TanDa.

Ayup. Good.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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There's a lot to get ebullient about in the upscaled Southeast Asian "street food" created by Chef Vongerichten with advice from Gray Kunz and meticulous execution by chef de cuisine Stanley Wong. Mr. Wong's innovative and adaptive skills are well-known from his flexible stint at TanDa.

So many adjectives -- it's got to be good.

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had dinner here tonight. We were shocked that the neighborhood had changed so much. We had a good time watching all the young women trying to walk on the cobblestone streets in very high heels. That aside our dinner was "different." There were so many different spices in all the dishes I tried that I couldn't taste everything in each dish. There were 3 of us and we started with the shaved tuna, pork satay and the spiciest chicken wings I've ever had. Everything was very good. Our mains were lobster over greens - very buttery, short ribs - very rich and striped bass that was delicious but very spicy. We LOVED the lime noodles and pea shoots with mushrooms. The surroundings were lovely and the service was attentive.

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Dined with my partner tonight at Spice Market. I've loved this place; have eaten here approximately 10 times in the past. Food has always been ok to good to very good; service has been spotty.

Listen to this. Tonight we went without a reservation: the desk person said a 90 minute wait. OK, we said, and ordered drinks at the bar.

My Tanqueray Ten didn't taste quite right...tasted watered down to diluted. I slowly drank it, then asked a bartender who I know (not the one who prepared it for me)..."could you fix me a tanq ten the right way; not too much time on the ice so its not diluted?" He came back about a half minute later, confessing they had been out of Tanqueray Ten. "He (pointing to another bartender) gave you a Sapphire Martini...sorry." (The other bartender confirmed this). After confirming they did not have Tanqueray Ten, or Old Raj, or Hendriks, or Junipero, I said a Sapphire would be ok. Had it, and thankfully, it was on the house. Also, we asked for bar snacks (the wasabi peanuts; they were out of all bar snacks "We had a lot of people here the last few days" the waiter said.")

We waited about 2 1/2 hours and finally sat downstaris where we could have apps as the dinner as it seemed the wait would be long long long. Just as soon as we had ordered the apps, the hostess came and told us we could sit at the communal table. We cancelled the apps order and sat at the communal table.

We ordered our food. I ordered my food and a glass of the Paul Blank Pinot Blanc. It never came. My partner ordered a soft drink, which never came. After the food had arrived and had been there about 10 minutes, the waiter walked by, and I (admittedly with some irritation) said, "I presume the glass of wine was comped has its never arrived." Oh, he said, and it was soon delivered. I barely drank any of it. My partner's soft drink never arrived, and he had to ask for it again.

Foood arrived hit or miss, but we understood, as it supposedly "arrives as its ready."

We had waited and waited for a spot at the communal table, though we noticed that a party of 4 had arrived at the restaurant after us, and had been seated at the communal table for some time before we were seated (palm trick?).

Anyway, good food and terrible service. I -- for the first time in my adult life (and I'm nearing 50) --- left without giving a tip.

Terrible, and I repeat, TERRIBLE, service. This is 3 star dining?

I enjoy good food, but only if I don't have an elevated heart rate trying to get it. This place deserves, at best, one star given the service problems. They substitute a premium cocktail for another without telling the guest? No bar snacks ("we ran out.") Two hours + wait when 1 1/2 hour was promised? Drinks with dinner not delivered until reminded by the guest?

Thanks but no thanks.

BYE Spice Market.

Edited by DutchMuse (log)
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We had dinner here this past Saturday. We were able to get 6:30 reservations but we called a few times the week before, at their advice, and asked if we could come in a little later. We were told 6:30 or nothing. We arrived at 6:30 and got a great table right away. There were many table around us that were empty and were not filled until about 7:30-8:00. Our service was okay. The waiter seemed to appear and disappear but the busboys were on top of us. As soon as I took a sip of water they were behind me to fill my glass. We hadn't finished a dish and someone was there to take it away. At one point I had to ask them to leave it as I was still eating the vegetables.

They definitely need some work!

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You got to remember who wrote the review, I do believe Hesser and JG are good buddies, he wrote a blurb for her book and the Times got a little flack for not disclosing that at the time of the review. So maybe there was a little bias in the review. I do believe besides the original JG, his empire is just a bunch of 1 and two star joints living off his name-I went to vong for my gf birthday and we were ready to drink some wine, but they seemed more interested in removing our glasses, than refilling them. And here thirty dollar beef and noodle bowl tasted like they ordered from Ollies. Au revior

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You got to remember who wrote the review, I do believe Hesser and JG are good buddies, he wrote a blurb for her book and the Times got a little flack for not disclosing that at the time of the review. So maybe there was a little bias in the review.

Most of the papers have now reviewed Spice Market, and it has received several 2.5 and 3 star reviews. Maybe the whole city is over-rating Spice Market, but we can no longer blame Amanda alone.

By the way, JGV claims he's only met Amanda once in his life.

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Although I do disagree with Hesser's 3-star rating fro SM, it is necessary to point out that the JG's blurb for her book is essentially meaningless and doesn't necessarily reflect any favoritism or friendship between them.

In the publishing world, blurbs are essentially "paid for" -- in many (perhaps the majority of) cases the person doing the blurbing has never read the book being blurbed.

Edited by Nathan (log)
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  • 2 weeks later...

My new job is directly across from Chelsea Market so I'm in the neighborhood. A freind and I tried to go to 5 Ninth for lunch but they weren't open, so we opted for Spice Market. I had been by myself a couple weeks ago and was disappointed. The shaved tuna with tapioca peals was good but not great and the shortribs with noodles and pea shoots seemed like the kind of thing I could have easily made at home.

So we tried all different things this time. Egg rolls with mushrooms, beef skewers, coconut-crusted monkfish, and the lime noodles. The best dish was probably the beef skewers: ground meat with a nice citrus dipping sauce. But as small as they were, they weren't worth the $15 for an appetizer.

The egg rolls were okay but nothing special; the monkfish was overcooked but not bad.

The lime noodles were downright bad. My friend and I both had about two bites, overpoweringly sour and the noodles were gummy. I considered sending it back but at that point (it was the last dish to arrive and took quite a while) I didn't want to start something, I just wanted the check and to get out of there. The staff were as dissinterested as Blockbuster clerks.

The space is great, fantastic people watching. But three stars? Give me a break. My chopsticks found their way to a lot of mediocre food.

"If it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's a Fall gig'' -- Mark E. Smith

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  • 2 weeks later...

Let me preface my remarks by saying I love the food at this place, and I'm TRYING to love the restaurant.

A few weeks ago, I posted a 'rant' about poor service. Well, I live in the 'hood, and went back a few days ago for another lunch (around 2PM). Ordered the food, some items came, some never came. I noticed our waiter (Miguel) walking down the sidewalk outside the restaurant as we were waiting for our other items (he and I made eye contact, but no acknowledgement from him; he did not let us know he was leaving work). I motioned for another waiter to come over, he nodded, but never came. Remaining food never came. Finally, I asked for the manager. She came over, and I politely explained what had happened, and the best she could do was offer complimentary dessert (which we didn't really want anyway). Despite enjoying the food, I just don't believe I'll be returning any time soon.

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DutchMuse, that's really quite shockingly bad service.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Let me preface my remarks by saying I love the food at this place, and I'm TRYING to love the restaurant.

A few weeks ago, I posted a 'rant' about poor service. Well, I live in the 'hood, and went back a few days ago for another lunch (around 2PM). Ordered the food, some items came, some never came. I noticed our waiter (Miguel) walking down the sidewalk outside the restaurant as we were waiting for our other items (he and I made eye contact, but no acknowledgement from him; he did not let us know he was leaving work). I motioned for another waiter to come over, he nodded, but never came. Remaining food never came. Finally, I asked for the manager. She came over, and I politely explained what had happened, and the best she could do was offer complimentary dessert (which we didn't really want anyway). Despite enjoying the food, I just don't believe I'll be returning any time soon.

If I may propose this,

You should find Jean Georges business office email address ( maybe his site online?) and inform them directly about the service problems.

That's totally unacceptable.

Jinmyo,

Best sig EVER!!!

2317/5000

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