Restaurant PR in New York

[Sneakeater]

True to a point. But I'm sure I've eaten fancy Italian meals in Italy that I would have thought would rate four NYT stars (if not quite three Michilen stars). Just don't ask me to try to remember what they were.

[Sneakeater]

Then again, maybe not . . . .

[slkinsey]

There is definitely the sense in Italy that the high Michelin-rated restaurants aren't very Italian.

[oakapple]

I'm obviously having trouble articulating this, but the difference with Del Posto is that Del Posto's sole raison d'etre seems to be to be a four-star version of Babbo.  And the differences between Del Posto and Babbo don't appear to be directed to making Del Posto better -- just fancier.

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I haven't dined at Del Posto, but I've looked at the menu, and it's clearly not the same as Babbo's menu. One can debate whether they made the right choices in menu design, but it's pretty clear that they did more than gussy up the Babbo menu, add purse stools, and hope for four stars.

It's actually rather funny.....because if they engaged a PR firm and sought advice on what it takes to get four stars, I think it was reasonably predictable that such a long menu was going to offend Frank Bruni's critical sensibilities. No other four-star restaurant offers such a long menu, and Bruni has made this comment about other restaurants.

So I think their publicist fell asleep at least twice, if you include the menu design and the public announcement that they were gunning for four stars.

[Fat Guy]

Professional publicists don't parse the New York Times restaurant reviews with nearly as much precision as the eGullet Society membership.

[rich]

Professional publicists don't parse the New York Times restaurant reviews with nearly as much precision as the eGullet Society membership.

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Interesting comment. Maybe eGullet could splinter off a wholly-owned PR subsidiary. We would have a staff of more than 30,000 to start.

I'm not joking. I think the Society would make a terrific Restaurant PR firm and generate some money at the same time. As a lawyer Steve, you could make this work.

[KatieLoeb]

Professional publicists don't parse the New York Times restaurant reviews with nearly as much precision as the eGullet Society membership.

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Interesting comment. Maybe eGullet could splinter off a wholly-owned PR subsidiary. We would have a staff of more than 30,000 to start.

I'm not joking. I think the Society would make a terrific Restaurant PR firm and generate some money at the same time. As a lawyer Steve, you could make this work.

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Sheer genius! I've seen better/smarter advice coming from this site than I've seen dispensed to most of the restaurants with high priced PR agencies representing them.

[pidge]

not to defend anyone or to continue too far off topic, but you do all remember that mr. bruni threw down the four star italian gauntlet in his original review of babbo? and, quite frankly, could there be a bigger piece of candy dangled in front of every publicist with either an italian-ate restaurant oor an established three star to flog? what easier way to approach the established food press than to say "this may well be the four star we've all been waiting for"? del posto is not the only restaurant to have such ambitions or to publicize them in the past few years... it's just unfortunate that those ambitions are out there on the record when the restaurants fail to make that cut. nobody recalls the bated breath that awaited the (slam dunk) of per se's review.

it surprises me that we often forget that as much as anything the restaurant business is a pr driven business, and that a small number of publicists and writers hold tremendous sway. the value of the buzz in real dollars cannot possibly be overestimated, both for the business and the personal interests of chefs and owners.