Gayle

[Vadouvan]

No comment about the Philadelphia Magazine article, as everyone is entitled to their opinion. I wish they spent more time on discussing the restaurant and less time going on about Le Bec Fin.

I think it's inevitable that they would focus on the fact that Mr Stern used to be the executive chef at LBF. I dont see that as being negative at all, all the Gayle PR I have seen mentions it too so that's besides the point. If anything, his food is credited towards bringing back the 5th Star.

Did you say you added a "couple" of Foie (gras) dishes to the menu ?

isnt that a bit much ?

I have a reservation for next week.

I am excited to go.

[mrbigjas]

Im disappointed too....

No comment about the Philadelphia Magazine article, as everyone is entitled to their opinion.  I wish they spent more time on discussing the restaurant and less time going on about Le Bec Fin.

I implore people to stop in on a Monday or Tuesday and try some food out.  Don't take my word that our food is amazing and our service is top notch - see for yourself.  We are doing something great where we are.  We just made some menu changes as well, adding a couple of Foie dishes and getting a little more adventurous in general.

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it's on my list for the very near future; i just haven't gotten there yet. probably in about two weeks...

[Buckethead]

Im disappointed too....

No comment about the Philadelphia Magazine article, as everyone is entitled to their opinion.  I wish they spent more time on discussing the restaurant and less time going on about Le Bec Fin.

I implore people to stop in on a Monday or Tuesday and try some food out.  Don't take my word that our food is amazing and our service is top notch - see for yourself.  We are doing something great where we are.  We just made some menu changes as well, adding a couple of Foie dishes and getting a little more adventurous in general.

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hi Matt:

Are you guys less busy now on Mondays and Tuesdays? Last time I walked by one of those nights, it was packed. Has the new restaurant smell worn off?

Speaking for my wife and I, we would go there more often if you guys had a BYO night. The wine prices keep Gayle a special occasion place only, at least for us.

[vigna]

Gayle is a great restaurant! I've had four excellent meals there already, two were three course dinners, and two were ordered a la carte. Everything was interesting and very tasty. Particular favorties -- the foie gras, the cassino chowder, salad, lamb. The names of the dishes may be a bit too cute, but this adds a sense of humor and adventure to the menu. A very nice meal can be made of several of the smaller dishes (not Thurs., Fri., Sat., when only the 3 or 5 course dinner options are available). I particularly like sitting at the 3-4 seat bar not far from the kitchen. There is a very good selection of wines by the glass. Service has been excellent and very friendly. I haven't seen the Philadelphia Magazine review, but I have totally unimpressed with their restaurant section, an ongoing disgrace in my opinion. Gayle definitely deserves an A for food. This little corner of Philadelphia has one of the highest concentrations of outstanding small restaurants. Recent meals at Ansill and Southwark were also excellent (but I do think Gayle is the best of these three).

[mattkantor]

We are less busy Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Mondays can be busy since many other restaurants are closed. We also get a good number of restaurant folks in on Mondays.

The wine list is fairly varied...while we do have glasses of wine for $14, we also have them for $7, so I think you can get in and out without getting killed. We also have a few beers.

Our corkage fee is fairly high, so the BYO option isn't going to make it less expensive.

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More menu changes are on the way later in the week. Thus far:

You can never have too many foie dishes: We have added two dishes with foie gras in them, replacing the original seared foie with edamame, eggplant and water chestnuts. The first is a foie torchon with smoked salmon salad, paired with an oyster on the half shell topped with vodka martini granite, served with a glass of cucumber soda. Yes, it is awesome. The other dish is seared foie paired with skate served in a black tea sauce.

Other notes: We are also doing "pork, beans and rice" which is our new pork belly dish. We will start running ocean trout and NY Strip probably later this week. I dont know how they will be served. We have added monkfish with artichokes, garlic and saffron as well, which is quite awesome. our newest pastry offering is an olive oil-rum cake served with lychee, cocnut sorbet and condensed milk. Amazing stuff going on here.

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Im happy to see all the positive feedback on this site. Dan has worked so hard making this restaurant what it is, and I glad the effort to make everything work well is paying off.

[Vadouvan]

You can never have too many foie dishes

I would think 2 is plenty for a small menu.

Any menu that includes any main Item featured more than twice may run the risk of being interpreted as limited in creativity.

Unless of course its on the same plate...

Foie gras 3 ways ?

[serpentine]

Matt, I love that you guys are being more creative with the foie gras. I'll never turn up my nose at the traditional presentation, but I like seeing what chefs can do with it as an ingredient, as well. Bring it on!

[shacke]

My folks are coming in later this month and I try to take them somewhere different each visit.

Has anyone been to Gayle recently? Still worth a visit?

[Jeff L]

My folks are coming in later this month and I try to take them somewhere different each visit.

Has anyone been to Gayle recently?  Still worth a visit?

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Evan, we were there a few months ago and loved it. Here is the link to my comments. I think you will all enjoy Daniel Stern's fare.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=84693&hl=gayle

[shacke]

Well there's always a ying to every yang. Sorry for the downer.

I went last night and was nowehere near bowled over. This place is really loud, first off. Really loud. Hard floors, no fabric anywhere - I assume the restauranteurs know its gonna be loud from the get go.

The food wasn't bad but I came with higher hopes. I was able to try the gazpacho, risotto fingers, french fries and a sweetbread/frog leg combo to start.

From there, I had the lamb preparation which consisted of lamb brisket (excellent) and a canneloni stuffed with lamb mousse that was so salty I couldn't eat it.

Dessert was marred by the intense heat and all the frozen stuff was mushy so they didn't being it out of the kitchen. That is no fault of theirs, it was 100 degrees last night. The walnut apple pie was superb.

Service was friendly if not a bit inattentive. The famed bread was kinda stale and not in anyway memorable.

All four in the group concurred. Good but no need to run back. As we walked out, we planned to get together and return ... next door to Ansill.

Who says we gulleteers are always positive?

YMMV

Evan

[Jeff L]

Well there's always a ying to every yang.  Sorry for the downer.

I went last night and was nowehere near bowled over.  This place is really loud, first off.  Really loud.  Hard floors, no fabric anywhere - I assume the restauranteurs know its gonna be loud from the get go.

The food wasn't bad but I came with higher hopes.  I was able to try the gazpacho, risotto fingers, french fries and a sweetbread/frog leg combo to start. 

From there, I had the lamb preparation which consisted of lamb brisket (excellent) and a canneloni stuffed with lamb mousse that was so salty I couldn't eat it. 

Dessert was marred by the intense heat and all the frozen stuff was mushy so they didn't being it out of the kitchen.  That is no fault of theirs, it was 100 degrees last night.  The walnut apple pie was superb.

Service was friendly if not a bit inattentive.  The famed bread was kinda stale and not in anyway memorable.

All four in the group concurred.  Good but no need to run back.  As we walked out, we planned to get together and return ... next door to Ansill.

Who says we gulleteers are always positive?

YMMV

Evan

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wow, bummer. I'm really hoping ypu caught them on an off night rather than our party catching them on a stellar one

Jeff

[CMN]

We had a wonderful dinner at Gayle last night. The weather was nice, so we dined out on the patio. It was a very nice, intimate atmosphere with excellent service. I started out with the #5 scallop and pork cheek combination, which consisted of a beautiful seared scallop and a pork cheek ravioli seated upon a tender and flavorful piece of pork. Very well presented and incredibly tasty. He had the crispy risotto, which looked like tater tots, but tasted much better. The crispy exterior yielded to a meltingly creamy risotto which paired well with the dipping sauce. I chose the monkfish entree, which was accompanied by artichokes and potatoes. A solidly executed dish. He had the tuna with basmati rice. The tuna was a perfect rare, and was accompanied by a smidgen of curry ice cream which provided a nice contrast not only in flavor, but in texture as well. We finished off with the endive parfait, which was very subtle, but quite refreshing. As an added note, the waitress brought over a complimentary endive parfait to the next table who were debating what to order for dessert, but not sure that they were adventurous enough to change the endive parfait. In addition, after we had already paid our bill and were walking back to our car, the waitress chased us down (literally running) to present us with a bottle of champagne in honor of my birthday. We had already decided that this was a place we would definitely go back to, but it was really the icing on the cake. It seemed like a place where the staff cared not only about the food, but the customers as well (or at least it felt that way to us). I was surprised that there hasn't been much written up on this thread recently, but we would highly recommend a visit!

[matthewj]

I really like Gayle, To me it should be packed every night. It is one of the few restuarants inPhiladelphia that could and would suceed anywhere. It really showcases, not only good foold but a very real sense of hospitality.