Chodorow's Response to Bruni's Review

[Tess]

A brief discussion in the New Yorker is now online.

[Mayur]

If The Modern is full every night, it means the dining public — or at least, those who patronize that restaurant — think it is worth spending the price that other three-star restaurants command. The Modern is a particularly good example, because it doesn't have tradition, celebrity cachet, a globe-trotting chef, or stratospheric Zagat ratings behind it. The people who dine there must, on some level, actually believe in what Gabriel Kreuther is doing.

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Kreuther does seem to have some sort of magical power to beat the critics, though. Atelier was full all the time too (and some of the best meals I had in the years around its peak of operations were there), despite the fact that it got an only-okay three-star review.

Ramsay, IMHO, could be in serious trouble unless Bruni re-reviews the place. The London is already stepping into a crowded market (more than ADNY did, even) and he is the sort of celebrity chef who needs decent buzz.