November 20
On Monday Pichet Ong was busily plating yuzu cheesecake and jackfruit cake and passing out peanut butter cookies at a press event for his new dessert venture on St. Mark's Place with Michael Bao Huynh, called Spot, when ponytailed Andy Yang walked in and started telling me about new activities in his world.
Andy’s the owner of Rhong Tiam, my favorite Thai restaurant in the city and the recipient of a Michelin star (something that improved my opinion of tire company’s New York guide considerably). He’s also the owner of one of Eater.com’s favorite punching bags, Kurve.
Rhong Tiam serves quite traditional Thai food, with an occasional Indonesian dish such as rendang dropped in here and there, the spice toned down to suit the New York palate. Kurve, on the other hand, was Andy’s attempt at a sort of nouvelle Thai, which I enjoyed, but I guess it was too high-concept for people not so familiar with Thai food (I wrote about all of that in more detail than necessary awhile back).
Pichet did the desserts there, by the way.
Anyway, Kurve is finally giving up the ghost, soon to be reborn as another Rhong Tiam.
But that’s not all. Andy’s also working with the people at Collective Hardware, at Bowery and Delancey, to open a Rhong Tiam there, to be called Rhong Tiam at Collective Hardware (not a particularly imaginative name, but clear enough). He’s currently working on getting a full liquor license for that location — which will also have a rooftop bar, maybe with a celebrity cocktail maker behind the stick — and then he’ll try to get one for his original location at 541 LaGuardia Place (between Bleecker and W. 3rd), which currently just serves beer and wine.
Andy’s also expanding beyond the New York market, and opening a Rhong Tiam just outside of Princeton, N.J., in the town of Plainsboro. He says it will probably open in about a month.
After catching up with Andy and eating Pichets desserts, I felt a need for something savory, so I walked upstairs to Pho 32 and Shabu. Pho, as you probably know, is a type of Vietnamese noodle soup. Shabu is actually shabu shabu, a sort of Japanese hot pot of thinly sliced beef.
But the menu was in English and Korean, which actually was the second indication to me that Pho 32 was a Korean chain. The first was that the instant I sat down I was presented with a cold vegetable — in this case one of those "Asian" salads with a peanut vinaigrette. The servers all wore stylized sarongs that looked basically Burmese. I’m not sure why they were wearing sarongs, but hey, if you’re a Korean chain serving Vietnamese and Japanese food, why not?
I had Pho #3, which has brisket, flank and soft tenon. I would have had a beer, but the license is pending.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Parties, and New York’s shifting food writer hierarchy
November 18
I’m not a first-tier food writer in New York City.
You probably already knew that, but if you didn’t, I hope you’re not disappointed.
Chefs tend to enjoy getting mentioned in Nation’s Restaurant News, in print or online, but, well, if Food & Wine declares you one of the year’s ten best new chefs, that’s better, by a lot.
A friend of mine who’s a restaurant manager here in the City told me recently that getting a restaurant mentioned in my blog was a good second-tier hit, which was nice of him, and generous. New York has a lot of tiers. I think I’m probably around tier number four.
That’s okay. I have enough oomph that chefs return my phone calls more often than not, and restaurateurs let me come to their parties (not to brag; that’s true at tier 6, too). And really it takes the pressure off of me. If you’re in a top tier — say a critic at the Times or New York magazine — people take your words seriously. Losing a New York Times star can cost you not only prestige, but money. Even if I were a critic I couldn’t break a place, and that’s a relief. All I can do is spread a little sunshine, or very occasionally hurt someone’s feelings.
And any commenter on Yelp! can hurt restaurateurs’ feelings. They’re sensitive.
The people at Oceana certainly had hurt feelings when I was there for lunch yesterday. New York had just given them a hostile-sounding one-star review. The restaurant had recently relocated from an upper-midtown townhouse to a giant space in the McGraw Hill building that most recently housed a Strawberries clothing store. I’m a food guy, not a décor guy, but I loved the place — big and fun like a brasserie. And it was doing a robust lunch business for a buttoned-up clientele — I was glad I’d worn a suit that day.
But New York critic Adam Platt mostly didn’t like it, and he hated the space.
The chefs and owners were obviously disappointed, but they were also nervous, because the Times was reviewing it today (turns out it got two stars, which would be nice, except until today it had three stars).
Back to the different tiers of New York food writers, I think it’s fair to say that the new Times critic, Sam Sifton, occupies the top tier by himself, and Mr. Platt is on tier 2.
Then again, maybe not. The Times remains the religion of a large group of New Yorkers, but as media outlets multiply and publishing empires crumble, there’s a fair amount of apostasy going on. How Oceana’s loss of a star — or the drubbing poor Aureole took in last week’s one-star review — will actually affect sales remains to be seen. Up until now, business at both restaurants has reportedly been good, and it hasn’t been the fickle trend lemmings filling the seats, from what I understand.
Anyway, what got me thinking about this whole tier thing had to do with some of the parties I went to last week — at the opening of Obao a food writer from one web site was just a tiny bit miffed that he wasn’t invited to Eleven Madison Park’s eleventh anniversary the night before, even though people from Eater.com had been invited.
The Eleven Madison Park party was good, but there actually wasn’t a whole lot of media there. I think most of the guests were simply good customers of the restaurant. I mostly spent the evening with my bosses, Pam Parseghian and Ellen Koteff, but I did enjoy a story from a caviar salesperson explaining how her competitors stole business from her: Their tactic was to call the restaurant on the chef’s day off and just say, “hi, I’m calling about your caviar order.”
Sneaky.
And my friend Akiko Katayama, practiced networker that she is, introduced me to Financial Times reporter Nick Lander, who shared with me the interesting fact that, although Indian food is tremendously popular in Great Britain, it’s only popular at dinner. People don’t eat it at lunch.
The geniuses at Eleven Madison Park were waiting outside with full-on coffee service in to-go cups for people as they were leaving. This is no surprise as the place is ably led by general manager Will Guidara, who many NRN readers might be interested to know is the son of chain restaurant veteran Frank Guidara, who currently heads up Uno Chicago Grill.
Akiko also was at the opening on the following night of Obao (Michael Bao Huynh’s new place; I ate oxtail soup and crunchy pork belly cubes on skewers), which I got to late, so she was going as I was coming, because Bar Henry was opening that night, and she had a dinner to go to after that.
No, you won’t see grass growing under Akiko’s feet.
I was soon at Bar Henry, too, having taken the subway with Metromix's Alexis Loinaz and a friend of his whose name I have forgotten.
I hadn’t bothered to read anything about Bar Henry, but it was soon evident that it had a serious wine list, because high-tiered wine writer Alice Fiering was there.
Alice does not suffer fools lightly and would not set foot in a random bar opening. No way.
And soon Food & Wine’s Kate Krader was there, too.
We were drinking good wine throughout the party, but, you know, it was opening-party wine.
But they pulled out the good stuff for Alice and Kate, and soon I was enjoying a 1999 Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Hurray!
(A brief aside: Châteauneuf-du-Pape comes specifically from Avignon, which was where the head of the Catholic Church relocated for much of the 14th Century; this is easy to remember because the wine’s name means “the Pope’s new castle.”)
We had good conversation, too, although perhaps I shouldn’t have called Kate the spotted pig-lady. Really, I meant “The Spotted Pig lady,” which is to say she was a key player in garnering fame and attention for New York’s favorite gastropub, The Spotted Pig, but out of context it doesn’t sound very good.
I could also call her the Momofuku lady. Maybe I’ll do that next time.
What I ate at Oceana:
marinated oysters with cucumbers, apple and toasted spices
Taylor Bay scallops with shoyu and togarashi
a poke trio of tuna, hamachi and wild salmon
fluke tartare with cashews, mango and young coconut
snapper ceviche with roasted corn, hearts of palm and cilantro
Thai style red snapper with silk squash, jícama and kaffir lime-coconut water broth
Arctic char á la plancha with sautéed root vegetables and cranberry-apple coulis
Frozen pear chiboust with yogurt lemon grass soup and angel food cake croutons
Persimmon cake with apple sorbet
Assorted doughnuts
I’m not a first-tier food writer in New York City.
You probably already knew that, but if you didn’t, I hope you’re not disappointed.
Chefs tend to enjoy getting mentioned in Nation’s Restaurant News, in print or online, but, well, if Food & Wine declares you one of the year’s ten best new chefs, that’s better, by a lot.
A friend of mine who’s a restaurant manager here in the City told me recently that getting a restaurant mentioned in my blog was a good second-tier hit, which was nice of him, and generous. New York has a lot of tiers. I think I’m probably around tier number four.
That’s okay. I have enough oomph that chefs return my phone calls more often than not, and restaurateurs let me come to their parties (not to brag; that’s true at tier 6, too). And really it takes the pressure off of me. If you’re in a top tier — say a critic at the Times or New York magazine — people take your words seriously. Losing a New York Times star can cost you not only prestige, but money. Even if I were a critic I couldn’t break a place, and that’s a relief. All I can do is spread a little sunshine, or very occasionally hurt someone’s feelings.
And any commenter on Yelp! can hurt restaurateurs’ feelings. They’re sensitive.
The people at Oceana certainly had hurt feelings when I was there for lunch yesterday. New York had just given them a hostile-sounding one-star review. The restaurant had recently relocated from an upper-midtown townhouse to a giant space in the McGraw Hill building that most recently housed a Strawberries clothing store. I’m a food guy, not a décor guy, but I loved the place — big and fun like a brasserie. And it was doing a robust lunch business for a buttoned-up clientele — I was glad I’d worn a suit that day.
But New York critic Adam Platt mostly didn’t like it, and he hated the space.
The chefs and owners were obviously disappointed, but they were also nervous, because the Times was reviewing it today (turns out it got two stars, which would be nice, except until today it had three stars).
Back to the different tiers of New York food writers, I think it’s fair to say that the new Times critic, Sam Sifton, occupies the top tier by himself, and Mr. Platt is on tier 2.
Then again, maybe not. The Times remains the religion of a large group of New Yorkers, but as media outlets multiply and publishing empires crumble, there’s a fair amount of apostasy going on. How Oceana’s loss of a star — or the drubbing poor Aureole took in last week’s one-star review — will actually affect sales remains to be seen. Up until now, business at both restaurants has reportedly been good, and it hasn’t been the fickle trend lemmings filling the seats, from what I understand.
Anyway, what got me thinking about this whole tier thing had to do with some of the parties I went to last week — at the opening of Obao a food writer from one web site was just a tiny bit miffed that he wasn’t invited to Eleven Madison Park’s eleventh anniversary the night before, even though people from Eater.com had been invited.
The Eleven Madison Park party was good, but there actually wasn’t a whole lot of media there. I think most of the guests were simply good customers of the restaurant. I mostly spent the evening with my bosses, Pam Parseghian and Ellen Koteff, but I did enjoy a story from a caviar salesperson explaining how her competitors stole business from her: Their tactic was to call the restaurant on the chef’s day off and just say, “hi, I’m calling about your caviar order.”
Sneaky.
And my friend Akiko Katayama, practiced networker that she is, introduced me to Financial Times reporter Nick Lander, who shared with me the interesting fact that, although Indian food is tremendously popular in Great Britain, it’s only popular at dinner. People don’t eat it at lunch.
The geniuses at Eleven Madison Park were waiting outside with full-on coffee service in to-go cups for people as they were leaving. This is no surprise as the place is ably led by general manager Will Guidara, who many NRN readers might be interested to know is the son of chain restaurant veteran Frank Guidara, who currently heads up Uno Chicago Grill.
Akiko also was at the opening on the following night of Obao (Michael Bao Huynh’s new place; I ate oxtail soup and crunchy pork belly cubes on skewers), which I got to late, so she was going as I was coming, because Bar Henry was opening that night, and she had a dinner to go to after that.
No, you won’t see grass growing under Akiko’s feet.
I was soon at Bar Henry, too, having taken the subway with Metromix's Alexis Loinaz and a friend of his whose name I have forgotten.
I hadn’t bothered to read anything about Bar Henry, but it was soon evident that it had a serious wine list, because high-tiered wine writer Alice Fiering was there.
Alice does not suffer fools lightly and would not set foot in a random bar opening. No way.
And soon Food & Wine’s Kate Krader was there, too.
We were drinking good wine throughout the party, but, you know, it was opening-party wine.
But they pulled out the good stuff for Alice and Kate, and soon I was enjoying a 1999 Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Hurray!
(A brief aside: Châteauneuf-du-Pape comes specifically from Avignon, which was where the head of the Catholic Church relocated for much of the 14th Century; this is easy to remember because the wine’s name means “the Pope’s new castle.”)
We had good conversation, too, although perhaps I shouldn’t have called Kate the spotted pig-lady. Really, I meant “The Spotted Pig lady,” which is to say she was a key player in garnering fame and attention for New York’s favorite gastropub, The Spotted Pig, but out of context it doesn’t sound very good.
I could also call her the Momofuku lady. Maybe I’ll do that next time.
What I ate at Oceana:
marinated oysters with cucumbers, apple and toasted spices
Taylor Bay scallops with shoyu and togarashi
a poke trio of tuna, hamachi and wild salmon
fluke tartare with cashews, mango and young coconut
snapper ceviche with roasted corn, hearts of palm and cilantro
Thai style red snapper with silk squash, jícama and kaffir lime-coconut water broth
Arctic char á la plancha with sautéed root vegetables and cranberry-apple coulis
Frozen pear chiboust with yogurt lemon grass soup and angel food cake croutons
Persimmon cake with apple sorbet
Assorted doughnuts
paid sick leave
November 18
I’m happy to report that the past 500 visitors to this blog came from 32 different U.S. states, four Canadian provinces and eight other countries, but 68 of you (that's 13.6 percent) came from New York.
So for my next poll I'd like to address an issue concerning local restaurants, that of mandated paid sick leave for workers.
The New York City Council’s considering such a measure, and so of course we at Nation’s Restaurant News are writing about it.
And one of my colleagues wants to ask you what you think.
For some background information, click here.
Pleas click what you think on the upper right hand corner of this blog, and, as always, feel free to write comments below, too.
I’m happy to report that the past 500 visitors to this blog came from 32 different U.S. states, four Canadian provinces and eight other countries, but 68 of you (that's 13.6 percent) came from New York.
So for my next poll I'd like to address an issue concerning local restaurants, that of mandated paid sick leave for workers.
The New York City Council’s considering such a measure, and so of course we at Nation’s Restaurant News are writing about it.
And one of my colleagues wants to ask you what you think.
For some background information, click here.
Pleas click what you think on the upper right hand corner of this blog, and, as always, feel free to write comments below, too.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Environmentalism and marketing
November 16
Oh, you cynical, cynical blog readers.
In my most recent poll I asked you to complete this sentence: “I think the main reason restaurateurs are engaging in more environmentally sound practices is...”
Seventeen percent of respondents clicked on “To save money by reducing waste.”
Another 17 percent clicked on “Because they want to help protect the environment.
And 66 percent of you clicked on “Marketing.”
What dark souls you must have.
On the other hand, it’s not like our environment has only been imperiled since Al Gore made a movie about it. I was writing about global warming in college, in the late 1980s. Air and water pollution? Tom Lehrer was singing about it in the 1960s.
The first Earth Day was in 1970.
What has changed? Now environmentalism is cool.
So I guess you have a point.
I’m afraid I don’t have another poll ready for you, but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.
Oh, you cynical, cynical blog readers.
In my most recent poll I asked you to complete this sentence: “I think the main reason restaurateurs are engaging in more environmentally sound practices is...”
Seventeen percent of respondents clicked on “To save money by reducing waste.”
Another 17 percent clicked on “Because they want to help protect the environment.
And 66 percent of you clicked on “Marketing.”
What dark souls you must have.
On the other hand, it’s not like our environment has only been imperiled since Al Gore made a movie about it. I was writing about global warming in college, in the late 1980s. Air and water pollution? Tom Lehrer was singing about it in the 1960s.
The first Earth Day was in 1970.
What has changed? Now environmentalism is cool.
So I guess you have a point.
I’m afraid I don’t have another poll ready for you, but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Maialino opens tomorrow
November 10
Danny Meyer's much-anticipated Roman trattoria at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel opens tomorrow, according to a press release that landed in my e-mail box at 2:40 p.m. Reservations (212-777-2410) will be limited, initially, though walk-ins are welcome. The restaurant will only be serving dinner for the next couple of weeks, but management plans to start serving breakfast in December, and lunch in January.
But of course it all depends. Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group is perhaps the most respected restaurant company in New York — possibly even in the country — but I don't know of any opening it's had without a glitch or two. The genius of the company is that it sees the hiccups and fixes them in short order.
The chef is Nick Anderer, a veteran of Danny Meyer's organization, having most recently cooked at Gramercy Tavern (for the past six years). Before that he worked in Milan at San Giorgio et il Drago, and before that he was at Mario Batali's flagship, Babbo (and made it into Heat, Bill Buford’s book about cooking there). He also worked under local-seasonal pioneer Larry Forgione.
General manager Terry Coughlin most recently was GM at another Danny Meyer place, Tabla.
I bet there will be much talk of the restaurant tomorrow night at 11 Madison Park, Meyer's four-star restaurant, which is celebrating its 11th anniversary with what I assume will be a blow-out party. I know I’m looking forward to it.
Danny Meyer's much-anticipated Roman trattoria at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel opens tomorrow, according to a press release that landed in my e-mail box at 2:40 p.m. Reservations (212-777-2410) will be limited, initially, though walk-ins are welcome. The restaurant will only be serving dinner for the next couple of weeks, but management plans to start serving breakfast in December, and lunch in January.
But of course it all depends. Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group is perhaps the most respected restaurant company in New York — possibly even in the country — but I don't know of any opening it's had without a glitch or two. The genius of the company is that it sees the hiccups and fixes them in short order.
The chef is Nick Anderer, a veteran of Danny Meyer's organization, having most recently cooked at Gramercy Tavern (for the past six years). Before that he worked in Milan at San Giorgio et il Drago, and before that he was at Mario Batali's flagship, Babbo (and made it into Heat, Bill Buford’s book about cooking there). He also worked under local-seasonal pioneer Larry Forgione.
General manager Terry Coughlin most recently was GM at another Danny Meyer place, Tabla.
I bet there will be much talk of the restaurant tomorrow night at 11 Madison Park, Meyer's four-star restaurant, which is celebrating its 11th anniversary with what I assume will be a blow-out party. I know I’m looking forward to it.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Supporting my local restaurateurs
November 9
Starting out the week by doing a good deed, because I rarely hear from restaurateurs themselves instead of publicists (true story: one publicist today sent a press release to me about an image consultant, noting the importance of a first impression, and then sent out a correction because she had misspelled her client's first name), I’d like to help out Astoria restaurateur Yann Henri (non-New Yorkers, Astoria is in the borough of Queens), who says he opened a little French place called Bistro Les Minots last March at 47-16 30th Avenue (non-New Yorkers, that’s what Queens addresses look like, and they’re quite brilliant; the number before the hyphen indicates what cross street it’s near).
The owners are French, from Paris and Marseille, and the menu is traditional French bistro fare. They serve a $16.95 prix-fixe lunch and a $19.95 prix-fixe dinner.
They also have a $19.95 all-you-can eat moules-frites special on Monday. The restaurant’s phone number is 718-606-2535.
This message has been brought to you by the fact that I’m in a good mood today.
Starting out the week by doing a good deed, because I rarely hear from restaurateurs themselves instead of publicists (true story: one publicist today sent a press release to me about an image consultant, noting the importance of a first impression, and then sent out a correction because she had misspelled her client's first name), I’d like to help out Astoria restaurateur Yann Henri (non-New Yorkers, Astoria is in the borough of Queens), who says he opened a little French place called Bistro Les Minots last March at 47-16 30th Avenue (non-New Yorkers, that’s what Queens addresses look like, and they’re quite brilliant; the number before the hyphen indicates what cross street it’s near).
The owners are French, from Paris and Marseille, and the menu is traditional French bistro fare. They serve a $16.95 prix-fixe lunch and a $19.95 prix-fixe dinner.
They also have a $19.95 all-you-can eat moules-frites special on Monday. The restaurant’s phone number is 718-606-2535.
This message has been brought to you by the fact that I’m in a good mood today.
Friday, November 06, 2009
I take it that means, “no”
November 6
Well, my latest poll was a dud. I asked readers of this blog if they or their customers had changed their food-sharing habits due to fears of the H1N1 virus. Only seven people responded. Five said no, two said yes, everyone else, by their lack of response, I guess were indicating that they hadn’t thought about it or weren’t interested in the question.
That’s fair.
Here’s another one for you, from another of my colleagues, about restaurants’ moves to engage in more environmentally sound practices.
As always, feel free to comment below.
Well, my latest poll was a dud. I asked readers of this blog if they or their customers had changed their food-sharing habits due to fears of the H1N1 virus. Only seven people responded. Five said no, two said yes, everyone else, by their lack of response, I guess were indicating that they hadn’t thought about it or weren’t interested in the question.
That’s fair.
Here’s another one for you, from another of my colleagues, about restaurants’ moves to engage in more environmentally sound practices.
As always, feel free to comment below.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
erratum
November 3
Clark Mitchell does not, I repeat does not, drink vodka Martinis. I’m not sure why I thought he did, or why I said he did in this recent blog entry, but I have fixed the mistake and thought I should let you know.
Normally I’d just fix the mistake and go on with my life, and Clark certainly didn't grouse about my error, but, well, vodka and gin Martinis illustrate people in very different ways.
Clark Mitchell does not, I repeat does not, drink vodka Martinis. I’m not sure why I thought he did, or why I said he did in this recent blog entry, but I have fixed the mistake and thought I should let you know.
Normally I’d just fix the mistake and go on with my life, and Clark certainly didn't grouse about my error, but, well, vodka and gin Martinis illustrate people in very different ways.
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