Room 4 Dessert

[Sneakeater]

I don't want to sound like some kind of groupie -- maybe it'll help if I use too many negatives -- but, you know, I've never been to Room4Dessert and not had a great time. It's just that kind of place.

[alanamoana]

I don't want to sound like some kind of groupie -- maybe it'll help if I use too many negatives -- but, you know, I've never been to Room4Dessert and not had a great time.  It's just that kind of place.

←

i know this is OT but stephen colbert had a line like that in an episode of strangers with candy...hilaaaarious.

[H. du Bois]

It's always been my experience that dessert chefs make amazing breakfast fare, so I don't see where the stretch is. (Baked goods. Hello!) If I lived in this neighborhood, I'd be thrilled to hear they were serving breakfast.

[tan319]

a "FOCUS" with Will...

over in Pastry & Baking...

[Sneakeater]

You know, all Priscella had to do was marry me, and her problems would have been solved.

[akwa]

You know, all Priscella had to do was marry me, and her problems would have been solved.

←

ill forward her your email

im sure that she will be very relieved

[tan319]

You know, all Priscella had to do was marry me, and her problems would have been solved.

←

ill forward her your email

im sure that she will be very relieved

←

Don't know what the hell you guys are talking about but seems kind of humorous!

[Sneakeater]

Not so humorous, perhaps, for Priscella.

[M.X.Hassett]

Check out this weeks "New Yorker" for a great article on Will and R4D.

[Sneakeater]

And Priscella.

[M.X.Hassett]

And Priscella.

←

of course but we might have to duke it out to see who flys over there to marry her.

[Sneakeater]

Tell you what, Matt. Meet me in the parking lot on Orchard St. just south of Houston for the fight at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

Gotta run now: I've got a 2:30 plane to catch.

Edited June 23, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[ckkgourmet]

Because of this forum, my gf and I ate at R4D last night at 8:30 and were very happy. I had the chocolate tasting and she had the "red" tasting. Both of us had tea and we concluded the meal with the "small ovens" (a petit fours sampler). While not everything touched us as being amazing (the "jello" in the red, for instance, did not strike us as being particularly interesting), the greater weight of our impression was that this place was incredible and a definite keeper (I should say that we had come from another exciting venue, the wonderful and new Degustation--which was incredible too).

We liked almost everything about the chocolate menu. There was a chocolate financier, a cup of something like chocolate foam (I think it was described as a shake on the menu), and then two other rich, chocolate substances, which I think distracted me so well by means of their sheer deliciousness that I can no longer remember the specifics about them. One was an intense chocolate mousse-like concoction with brown sugar on top. The other was like an intense ice cream (I do it so little justice in saying so) with a "soil" surrounding it. This last component reminded me a bit of Sam Mason at WD-50, perhaps because of the soil. The "red" menu featured an incredible raspberry bread, which was absolutely stunning and incredibly intense in flavor. It made us both very happy, as did the beet flavors paired with it.

Amongst the small oven treats we liked the saffron number and the chocolate lollypops, but the sugary corn flakes did not really speak to us (they seemed a bit generic). We talked the rest of the night, however, about the chocolate lollypops, imagining them being sold by the dozen and eating them all day long.

And let me add one last opinion to this badly written review (I am in haste). I think this place is much better than Chickalicious! More quantity, variety, and sophistication.

Edited June 28, 2006 by ckkgourmet (log)

[bunny]

does any one know how much it costs to go there

[Dryden]

Well, if you're flying in from Asia, probably a lot...

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails...d=0&cuisineid=0

[bunny]

Well, if you're flying in from Asia, probably a lot...

i was going to fly in from london

[Bond Girl]

Probably not much given the exchange rates, desserts are from $9 to $14 andthen there's the drinks or tea.

[akwa]

Probably not much given the exchange rates, desserts are from $9 to $14 andthen there's the drinks or tea.

←

←

i think that's only 1 pound

wg

[alex stupak]

good to see you last night will.....thanks for letting us in so late

[akwa]

good to see you last night will.....thanks for letting us in so late

←

thanks for being so gracious

many tough acts to follow at the same time

good to know we are at least considered worth the visit

[jbehmoaras]

Although I havent sampled anything yet, yesterday I visited R4D to pick up a few of will's willpowder products, and I have to say, Will's passion for the community and the dishes he serves really came through.

Within a minute of selecting some of the willpowder selections on the shelf, Will came out to greet me and my girlfriend. The funny thing is that last night i was thinking to myself how great it was that he was really interested in what I was doing and others in the eGullet community. There was nothing pretentious about him and he welcomed me to email him anytime if I had any questions. At one point during our conversation, his two co-workers at the bar came over to discuss a tequilla cassis drink and it was really interesting to see the way they were discussing ways to improve the drink. If I didnt know beforehand who the head chef was, I still wouldnt have known after watching them talk about the drink. Although I dont have much experience in the kitchen, I have had a stage at daniel and the four seasons in london and the head chefs or sous chefs still seemed to give of this hierarchical sense of superiority when discussing ideas with cooks working below them.

I hope to actually dine at R4D soon but I thought it was worth mentioning that the philosophy of trying to be part of the community that Will has tried to convey at his place really came through ... He also is trying to extend that feeling beyond Spring ST. and on to egullet as he is hoping to add some links to egullet on his website sometime soon

[rich]

As it happens, eGullet's birthday in next Friday, August 4th and by some strange coincidence it's mine as well. My wife was recently given a $200 gift certificate to Craft by her co-workers, so we will be dining there.

However, since she said I can go anywhere I want afterward, we will be heading for R4D to sample some drinks and cheese after dinner.

No reservations right? I'm guessing we should be there around 10 - 10:30pm.

In any event, I can't think of a better way to cap off my birthday than with my first visit to R4D. After the reviews here, I am eagerly looking forward to it.

Edited July 26, 2006 by rich (log)

[Nathan]

they do take reservations...if it's just two of you you're probably fine...but...they do tend to be quite packed on the weekends....

[jimk]

I went to R4D a couple of weeks ago for the first time and am sad to report I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I wanted to. Got there 8:45ish on a Friday evening and there was barely a handful of customers at that point ... the place was packed by the time we met at 10:45.

Service was really amateurish thoughout the evening, however - there was one server working the counter and making cocktails but she never seemed to leave the area where she was mixing drinks to see if anyone needed anything - even when she wasn't busy, she was just hanging out chatting with the same little pocket of customers. Will later volunteered (we didn't complain) that it was only her second or third night on the job but that he thought she was "doing great"! I disagree ... I was given a menu that was different from those of my companions (and marked up with ballpoint, perhaps from an earlier menu meeting?) and when I pointed it out to the server, she didn't offer to get the the correct one - just told me that if I wanted something from the incorrect menu she'd see if they could make it for me and then she wandered off again.

Anyway, the biggest problem was the pace ... we started with cocktails and then a dessert each, and without any effort to linger on our part it was more than 2 hours from the time we entered to the time we left (something along these lines - 20 minutes to get our cocktails, 10 minutes to drink them, another 20 while we tried to get the server's attention to take our dessert order, 30 minutes while they made the desserts, 20 minutes while we ate them, and then another 20 while we struggled to get her attention so we could pay and leave - we weren't planning on staying that long, and if service had been more attentive they easily could have had us out the door to make room for others by 10pm when the place was filling up) ... the cocktails were outstanding, the desserts were interesting - they didn't rock my world, but I respected the creativity that went into them ... food has been thoroughly described here, so I won't get into it.

The room was uncomfortable for three of us trying to converse, but they did the best they could with the space ... The server just felt like she'd adopted her service ethos from the Williamsburg hipster bar model. Another off moment was when we managed to request a glass of water - we imposed on a nearby line chef with our request because, again, we couldn't have gotten the server's attention if we'd had a bullhorn and a flare gun. We got our water (the restaurant was packed and sweltering at this point) in the tiniest glasses imaginable - one quick sip and that was all the water we'd see for the night.

Will was very friendly and came across as much, much nicer and more normal (i.e. less creepy and pretentious) than what I expected from the New Yorker article. He's clearly a very talented guy, and I hope he finds long-term success here. If I could give him (and his partners) one piece of advice, though it would be to take some lessons from Pegu and staff with professionals who are committed to making customers happy and are as interested and passionate about the food as Audrey Sanders' team seems to be.

JK

[adamru]

I had a great experience there yesterday morning. I had the $6 breakfast of meyer lemon soda and two toasted brioche halves with a small dish of nutella. It's a nice treat to be able to sit down to that for the same price of a large drink at Starbucks and now that movie tickets in Manhattan in the morning are only $6 I can see a movie and have breakfast for the price of a normal ticket, two reasons to wake up before noon now! Despite the fact I was served almost instantly, he was more than attentive in taking out the El Bulli cookbook and giving me advice on my tea ravioli trials for about an hour before I walked out with my fresh supply of Willpowders.

There was one customer who stopped in just for an orange juice and with the customer and I both he was willing to top off or refill drinks as well.