Bookbinder's Review Philadelphia Weekly

KatieLoeb · April 22, 2005

Put Down this Bookbinder, this week's review in the Philadelphia Weekly by Lauren McCutcheon, has to be the singularly most scathing review I've ever read that made it to print. Not only was everything awful, but it was the worst example of it's kind in the whole wide world. :blink: I find it hard to believe that any restaurant of that caliber could mess up on so many levels and not "get it". I'm shocked to say the least, and wonder if Ms. McCutcheon might have some personal beef with the management or ownership of the place to be so brutal. I'd have to be treated rudely, served lousy food AND get food poisoning to write that a restaurant had nothing to redeem it. What gives?

Has anyone else been there yet? Any opinions? I'm somewhat shocked that an editor didn't tone that down a bit before it hit the presses.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

Writing a bad review on Bookbinders, any Bookbinders, is as edgy as panning a book by Paris Hilton. With Bookbinders, any Bookbinders, it is "guilty until proven innocent."

Lauren McCutcheon's whole "what's the use" attitude which opens and closes the review

Here's a statement that will have zero effect upon the universe: The revamped Bookie's is bad. Really bad.

and

Like the chalky, jaw-breaking oyster crackers in bowls on each table, the place is impervious to time and criticism-and impossible to resist.

suggests a chip on her shoulder that she failed to check at the door.

I've always maintained that the people who hate Bookbinder's, any Bookbinder's, a.) don't order the right stuff and b.) aren't lucky enough to have someone on expense account picking up their check.

The only things to order at Bookbinders, any Bookbinders, are Snapper Soup (Old Original served the best I've ever had anywhere), fresh oysters, a decent sized lobster and strawberry shortcake. Perhaps their finnan haddie. These they have historically done very well. Stray and you're gonna be disappointed. Anyone who knows Bookbinders, any Bookbinders, knows that. Ordering Yellowfin Tuna Tartare at Bookbinders - yeah that's a really good idea. Almost as bright as her going to Bookbinders and not ordering basic boiled or broiled lobster - and the way she simply mentions the lobster I'm betting she didn't.

As they say, any publicity is good publicity. McCutcheon's review has only hastened me to the new Bookbinder's. No way I'm taking her word on this.

I'm somewhat shocked that an editor didn't tone that down a bit before it hit the presses.

I'm surprised the editor didn't move the column to the front page. Nothing like a total pan review to move papers.

jmbrightman · April 22, 2005

much respect to you both, but I don't get trashing a review of a place you haven't been.

KatieLoeb · April 22, 2005

Actually I did stop in there once right after it re-opened. I wanted to have a glass of wine at the bar after a long day at work and scope the new digs out. The bar was already closed at 10:15 PM on like a Thursday night?? :huh:

And I'm not trashing the review. I'm stunned by it. As I said - I'd have to have had an experience that bordered on criminal negligence to write a review that nasty.

FWIW, I do know several folks that have been there for the full meal deal. The comments ranged from pretty good to mediocre on quality of the experience and the food, and universal agreement that the place was outrageously overpriced.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

much respect to you both, but I don't get trashing a review of a place you haven't been.

Fair point. But I've eaten in enough restaurants and written enough reviews to recognize preconceptions and a hachet job when they smack me in the face. No restaurant is that bad. Not even Bookbinders.

But I'll be heading there soon and will report back on the actual experience. I'm hoping (and expecting) I won't eating my three pound half boiled, half broiled lobster with a side of crow.

philadining · April 22, 2005

Stray and you're gonna be disappointed.
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You're absolutely right about (either) old Bookbinder's, but the vibe I was getting from early PR was that they got a happenin' new chef who could do some contemporary stuff, in addition to the soup and lobster.

I'll certainly want to see some more reviews, and the way it's been going lately, all the papers seem to write about the same places, so I'll bet we'll have some more opinions soon.

jmbrightman · April 22, 2005

I have not visited the new Bookbinder's and it is likely I never will. It is a conventioneer choice, not a local resident choice.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

Actually for locals and visitors it is an expense account choice. At the old, Old Original many a power lunch and dinner led to many a mega-buck local deal.

philadining · April 22, 2005

And ya gotta admit, this is a classic line from a host:

"We have a table for you, but it's just still full of people."

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

I'll certainly want to see some more reviews, and the way it's been going lately, all the papers seem to write about the same places, so I'll bet we'll have some more opinions soon.
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Here's the review on CitySearch.Com

marinade · April 22, 2005

I ate there on a crowded Wednesday night two weeks after it opened. My boss took me there on his dime for helping to sell his Gretch Bluestar guitar. We downed a couple dozen oysters at the bar. Decent selection of wines by the glass, but pricey pours. . I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary from the menu and from what I could see it was their “greatest hits”. I had a Tuna special that night and my boss had the striped bass. The tuna had a faint pink center surrounded by a sea of gray. No steam on the plate and my fish was body temperature, slightly warm but not running a fever. Bookbinders is what it is. Did I see a Le Bernadin pedigree there? Nope, nor did I expect it. Nor did I sense David Cunningham’s hand there and I had eaten at Yardley Inn. Was it a devastating meal? No. Would I spend any of my money there? Another no. Surprisingly enough, they do have a neighborhood clientele. Some of the old time Society Hill dwellers are simply not Starr struck, have money, and are into simple food done okay. Contrary to popular belief, there are people who eat that way. Bookbinders will always be in the crosshairs. I remember Jim Quinn’s first fuselage in the Collegiate Guide of Philadelphia in the late ‘60s. Lauren McCutcheon's was almost a boilerplate of it. So what else is really new?

vigna · April 22, 2005

I haven't read the review yet. But I can report on a quick meal/snack I had about two weeks ago at the smoke-free bar (there are two bars, one for smokers, and thankfully, one in the main non-smoking room). The crab bisque was excellent and so were the clams on the half shell (somewhat bigger than little necks; not sure what they were listed as on the menu). Main courses seemed outrageously expensive, but the soup and raw bar items were priced fairly. Wines by the glass were a big big disappointment -- an unimaginative list, and hugely overpriced. I had a nice draft Stella Artois, as it would upset me to pay $9.00 plus for very ordinary wines. Oyster crackers were quite standard and went well with the soup and clams. Bar service was good. On the basis of this very limited experience, I intend to go back and try other items (but I would probably not eat a full meal there).

KatieLoeb · April 22, 2005

Contrary to popular belief, there are people who eat that way.

That's true. And many of them are the clientele at my restaurant. I sincerely hope Ms. McCutcheon doesn't decide to come eat at the Oyster House and write about it. She sounds impossible to please.

Surprisingly the reopening of Bookbinder's doesn't really worry me from the "competitive" standpoint. They're all the way across town and at a different price point. The Marathon Grill on my corner that's packed to the gills every waking minute is far more worrisome in terms of poaching our business.

Rich Pawlak · April 22, 2005

Put Down this Bookbinder, this week's review in the Philadelphia Weekly by Lauren McCutcheon, has to be the singularly most scathing review I've ever read that made it to print. Not only was everything awful, but it was the worst example of it's kind in the whole wide world. I find it hard to believe that any restaurant of that caliber could mess up on so many levels and not "get it". I'm shocked to say the least, and wonder if Ms. McCutcheon might have some personal beef with the management or ownership of the place to be so brutal. I'd have to be treated rudely, served lousy food AND get food poisoning to write that a restaurant had nothing to redeem it. What gives?
Has anyone else been there yet? Any opinions? I'm somewhat shocked that an editor didn't tone that down a bit before it hit the presses.
←

I've now eaten there twice, and McCutcheon couldn't be more off base. Both of my dinners there were terrific, with my only complaint being the not quite p;olished service. Couldn't fault the food at all; David Cunningham is a terrific chef, and he is performing well there.

I've got to think there is more to her review than she is willing to reveal.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

I've got to think there is more to her review than she is willing to reveal.
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I once did side by side reviews of a restaurant taking two points of view. The same experience but seen positively in one review and negatively in the other. The restaurant was romatic or dark and dingy. The service was leisurely or slow. The food was aestectically simple and pure or boring. Etc.

I'm guessing McCutcheon went to Bookbinders laden down with the whole "Bookbinders is a tourist trap", knee jerk foodie conventional wisdom and saw only what supported her point of view.

Capaneus · April 22, 2005

Contrary to popular belief, there are people who eat that way.
That's true. And many of them are the clientele at my restaurant. I sincerely hope Ms. McCutcheon doesn't decide to come eat at the Oyster House and write about it. She sounds impossible to please.
Surprisingly the reopening of Bookbinder's doesn't really worry me from the "competitive standpoint. They're all the way across town and at a different price point. The Marathon Grill on my corner that's packed to the gills every waking minute is far more worrisome in terms of poaching our business.
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I think we may be a bit hard on Ms. McCutcheon: part of what she was doing in that "I'm just a powerless lil' critic" framing device was letting us know that she *was* taking off the gloves, because it was understood she could do no harm, and I think she was basically correct. She has in fact been pleased in the past, sometimes far too much so, I think. If she were to review the Oyster House, I'd expect her to be much nicer. Not that you guys need it. I think you put out a *much* better plate o' grub than Bookies does, and at a fair price. The problem I have with all the multiple incarnations of Bookbinders' is the sense I get that they're not even trying: "The tuna had a faint pink center surrounded by a sea of gray. No steam on the plate and my fish was body temperature...." - that's just inexcusable, in my never-humble opinion.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

Repeat after me: Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster. Don't even look at the menu. It's cute they want to be avant garde seafood. But we're talking Bookbinders.

Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster.

Capaneus · April 22, 2005

Repeat after me: Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster. Don't even look at the menu. It's cute they want to be avant garde seafood. But we're talking Bookbinders.
Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster.
←

And with a passable bottle of wine, that sets me back what? 'Bout $250 to $300 for two? Are we willing to argue that is a good, decent, or even reasonable value for the dollar?

I understand it's possible to have a meal there, or most anywhere, that does not cause my palate to disengage in utter revulsion. When did that become the standard to which we hold a restaurant? Will it or not, opening the doors to the public places a burden on a restaurant, and charging the prices they do raises it exponentially. I don't think those versions of Bookbinders I actually patronized ever met that burden. I don't find caveat emptor a satisfying critical stance. And I'm not a restaurant critic.

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

Here's the pricing for my mantra meal:

Snapper Soup: $6.

Half Dozen Oysters: $12

3 pound lobster: $68.85

Lobster is the wallet breaker. For comparison I called the Philadelphia Palm. Their three pound lobster runs "just over $60.00." Pretty much the same.

Yes you are paying for the Bookbinders name. And for the Bookbinders experience. Also - I'm pretty sure it is still the case - Bookbinders is one of the few non-hotel, unionized restaurants in the city. That goes into the pricing too.

I understand it's possible to have a meal there, or most anywhere, that does not cause my palate to disengage in utter revulsion. When did that become the standard to which we hold a restaurant?

Never said it should be the case with Bookbinders. Order the above and and the odds are that you'll have a very good dinner, not one where your palate barely manages not to "disengage in utter revulsion."

Nor am I saying caveat emptor applies to Bookbinders. Just order what they are really good at: Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster. Consumer be intelligent, not consumer beware.

deprofundis · April 22, 2005

And with a passable bottle of wine, that sets me back what? 'Bout $250 to $300 for two? Are we willing to argue that is a good, decent, or even reasonable value for the dollar?

If Bookies is as bad as she claims it is, then no. I'm with you. There are restaurants that may be worth ~$300 for two, but if the reviewer's experience at Bookbinders was as bad as she said it was, they deserve to get slammed. Hopefully they'll read the review and make some changes. If I was paying that much for a meal, I'd expect it to be flawless. This isn't a mom and pop restaurant on the corner. They're charging big money and deserve to be called to task if they produce a shoddy product. If they're this bad, hopefully they'll go out of business. I'm sure she'd be much kinder to SSOH, which probably costs less than half the price. I'm a big fan of SSOH, but if they started charging 30 bucks for a crab cake my expectations would change accordingly.

Capaneus · April 22, 2005

Order the above and and the odds are that you'll have a very good dinner, not one where your palate barely manages not to "disengage in utter revulsion."
Nor am I saying caveat emptor applies to Bookbinders. Just order what they are really good at: Snapper Soup, Fresh Oysters, Boiled or Broiled Lobster. Consumer be intelligent, not consumer beware.
←

Fair enough. My taste for bombast tripped me up again. The underlying point, though, is whether what you get is decent value. At those prices, I expect the kitchen to do better than not ruin the ingredients. And in the end, Ms. McCutcheon's job is to evaluate things like whether a given place does in fact provide an experience commesurate with the expense. She and I don't much agree, generally, but we seem to share a sense that what Bookbinders' provides is, somehow, a good deal less than what a patron is entitled to expect.

philadining · April 22, 2005

I haven't been there (nor have most of us, passing judgment on whether the review was valid...) so I can't say, but it seems that she had pretty specific complaints, not just "I didn't like it" opinions. Holly's right that an overall attitude can shade our experience of a place, but if she were in some other restaurant, would "Chemical-tasting, sneeze-inducing peppercorn sauce" be expressed as "bracingly assertive spicing" or some other positive spin? I doubt it, it sounds like it tasted unpleasant. OK, too much clove in the snapper soup is a tough call, but most of the other critiques seemed like fair points.

I've been in a situation like that, where I ended up having a miserable time at a restaurant just because it was rather expensive, and everyone from the person seating me to the guy who poured my water, to the waiter, couldn't stop telling me how great my food was going to be, when in the end it was mediocre-to-poor. That just really annoyed me, and made me pan the place to anyone who would listen.

And I could see the same thing happening at Bookies, we don't know what Ms. McCutcheon's attitude was walking in, we shouldn't assume she was looking for a fight. I never really liked the old one, but I'd go in hoping that a new one would be good, it's kind-of heartwarming to see the old institutions survive.

I'm certainly willing to accept Rich's take on the restaurant, and give it a try. But even in our own little topic here we have conflicting advice: Rich says the chef is doing good work, Holly says to only order three things, Marinade says it's only OK. I'll be interested to see if we develop a consensus, hopefully from reporting back about actual meals there...

phungi · April 22, 2005

Lobster is the wallet breaker. For comparison I called the Philadelphia Palm. Their three pound lobster runs "just over $60.00." Pretty much the same.
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I have not had the lobster at Bookbinder's but I cannot imagine it competes with The Palm's lobster. The lone lobster I had at the Palm (on someone else's tab) was perfectly cooked, absolutely delicious, and I had an unobtrusive personal lobster-cracking assistant every step of the way.

Edited April 22, 2005 by phungi (log)

Holly Moore · April 22, 2005

Lobster is the wallet breaker. For comparison I called the Philadelphia Palm. Their three pound lobster runs "just over $60.00." Pretty much the same.
←
I have not had the lobster at Bookbinder's but I cannot imagine it competes with The Palm's lobster. The lone lobster I had at the Palm (on someone else's tab) was perfectly cooked, absolutely delicious, and I had an unobtrusive personal lobster-cracking assistant every step of the way.
←

I've done lobsters at both the Palm and at the old, Old Original. I'd say they are comparable in quality.

For me, at least, there was no personal lobster-cracking assistant at either location. But the word is probably out that, come feeding time, it's not wise for a server to get between me and my food.

CherieV · April 22, 2005

I have a buisness dinner there on Wed so I am very curious to say the least. I do have to say that with all the great restaurants to patronise in Philly, this would not have been my choice. But I am forced to make an appearance where I do buisness with my distributor. So Bookbinders it is, I will give you all an update. Can't imagine the oysters and snapper soup to be better or even as good as SSOH! But I'll let you all know.

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