Bruni and Beyond: NYC Reviewing (2007)

[oakapple]

Today's Waverly Inne review is the type of Bruni review I can't even read.  I honestly didn't get past the first paragraph.

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It wasn't restaurant criticism, but creative writing. Whether you found the writing entertaining or not, the clear signal was: I don't have a real review to write today, so I thought I'd do this funny one instead.

[Fat Guy]

Perhaps more noteworthy than the unreadable review is the readable but nutty Critic's Notebook piece where Bruni, among other things, excoriates Danny Meyer for selling his book at the Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants. This seems like utterly misguided criticism:

After the restaurateur Danny Meyer’s “Setting the Table” was published last fall, he propped up copies right inside the front doors of Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park and Tabla, where the book was also displayed above the bar, just to be safe.

Mr. Meyer isn’t a chef. He’s essentially a host, renowned for his humility and hospitality, for rounding out your meal with a prettily wrapped coffeecake for breakfast the next morning.

And yet he set things up so that when you walked into one of his restaurants, your first encounter wasn’t necessarily with a host or a hostess saying hello or taking your coat. It was with a photograph of him on a self-flattering book (“America’s most innovative restaurateur,” trumpets the cover) about how he always puts you, the customer, first.

[Sneakeater]

OTOH, his general critique of the cult of personality surrounding chefs is not completely misplaced.

And I, for one, find it annoying beyond measure when chefs are referred to as "Chef".

[Nathan]

I think what he was trying to get at was that there is some pretty good cooking going on at WI but that it's really useless to review since you can't get in unless you know GC, are a celeb, or live in the NW West Village. This actually isn't quite true, hanging out at the bar, dressing well and asking nicely without being a sycophant probably will get you a reservation -- but that's way too much rigmarole for what is ultimately comfort food (which is why GC in a sense has achieved the ultimate neighborhood restaurant).

[Sneakeater]

How do they know if you live in the neighborhood? Do they card you? Require presentation of a utilities bill?

[Nathan]

nope. Just don't be clearly lying.

i.e., I just cited my actual street (which is a rather obscure three block street).

it probably helps if you don't look like you obviously live somewhere else either (no, we're not going to have that discussion again)

Edited January 24, 2007 by Nathan (log)

[plattetude]

So they *asked* you for your address? Uh, because they're screening for locals? Huh?

[Nathan]

kind of.

I'll put it this way. I heard them tell a couple (who clearly weren't from the neighborhood or famous or friends of GC) that they don't take reservations.

[Eatmywords]

kind of.

I'll put it this way.  I heard them tell a couple (who clearly weren't from the neighborhood or famous or friends of GC) that they don't take reservations.

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"Uhm, hi, I'm having drinks over here with my very W.Vlg (non B&T) looking friend and we'd like to beg for the op to sample your chicken pot pie and tuna tar-tar. Not tonight ofcourse, we know that's out of the question. Could you squeeze us in, say, in two days? or four? or whenver's good for you? I don't have my Lilco bill on me but I can assure you I'm just down the block next to Hogs and Heffers. Isn't it obvious that I belong? Ok, fine, I'll have a copy of my lease upon my return (if you alow me back) really, it's no problem!"

Is that how it goes?

I know it won't but If ever I wished a place to fail its this one

[menon1971]

The problem with many of these tasting menus is the lack of choice, in terms of number courses and in terms of selection. The old prix fixe idea still seems to me a good one.

The notion of a menu being analogous to a play seems silly and self-important. One doubts that the name Keller will be mentioned in 100 years with the same recognition as Miller or Klee. This is not to say that innovative, creative, and above all aesthetically pleasing cooking is not to be appreciated, even revered, but it is not abstracted in the same way visual arts and literature are.

Anyone asked to call to confirm a reservation should politely reply: "I would prefer if you called me to confirm the reservation. Thanks you." My physician and my dentist both call to confirm I do not think it is too much to ask of a host or hostess.

[robyn]

Sorry, Joe, but I loved the article too. I don't think Mr. Bruni is ignorant of marketing or the restaurant industry.

  Really, haven't you ever banged your head on your desk when confronted with the list of rules and regulations when you make a reservation? You have to take notes to make sure you get it all straight.

  Or not being able to order an appetizer at the bar? We are not taking about Alinea here, where the dining is so unique that you must surrender to the chef's will.

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Come now, is it really that difficult to make a reservation in the Open Table era? Even when calling, I have never had to do more than write down a # and time to confirm.

I will say that opening the reservation book only thirty to sixty days in advance is a major pain in the ass, especially for travelers.

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When I travel outside the US - and sometimes in the US - I find that restaurants will frequently take your reservation earlier than they state on their websites - particularly if you are dining at a non-peak time (lunch) or on a non-peak day (which can be a weekday or weekend day depending on where you're going). I usually call the restaurant directly (easy to do with London) - or ask the hotel concierge to do it for me (since it's hard to do in Japan when your Japanese is almost non-existent). I find that - for all except the newest and hottest restaurants - that most of the people you deal with are pretty nice and willing to try to accommodate you if you're traveling a long way to dine with them. Robyn

[robyn]

The problem with many of these tasting menus is the lack of choice, in terms of number courses and in terms of selection. The old prix fixe idea still seems to me a good one.

The notion of a menu being analogous to a play seems silly and self-important. One doubts that the name Keller will be mentioned in 100 years with the same recognition as Miller or Klee. This is not to say that innovative, creative, and above all aesthetically pleasing cooking is not to be appreciated, even revered, but it is not abstracted in the same way visual arts and literature are.

Anyone asked to call to confirm a reservation should politely reply: "I would prefer if you called me to confirm the reservation. Thanks you." My physician and my dentist both call to confirm I do not think it is too much to ask of a host or hostess.

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I always like to call and confirm. Once I made a reservation on Opentable out of town - and - when I called to confirm a few days in advance - I found out the restaurant had closed! Had to scramble to rearrange our plans.

I am with you on the prix fixe menu. Even in its most minimal form. The best restaurant in our area (IMO) - which is rather small in a relatively small town - has a 5 course menu. Choice of 2 on everything except the mains - where it's a choice of 3. A larger restaurant in a larger city might give you 4 or 5 choices in each category. If I have traveled 1000 - or 2000 - or 13000 miles to dine at a great restaurant - and the chef's main for the night is pork - and I don't like or can't eat pork - why should I be forced to eat pork? And I don't think that the 20 course tasting menu is a substitute. I can never remember more than about 5 courses. Or eat more than 8 or 9 no matter how small they are (if the sauces and the bread are any good - I'll have consumed a lot of "sopping bread" by then).

Even heartier eaters than I (mostly larger younger guys here) wind up saying that can't touch dessert after 20 courses. They're stuffed. And since I'm a dessert lover - I always like to be able to do justice to dessert.

There are certain things I love to eat. Certain things my husband loves to eat. And they are all different. We would prefer to have the things we love to eat - assuming they are things a chef cooks - as opposed to those the chef picks for us on any given night. That way we give the chef his best shot at making us love his food (I don't care how great the chef's pork dish is - it will never be my favorite anything - whereas it might be my husband's favorite). Robyn

[hathor]

Aren't you surprised that Bruni didn't mention the whole reservation scalping controversy?

[Kent D]

You know, after reading that article, I have determined that I will likely never dine in a top-of-the-line New York restaurant. I wouldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't find it comfortable in the least, and my wife would likely punch out the server before we got to the cheese course.

I realize that the writer may have exagerrated just a little, but I don't need some condescending server telling me HOW to enjoy my dinner or have the chef approve my choices. They're my choices, and I'll decide if I approve of them when they're served.

[robyn]

You know, after reading that article, I have determined that I will likely never dine in a top-of-the-line New York restaurant. I wouldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't find it comfortable in the least, and my wife would likely punch out the server before we got to the cheese course.

I realize that the writer may have exagerrated just a little, but I don't need some condescending server telling me HOW to enjoy my dinner or have the chef approve my choices. They're my choices, and I'll decide if I approve of them when they're served.

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Not every place in New York is like those described in the article (and there are places outside New York that are). So it's simply an issue of deciding where you want to go when you travel - what you want to do - and how you want to dine. There are plenty of options worldwide. Robyn

[Mayur]

Well, as with other types of pieces in this vein, Bruni's article is a polemic (not a very good one, but that's a separate issue). Like other polemics, it contains some pieces of extreme exaggeration. I do agree with Bruni that the cult of the celebrity chef is out of control; likewise, that too many diners go to a place like Babbo or Per Se simply to tell all their friends that they've been rather than as actual consumers (i.e., to enjoy the food, decor, and service).

That said, the fact remains that highly-rated restaurants in NYC are graded on their food AND service. If anything, I find that the ratio of buzz to actual quality in NYC is much, much better than in any other US city in which I've dined. I'm sure there are lots of diners who kowtow to the chef's whims because they think it'll make them seem like an "insider" or whatever, but there are also lots of diners who respond negatively to bad service or food, and judge a restaurant on its merits... namely, how good a time they have there. For instance, I don't go to Per Se for the simple reason that I don't enjoy dining in a mall, I loathe the idea of calling two months to the day to get a table, and I find the service stilted and almost neurotic. I'd rather go to Jean-Georges, which may be a big-deal high-end restaurant but which, IMHO, delivers excellent price performance, is basically attitude-free, and is truly fun. Babbo, OTOH, I will go to, even though it's packed and the chef is on TV, because the food is just that good, especially at the price.

[EDIT:]Another thing to note is that Bruni *really* seems to be missing the point on one level. Namely, people make much bigger idiots of themselves for "scene-y" restaurants or tourist traps, and get nothing in the way of good food and service to boot. Sadly, gastronomy (or the idea of gastronomy, "foodie-ism") has become fashionable in NY (and in the rest of the country, BTW), and attitudes on both the supply and demand sides have swelled to match.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Mayur (log)

[robyn]

Aren't you surprised that Bruni didn't mention the whole reservation scalping controversy?

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I wasn't aware of the controversy before I read the thread you mentioned - but - after you did - I wasn't surprised he didn't mention it. Because it was a little OT to the article.

I find that - increasingly - I am requested to give a credit card number when I make a reservation at a high end restaurant - and that there are penalties for cancelling the reservation less than 24 hours before my seating (I suspect I might be excused from the penalty if I had a heart attack - but - luckily - that circumstance hasn't arisen).

I think that this is basically a self-correcting problem (if it's a problem at all). If seats aren't filled because of "scalpers" taking reservations - and then not reselling them - then more restaurants will require credit cards and have cancellation penalties.

One way to get around the problem of stupid seating hours is to pay the extra cost for a single-seating restaurant. There aren't/weren't many in NY (only ADNY comes to mind) - but they exist worldwide - and - like I said - they are worth the extra cost IMO. Robyn

[Miami Danny]

I could not look away from the Waverly 'review'. Easily the most squirm-inducing non-child-molesting article I've read in the Times in a LONG time. Too cute and precious by half. A concept gone horribly awry. I feel dirty.

[Lesley C]

Well, he should get points for trying. But it didn't really work at all did it? Might just rank up there as his worst ever.

And to think not only did The Times pay him to write that review, they paid for the 11 meals it took him to reach that conclusion.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Lesley C (log)

[matthewj]

I hated his review, if one would call it that , and I am disgusted with his editorial piece, or what ever. I once looked to the New York times as a bench mark in what goes on in the food world. Once a week I wait for it. Hoping for an interesting topic to talk about during family meal.

Today, I read the articles to 14 disgusted cooks, and one French Chef (heretic). I call him Chef because that is what he is, that is his title. I could call him Mr., or Chef Donny or Chef Jean, or whatever ,but that is stupid.

God forbid that cooks now get to see the light of day in a kitchen with windows. How pretentious to have a chef want a nice place to work for 18 hours a day. An actual window in the kitchen. Heaven forbid; "Back to the dungeons to you slave, no sun for you." If you would ask a chef if he or she could run a small place and make money without the flare , most would say yes.

Bruni was right, the public has fostered this culture. In an ever increasing competition, to gain any profit in a business so wracked with failure. A public so bent on YUM-MO, high ceilings, bright lights and baubles and whistles, A chef/owner has only a little chance to compete with this. I mean most of the public will go to a large corporate restaurant that wreaks of mediocrity, and banality with there mouths agape and drooling like pavlov's. That is what Bruni wants really. He wants it his way.(not French) Well he may get it.

With more and more corporate restaurants taking over the business. We will loose those "snooty" "Higher than Thou restaurants", with there slim profit margins. Maybe now we will all be able to book a reservation at Per-se and not show up. So that their 10 or so tables sit empty to prove a point. That would be great. That would show them that there strict no show policy is not warranted for the money that they would loose if one table not show... Good idea. OR we can go to these places, and not expect perfection every time, like everyone does.

Perfection and the chefs personal touches is what I want to see. Something real and interesting, with soul. Who cares if you have to make an appointment. When is the last time you actually saw your doctor, instead of a nurses aid. You still paid them well ,no? So no specialists only general practitioners for my brain surgery.

Bruni may have it his way soon. When all the "personalized restaurant demons"( I can see it now, the chanting "No good music, no good music," Turn down the Zeppelin. "Let Kenny G, and Bach reign supreme" We can not have an actual owner really put his own mark on his place right?) are gone. Everyone will say, "where are all those nice chef driven restaurants at? "they set a benchmark for others, didn't they?" MMMM "oh well they must all be working for Stephen Starr. Lets go for a cocktail." " And let's pay $80 for a side car at Budakann, I heard they have the Chinese PAC-man video game."

absurd, uncalled for post..... so was his article

[oakapple]

For instance, I don't go to Per Se for the simple reason that I don't enjoy dining in a mall, I loathe the idea of calling two months to the day to get a table, and I find the service stilted and almost neurotic.

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There might be good reasons to avoid Per Se, but "I don't like dining in a mall" is one of the silliest. While you're there, you have basically no awareness of being in a mall. If you'd like, there's a separate entrance so your feet need not be be sullied by the same floor tiles that mall customers have touched. I mean, it would be a bit like saying, "I don't like Alain Ducasse," because I hate dining in hotels.

If you already tried Per Se, and found the service stilted and neurotic, that is of course a whole other issue.

Edited January 25, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[oakapple]

You know, after reading that article, I have determined that I will likely never dine in a top-of-the-line New York restaurant. I wouldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't find it comfortable in the least, and my wife would likely punch out the server before we got to the cheese course.

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I don't know whether you'd enjoy a top-of-the-line New York restaurant or not, but I wouldn't let Frank Bruni be the guy to decide for you. His overly precious observations don't really paint the full picture.

[oakapple]

I call him Chef because that is what he is, that is his title.

Bruni was referring to the fairly newfangled affectation of referring to "Chef," rather than "the Chef," or "Chef Boulud," or "Chef Daniel." The use of Just Plain "Chef" has taken a big upturn in the last year or two. I myself had noticed this, even before Bruni wrote the piece.

How pretentious to have a chef want a nice place to work for 18 hours a day. An actual window in the kitchen.

As a customer, it's immaterial to me whether the kitchen has a window. That's an issue between the owner of the restaurant and its employees.

But when the owner sacrifices a bathroom for the customers, so that he can create an open kitchen—as Laurent Tourondel did at BLT Fish—it's certainly a newsworthy development. Can you name any other restaurants where that was done?

When another owner sacrifices gorgeous views of Central Park, so that customers can have gorgeous views of the kitchen—as Gray Kunz did at Café Gray—it's certainly a newsworthy development. How many other restaurants can you name that have made such a boneheaded design choice?

I had no quarrel with these observations in the Bruni piece, Part of his job is to comment on long-term trends in the industry, and there's no question these things have been changing over the last several years. Unfortunately, the article was not well balanced, and people who haven't actually seen these restaurants for themselves might get some wrong impressions.

Edited January 25, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[oakapple]

The problem with many of these tasting menus is the lack of choice, in terms of number courses and in terms of selection. The old prix fixe idea still seems to me a good one.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Sometimes it's fun to go into a great restaurant and say to the chef, "I'm in your hands." Other times, I like to have a list of options and choose for myself. It's not as if one is bad, and the other good.

Anyone asked to call to confirm a reservation should politely reply: "I would prefer if you called me to confirm the reservation. Thanks you." My physician and my dentist both call to confirm I do not think it is too much to ask of a host or hostess.

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While restaurants do say that, I have yet to be cancelled out because I didn't call. Even when they say that, if I forget to call, usually they'll call me.

[vivin]

Another reason why restaurants seem to be pushing the longer tasting menus might be price. Up until not too long ago, the tasting menus at even the four stars were relatively reasonable. I remember 120 7 course at JG and 110 at Bouley four or five years ago. Ducasse upped the ante and now things seem to be on Paris's level.

Seems to me that profit margins at 125 dollar level just aren't there to aggressively push the product. But 275 is another matter. The Per Se model makes sense but only at an elevated price level.

Anyone else think that?