V Steakhouse Replacement Named

[oakapple]

Florence Fabricant reports that Michael Lomonaco, the former executive chef of Windows on the World, will head up a new restaurant in the former V Steakhouse space. The space will have a $3 million renovation.

The restaurant will still be a steakhouse, with "a variety of other main dishes, appetizers and sides in a clubby setting." The other interesting point is that Lomonaco's contract stipulates that he must not be involved in any other restaurants for the next several years.

[foodexile]

I truly admire Lomonaco.

But I wish something more ambitious were going in the space.

alas...

I wish him luck.

Edited January 6, 2006 by foodexile (log)

[rich]

That's very interesting. Unless his "alternate" menu is very creative, he will get bored in a hurry. ML doing steak is like Jacques Pepin doing french fries.

[docsconz]

I wonder what becomes of Lomonoco's contract should this restaurant fail?

I like his food and wish him success.

[Bux]

That's very interesting. Unless his "alternate" menu is very creative, he will get bored in a hurry. ML doing steak is like Jacques Pepin doing french fries.

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I would have said much the same about Laurent Tourondel. Then again I suppose doing a series of steak and fish restaurants alieviates the boredom, but the contract mentioned above seems to preclude this.

[oakapple]

That's very interesting. Unless his "alternate" menu is very creative, he will get bored in a hurry. ML doing steak is like Jacques Pepin doing french fries.

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I would have said much the same about Laurent Tourondel. Then again I suppose doing a series of steak and fish restaurants alieviates the boredom, but the contract mentioned above seems to preclude this.

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There's a tendency to denigrate steakhouses as boring, which isn't always fair. A serious chef might get bored at a place like Peter Luger or Sparks, where the menu hasn't changed in decades. But there are restaurants that I'd roughly classify as "steakhouses" where there is significant room for creativity, such as BLT Steak/Prime and Dylan Prime. Actually, notwithstanding its failure, V Steakhouse was such a place.

[JohnL]

I wonder what becomes of Lomonoco's contract should this restaurant fail?

I like his food and wish him success.

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I would assume that "should the restaurant fail"--his contract would be no longer in effect.

also ML has been showing up on "Food Talk" on WOR Radio a lot (the Arthur Schwartz and recently Rocco De Spirito show) possible he could take over as regular host and run a restaurant.

As for the steakhouse thing--if one looks at NYC over the last fifty years or so--one constant seems to prevail over all other trends . The longevity and overall success of the steakhouse.

From Palm and Ben Benson's to Smith and Wo to Peter Luger's to Post House to Gallagher's to Old Homestead and then on to the new wave of recent openings which includes most every chain there is (Morton's etc) all/most doing very good business.

Living next door to the TW center, I can say that what they need is a solid performer that can be successful with New Yorkers and visitors--a crowd pleaser if you will.

With Per Se and Masa they have one (two) end of the spectrum covered. These two are small and extremely exclusive and extremely expensive. Cafe Gey fits in nicely somewhere in the middle in terms of luxury and adventurous cuisine and it is larger.

TW Center needs traffic--shoppers and diners--Lomonoco is IMOP a very solid chef who has a good feel for American palates (and American cooking). He also has a high visibility name that will appeal to locals as well as visitors as a "personality" chef.

I believe that, another restaurant with "experimental" or "cutting edge" cooking epecially in a restaurant run by a "temperamental star chef" is too risky for TW at the moment--Lomonoco strikes me as a really good choice and the steak house theme a solid if safe bet to draw a crowd.

[oakapple]

As for the steakhouse thing--if one looks at NYC over the last fifty years or so--one constant seems to prevail over all other trends . The longevity and overall success of the steakhouse.

From Palm and Ben Benson's to Smith and Wo to Peter Luger's to Post House to Gallagher's to Old Homestead and then on to the new wave of recent openings which includes most every chain there is (Morton's etc) all/most doing very good business.

It is remarkable, when you consider that steakhouses are generally among the most expensive restaurants. A whole bunch of new ones have opened in the last year, and there's still no sign of market saturation. It makes the failure of V Steakhouse all the more surprising.

Living next door to the TW center, I can say that what they need is a solid performer that can be successful with New Yorkers and visitors--a crowd pleaser if you will.

With Per Se and Masa they have one (two) end of the spectrum covered. These two are small and extremely exclusive and extremely expensive. Cafe Grey fits in nicely somewhere in the middle in terms of luxury and adventurous cuisine and it is larger.

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The guy running the TWC has pretty much admitted that they miscalculated. The original idea was to open five restaurants that would all be high-end dining destinations. Per Se and Masa seem to have worked; V Steakhouse failed, and Charlie Trotter backed out. Café Gray appears to be a success at dinner, but a recent article mentioned that the lunch menu will be retooled to offer more casual fare. A mall shopper who wants a quick bite isn't going to order Gray Kunz's braised shortribs or mushroom risotto.

Mind you, Michael Lomonoco's steakhouse is probably not going to be a budget dining experience. I strongly suspect that the fifth restaurant will be noticeably more casual and inexpensive.

Edited January 9, 2006 by oakapple (log)

[JohnL]

I agree with you re: Lomonoco's venture not being inexpensive.

I guess we are talking a restaurant that will be less "exclusive" with a more mainstream menu and appeal than Per Se and Masa.

Think the "Windows and Cellar on the World" concept.--the appeal was broad-Jaded New Yorkers could enjoy them as well as the tourist trade.

V was too quirky. too eccentric. The fact that it is so difficult to explain/describe what V was in a few words is indicative of why I believe it failed. I doubt it would have worked in any location.

I also believe that the TW Center is not quite the "exclusive high end" destination that maybe many people think it is. The shops range from Borders books to Tourneau--both "chains" that are not exclusive at all. (Tourneau is not Bulgari)--

Joe Aboud and Hugo Boss are not the men's department at Bergdorf and Stuart Weitzman is not quite Jimmy Choo--I would say this is a collection of "lower upper echelon (or upper middle) of retail establishments. Toss in Wholefoods and we are looking at what most consider to be a typical upper middle class mall.

(or lower upper class).

I would venture that very few people who shop there eat there (save for Wholefoods food court).

Overall--save for Per Se and Masa this is not a very "exclusive" destination.

[Nathan]

true. it's not Bal Harbor or Phipps Plaza. with that said, neither of those malls is any sort of culinary destination.

[oakapple]

I would venture that very few people who shop there eat there (save for Wholefoods food court).

Overall--save for Per Se and Masa this is not a very "exclusive" destination.

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I agree, but the connection between the stores and the restaurants was always tenuous, and it would have remained so even if the stores were more exclusive. None of those restaurants were places where you'd just pop in for a bite after shopping.

Having said all that, three of the TWC's four restaurants are apparently successful, and that's not bad, considering the overall failure rate for such places.

[Bux]

There's a tendency to denigrate steakhouses as boring, which isn't always fair. A serious chef might get bored at a place like Peter Luger or Sparks, where the menu hasn't changed in decades. But there are restaurants that I'd roughly classify as "steakhouses" where there is significant room for creativity, such as BLT Steak/Prime and Dylan Prime. Actually, notwithstanding its failure, V Steakhouse was such a place.

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While there's room for creativity, just how large is the market for a creative steakhouse? Tourandel seems to keep his creativity in check, which is not to say that he abandons his talent. V may have just been trying to create a market and not able to draw diners.

On a separate note, Trotter was supposed to be opening a moderately prices place--moderate at least in comparison with Masa and Per Se. One of the reasons, and perhaps the main reason, he offered to the press for deciding not to open, was that costs escalation precluded any restaurant hoping to offer moderately priced food. One man's definition of "moderate," may not be another's.

[Fat Guy]

There seems to be a lot of line-blurring these days between steakhouses and non-steakhouses. Of course, the description was never all that accurate since lobster is such a big part of the experience at the classic steakhouses like the Palm, which really defined the genre. It seems that right now the term steakhouse is often used simply to justify full a la carte menu pricing (no side dishes included) rather than to describe what the restaurant serves.

[Dryden]

Has anyone noticed that the sign that formerly said Bouchon Bakery has been painted over? Is that dead, now, too?

[JohnL]

There seems to be a lot of line-blurring these days between steakhouses and non-steakhouses. Of course, the description was never all that accurate since lobster is such a big part of the experience at the classic steakhouses like the Palm, which really defined the genre. It seems that right now the term steakhouse is often used simply to justify full a la carte menu pricing (no side dishes included) rather than to describe what the restaurant serves.

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Good points.

I recently viewed an episode of "Colameco" on PBS featuring Ben Benson's.

Michael Colameco made the point that Ben Benson's was really an "American restaurant" not just a "steakhouse" and that historically, often the best seafood was to be found at Steakhouses.

Makes sense given the attention to cooking time required for both steak and fish.

[oakapple]

Has anyone noticed that the sign that formerly said Bouchon Bakery has been painted over?  Is that dead, now, too?

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I suspect that it was only temporary. As recently as December 21st, Florence Fabricant reported in the Times that Bouchon Bakery is scheduled to open in March. That opening has been long delayed, but I'm sure it's still on. It would be pretty big news (as food news goes in this town) if Bouchon is canceled.

[Dryden]

I was hoping that they were thinking of upgrading Bouchon Bakery to a full-fledged Bouchon, which we could all really use. I know I'd be in there at least once a week.