The Payoff: Mas

Yesterday, Frank Bruni upgraded Mas to two stars, omitting to mention that this is the rating it deserved in the first place:

In growing older Mas has indeed grown wiser. Its talented chef, Galen Zamarra, is making better decisions and his kitchen operates with more discipline than in 2004, when I gave the restaurant one star.

Frank is amazed that restaurants that start out good can actually stay good:

Too many restaurants start off like gangbusters, only to sag into a sour, cynical middle age while they’re still young. Once they’ve made their first impression, they focus mainly on making money. In lumbering lock step, the Champagne flutes and the servers lose their sparkle.

They even polish the silver: “The exquisite place settings, with gleaming silverware propped in flawlessly parallel lines on carved slate wedges: wasn’t this the jittery perfectionism seen in enterprises still awaiting judgment?”

Eater and New York Journal both win $3 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$78.50		$84.67
Gain/Loss	+3.00		+3.00
Total	$81.50		$87.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	35–14		34–15

Comments

[Sneakeater]

Unfortunately, in New York 2008, it IS often surprising the restaurants that start out good stay good.