Gramercy Tavern

[Beachfan]

You have to make these decisions on an individual basis and maybe it's not just on a restaurant by restaurant basis, but on a waiter by waiter basis.

YES! YES!

He will tell you that I was not successful on all of the dishes and I really struck out on the wine with his guest.

There was only one dish that wasn't tops, and we would have ordered it anyway because it was something we wanted to try. As far as the wine choices, I don't think anyone would have succeded with my friend. His taste buds must have been in Bizzarro world (Amarone was too light, didn't care for Chateau Montelena '91).

Even though my friend didn't find the wines to his liking, he thought it was one of his best restauant experiences. He will be heartbroken (as I am) to hear that Christopher is no longer there

(And I just ordered a Krug to bring with me the next time I'm there!).

Chris, best of luck and happy times in your new role!

[Orik]

Chicken can be among  the most tasteless and boring dishes on menus, but at GT it can be sublime because of the source of raw products and the skill of the kitchen.

That the chicken served in a great restaurant should be of {local parallel of Bresse AOC} and that it should be prepared with great care and skill is obvious. However, I view this as one building block in the composition of a great dish (not in the case of chicken, as I disclosed before) and not as an end in itself.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

thanks for asking-- (sigh...)

i've been contemplating my visit, formulating opinions but trying not to come to any final conclusions, because . . .here it goes... i was slightly disappointed.

not that anything went "wrong" by any means. everything that came out of the kitchen was technically proficient, and the service left nothing to be desired, but the entire experience wasn't nearly as compelling as i had expected it to be. but i do understand now what has made GT so popular. but i don't see it pushing many envelopes. i generally appreciate food & restaurant experiences that are continually interested in redefining things--i should say this to frame my response to my visit.

our reservation was for 9 on monday, and i had requested valeria's service, at the suggestion of an egulletteer & also by a regular guest of mine at the wine bar. i didn't get specific about the nature of the recommendation, but she was flattered.

i was very pleased with the way she worked with us on tasting menu substitutions. we were both uncertain about the seasonal/market tasting because it sounded a bit rich for us that night, especially knowing we'd be having lots of cheese.....but in our hearts we wanted to do a tasting menu. she immediately suggested substituting a couple of things and was very patient as we discussed & decided. i knew i wanted a glass of billecart salmon rose to start, but didn't know about anything else & we decided to pour appropriately as we went along.

(again, i was on a date with someone who doesn't drink much (how'd that happen)--although he had more than a couple sips of the bille... )

one note about the wine list---great great buys here. very impressed with the reasonable markups. and some cheaper, non-97 cali cultish cabs. but no half bottles (save for auslese, BA, etc.). but other than the bille, i wasn't so impressed with the selection of pours--except they do have a few of willi shaefer's wines they're pouring. good stuff.

the amuse came so quickly i was a bit startled & can't remember what it was. i think it incorporated squid. sorry.

first course was hudson valley foie gras en torchon. this was slamming. definitely got me all excited. bing cherries, a few matchsticks of fennel, a breath of fennel frond, and pistachois that had been only slightly candied--maybe not officially so but they had been crushed coarsely & had this shine to them. not chopped to a powder, but really maintained this integrity of texture....they were really impressive for some reason. the dish had this deconstructed feel, which i love. even better with the rose.

i may have the next 2 courses mixed up, but i'm not sure. hamachi, red beets, mustard sprouts, with a tiny tiny bit of horseradish towards one side of the hamachi (which was shaped like an oval), that made it seem like the fish's eyeball. ( i wonder if anyone else has this thought...)

the hamachi was the perfect texture, extremely fresh. i expected the beets to carry more acidity (due to the vinaigrette). so there wasn't much counterpoint. but i liked the fish's eye.

lump crab in pea puree, with peas and pink peppercorns, topped with pea shoots. okay..... haven't i seen this on a few spring menus? i am wondering if he brines his own peppercorns to this stage; they were very, very floral.

followed by another dish that strikingly resembled this one in appearance--langostino in watercress puree, topped with parsley, i think.....not exactly clear on this one. great purity of flavor with the langostino. but the watercress puree left me wondering why? it also didn't have the pungency characteristic of watercress, which was interesting.

main: striped bass, poached, i think, over..........ready? yukon gold mashed potatoes.

cheese: i think, to be honest, i wasn't feeling inspired enough at this point to have as much cheese as i usually like to have. i'm not sure, but we only had three, plus one that valeria gave us because my date hadn't tried it before & was curious about it. i love the oversized cheese board & huge chunks (at the risk of sounding countrified) of cheese on there from which the server cuts right then & there. accompaniments were quince paste & this prune cake studded with almonds that i've seen at craft.

cheeses were at their perfect stages, but we had a robiolina from lombardy that was so so so overwhelmingly salty that no other flavor, other than an up front beefiness, could be ascertained from the cheese. i don't think this one was in fighting form. it's a washed-rind, looks like pont l'evoque, semi-soft. must go to murray's. we had a gamonedo, sheep's from spain, that rocked. very well-balanced; not too spicy & great depth. a sottocenere, black truffled from venice that my date hadn't had, and this blue-veined cow's from new zealand called K----- (dont have notes here; email me if you want it) whose richness approached that of a stick of butter. reminded me of brillat savarin in this regard.

moving on, there was canteloupe sorbet--excellent purity of fruit--in a soup of what might as well have been simple syrup that kept brunoise of canteloupe and honeydew afloat. the fruit was not ripe. pretty flavorless. hence the simple syrup, probably.

then, of course, something fabulous to end on a good note. this panna cotta has got to be the best panna cotta i've ever had. i think it was elderflower???? i don't know, but another dish with a deconstructive feel to it. barely macerated strawberries, panna cotta, raspberry sorbet, and a merangue filled with raspberry goodness.

interesting that i felt the strongest courses were the first and last.

the only other pour worth mentioning at this time of night (morning) is a 1993 J L chave hermitage blanc. very striking aromatics & a steely minerality i found intriguing.

and i didn't mention the decor, which, i'm sorry, is way too traditional for my taste. too many dried flowers. and the cornucopia thing is a bit out of hand, i think. JUST MY OPINION, of course.

good night.

[mogsob]

not that anything went "wrong" by any means.  everything that came out of the kitchen was technically proficient, and the service left nothing to be desired, but the entire experience wasn't nearly as compelling as i had expected it to be. but i do understand now what has made GT so popular.  but i don't see it pushing many envelopes.  i generally appreciate food & restaurant experiences that are continually interested in redefining things--i should say this to frame my response to my visit.

Nestia, you are absolutely correct -- and I am one of GT's biggest fans for exactly the same reasons you found it disappointing.

I like restaurants that are not going to challenge my taste buds to accept new things, but I expect them to cook things better than I can. The joy of GT is in the details -- the finest ingredients, the perfect prep, the spot on cooking, the perfect service etc. That is to say things I cannot do easily at home, if at all.

I like looking at a menu and knowing exactly what everything, more or less, will taste like. I like the fact that the food is not overly designed on the plate into towers or pieces of modern art. I like the fact that I never have to worry if my dining guests will find something they like on the menu.

And after at least 50 meals at GT, I've never had anything less than top notch service (maybe tommy is a bit a pain in the ass).

As for the fusion restaurants and those pushing the limits of good taste -- I know they can be great for some people, just not for me.

[Degustation]

not that anything went "wrong" by any means.  everything that came out of the kitchen was technically proficient, and the service left nothing to be desired, but the entire experience wasn't nearly as compelling as i had expected it to be. but i do understand now what has made GT so popular.  but i don't see it pushing many envelopes.  i generally appreciate food & restaurant experiences that are continually interested in redefining things--i should say this to frame my response to my visit.

Nestia, you are absolutely correct -- and I am one of GT's biggest fans for exactly the same reasons you found it disappointing.

Nesita - that was my exact reaction to my first visit to GT. Technically the food preparation and service was very correct, but the meal didn't impress me in terms of creativity. I guess having read so many exuberant postings about it, I was expecting a different experience, and I was a bit disappointed. I also had the tasting menu and interestingly, I too found the first (a variation of the torchon that you had) and last (some other dessert) to be the best parts of the meal. As probably discussed to the nth degree somewhere on this board, what makes a unique dining experience is somewhat subjective, based upon personal preferences and experiences.

I do agree with mogsob, GT does very well for the exact reasons why it didn't bowl me over. I know that if I needed to take my sister-in-law out for a special meal, GT would be great - no unusual foodstuffs, just excellent, consistent meal preparation and service. I could not take my foodie friend that I have been dining out with over the years, as it would not be up to par with her or my expectations for an interesting meal.

[macrosan]

And after at least 50 meals at GT, I've never had anything less than top notch service (maybe tommy is a bit a pain in the ass)

Not that Tommy needs any support from me, but as I was with him on his last visit to GT I'll confirm that I too found our server to be a pain in the ass, and I wasn't even aware until later that Tommy also had problems with him over wine service.

Nesita you used the word "deconstructive" twice in your post. What do you mean by that ?

That was a terrific detailed description. You obviously admired and respected the food at GT, but were overall disappointed. I guess that's encouraging, because if we all enjoyed the same things, the culinary world would be a boring place.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

for me, deconstruction implies a re-examination of previously established models for something. in re-examining the way miso soup, for example, is commonly presented & served, a deconstructive interpretation of that would prompt someone to see the dish from a different perspective--not to reject it outright, but rather to understand it in terms of its individual ingredients; perhaps to encourage further appreciation of them as individual ingredients or to put emphasis on them for some reason.

deconstruction, of course, has a granddaddy: jaques derrida, who would argue that deconstruction means to expose the weaknesses of whatever "system" or discourse you engage....

you may look to paul liebrandt, in ny, for more examples. also, in spain there's some hot stuff going on.....

[jordyn]

I'm with Cabrales and Nesita on this one. My reaction to Grammercy is similar to the one that Fat Guy described in his write-up of the French Laundry: very good...but, perhaps, boring.

This judgement is made over the course of a mere two meals, so it's hardly conclusive, but the place just doesn't do as much for me as it seems to for many here. I remember the first time I ate there, ordered a tasting menu, and subsequently spent most of the meal wishing I had instead selected the vegetarian tasting menu that two other members of our party were enjoying. On my second visit, I enjoyed the food more, but found the service to be a bit perfunctory and slightly condescending.

I like the place fine, but it's not the restaurant I dream about when I go to sleep at night.

[vivin]

I guess I am not in the minority any more. My one and only time to GT was - good, but whatever. Apart from a couple of very good appetizers and friendly, laid back service, nothing memorable. The desserts were especially disappointing given that expectations were sky high. I am very picky about desserts. And the ones at GT just were not up to the high standard set else where. Good food for a fair price.

vivin.

[jtb]

What's the story on Gramercy Tavern? I live in DC and haven't been to GT in about 9 months. Somehow I've gotten hints that they were closed for a while. I also heard that they lost Claudia Fleming. Can someone tune me in to the current state-of-affairs? I'm planning to go there in mid-December. Thanks.

[magnolia]

What's the story on Gramercy Tavern? I live in DC and haven't been to GT in about 9 months. Somehow I've gotten hints that they were closed for a while. I also heard that they lost Claudia Fleming.  Can someone tune me in to the current state-of-affairs? I'm planning to go there in mid-December. Thanks.

Well they are defnitely not closed now, I had lunch there last Thursday and loved it. I didn't post a review because it's mentioned all the time on food boards and in the press, and not much seems to have change. It's like an 'old reliable'. Our Simon doesn't like the bread there, I didn't see anything wrong with it though. Perfectly fresh and tasty, if not sock-knocking...

Their current 'literature' refers to Claudia Fleming as if she were still there.

[Fat Guy]

She has taken a job at Pret a Manger. I don't know the exact details of her departure timing, but she's either gone or on her way out. It shouldn't make a difference, though. The desserts have been pretty much the same for ages. In fact some of her recent attempts to improve her old desserts just for the sake of change have not been improvements. The pastry assistants will carry on and execute the old desserts and the assistant pastry chef is taking over and will no doubt have some things to contribute. I keep hearing good things about Gramercy. It seemed to dip a bit when Craft opened but at this point it has been awhile since I've heard any complaints. Colicchio seems to have the knack for running multiple restaurants successfully, and he has a long-time disciple at the helm of each one so there's no reason to expect anything but continued strong performance.

[Kikujiro]

She has taken a job at Pret a Manger.

What's she doing for Pret? Where's she doing it?

Edit: don't worry, Google told me. She's head of food. Well, of course.

[Double 0]

jtb, I think you might be talking about Union Square Cafe It closed for a couple of weeks due to water damage.

[cabrales]

Double 0 -- Gramercy Tavern closed for a short while recently too. However, as reoprted by another member, it has since reopened.

[guru]

I just had lunch on the 22nd of sept. As usual the food was very good but a bit cold. Actually, the room was over-cooled and that made the ustensils very cold. It's the only thing i can complain about. Desserts were as if CLAUDIA had never left and the wait staff was extremely kind (as usual).The daytime maitre d' even offered me to confirm my other reservations for me (since i was from out of town).TALK ABOUT SERVICE.

[Spoonful]

Sandwiches! Prêt à Manger is an English chain of sandwich shops which has 12 shops in New York and hopes to have 40 by the end of 2004.

[thereuare]

Had a delightful meal at the front room (first time at GT for me).

I had a white bean soup to start and a filet mignon served w/ mashed potaotes. The white beas soup was just "ok", the mashed potoes were good but a little "looser" than i typically like them, but the steak was fabulous.

My wife to be had a octopus as an appetizer and sea bass for an entree, which she thoroughly enjoyed both.

We had a bottle of wine and tried a new Riesling, which was a GREAT surprise of the evening. I was a little nervous because i picked it blindly and when the captain came over to show it to me it said "Dry Riesling" on the bottom of the label (we like sweeter wines). I went with it anyway since i admit i know almost nothing about wine (except what i like once i taste it) and wasn't about to send it back even though it wasn't opened yet. Anyway, the wine was great, and the waitress even took the label off of the bottle for us so we could remember it. If you're interested, it was: Chateau Lafayette Reneau 2001. I think this wine will become a new favorite for me. Maybe i show my unsophisticated palet by mentioning this bottle, but i enjoyed it.

[Andy Lynes]

Just in case you haven't seen this very short interview with Fleming, it's not terribly enlightening though http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/articles...nts/fleming.htm

I wonder if her ideas will be used in the UK? I doubt we would ever know, as I can't see her name being used as a promotional tool over here.

I would bet a large amount of money that she will move on quite quickly from this. It's got to be a stop gap job surely.

[southern girl]

Three of us ventured to Gramercy Tavern for lunch in the dining room. As there have been umpteen descriptions of the room...I will skip that. Each of us enjoyed a champagne cocktail while perusing the menu. I chose the Tuna Tartare with Cucumber and Sea Urchin Vinaigrette. Medium dice, very fresh tuna served tossed with cucumber in a large white bowl. A wasabi touched vinaigrette with two very small bits of sea urchin. A bit disappointing. The tuna was very nice, but the lack of sea urchin and the relatively bland vinaigrette detracted from the dish. I coveted the dish of one of the other diners though. A Puree of Salisfy with Proscuitto, Chestnuts and Golden Raisins...absolutely velvety with a great touch of salt to the puree from the proscuitto. Excelllent.

For my main course I ordered Braised Short Rib of Beef with Farro, Roasted Tomato and Confit of Horseradish (enjoyed with a glass of Brunello...forgot to write down who and when!)...An excellent dish...nicely braised fall- apart beef...a touch of saltiness from the tomatoes and zip from the horseradish...one of the best short rib preparations I've recently. I also tried an entree of one of the other diners...Braised Rabbit with Olives, Garlic Sausage, Rosemary and Mashed Potatoes. Tender large pieces of rabbit loin and legs...creamy, rich potatoes...very good.

The only real negative to the meal was our service was a bit slow. One of our party had to return to a legal seminar (he allowed 2 hours for lunch and didn't make it) so he missed his dessert...too bad, his wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it ...Dessert, I chose Coffee- Toffee Meringues with Coffe Toffee Ice Cream, Butterscotch and Walnuts...I am a sucker for meringues and these were excellent...sandwiching the ice cream...which was a bit icy, but had good flavor and chunks of toffee...good butterscotch sauce. I also tasted the Chocolate- Caramel Tart with Caramel Ice Cream...positively wicked! And the dish of ice creams (Vanilla, Caramel and a third flavor I don't remember) with requested chocolate sauce accompanied by soft brownie like cookies.

Overall a very good meal...with the exception of the spotty service and a piece of the banquette that was peeling off and attacking my hosiery !

[SobaAddict70]

...Braised Rabbit with Olives, Garlic Sausage, Rosemary and Mashed Potatoes.

good to hear that the GT rabbit proved to be better than my experience there.

When I was there last, the olives in the sauce overwhelmed the entire dish. Wonder if the potatoes took the edge off this time. Or if the garlic sausage and olives were more muted? Two strong elements there...with potential for flavor overload...

SA

[gregtz]

Family's coming in for lunch this weekend and thought we'd hit the Tavern at Gramercy on Saturday.

Does GT have a website where I could check out the Tavern menu?

If not, does anyone know what the price range is in the tavern?

(I've tried a Google search and waded through some of the MANY GT-related posts... to no avail.)

Thanks!

[jordyn]

They used to have a website, but it's been down for a long time. I believe it got hacked at some point, after which they took the site down, and it has never been brought back up since...

[Edited because this is not a letter.]

Edited February 4, 2003 by jordyn (log)

[Bux]

Allow me to suggest you call the restaurant and ask them to fax a menu to you. Of course that assumes you have access to a fax machine. Anyway, this is not an uncommon request these days, so they should be prepared for it.

[Robin Meredith]

It's been several months, but my recollection is:

First courses $8 to $12;

Mains $15 to $20 (although there may be some lower priced sandwiches I never tried);

(Absolutely essential) desserts around $8 (usually with one item sized for two people priced a bit higher).

You probably know this already, but just in case - be there when they open (at noon, I think). It's not uncommon for the tables to fill up by 12:15 pm.

Have fun!