Top Restaurants of 2007

In the last couple of weeks, Frank Bruni, Adam Platt, and Moira Hodgson have all filed their “Best of 2007” restaurant lists. The three didn’t quite follow the same rules, but still it is useful to compare what they came up with:

Bruni	Platt	Hodgson
1. Momofuku Ssäm Bar 2. Soto 3. (tie) Anthos 4. Insieme 5. Park Avenue _____ 6. Resto 7. 15 East 8. Allen & Delancey 9. Pamplona 10. Mai House.	Insieme Anthos Soto Park Avenue _____ BLT Market Hill Country Resto 15 East Allen & Delancey Market Table	Park Avenue _____ Soto 15 East Insieme Alto L’Impero Fiamma Allen & Delancey Pamplona Anthos Ilili Tailor The Monday Room Morandi Cafe Cluny The Waverly Inn

A couple of Bruni’s choices actually opened the prior year. We’ll allow an exception for 15 East (which is on all three lists), as it didn’t open until December 2006, clearly too late for consideration last year. But Momofuku Ssäm Bar was a 2006 restaurant by any definition, even if its current menu bears no resemblance to the original one. Eater summarized the situation perfectly:

Bruni’s bigger, less explicitly stated, point is that 2007 was dull. Ssäm Bar is 2007-eligible on a technicality: the menu overhaul heard ’round the world happened days into 2007, a full three months after the restaurant opened… With all due respect to sweet goodness that is Ssäm Bar, if better restaurants had opened in 2007, and a Best crutch was not needed, it would have been relegated to the ranks of 2006.

Dull indeed. Bruni rates on a four-star system, but no restaurant on his top-10 list was rated higher than two stars. Bruni issued no four-star ratings last year, and his only three-star ratings were re-reviews of older restaurants. Platt was even worse: he issued three stars to nobody, and indeed, I cannot recall his last three-star review. That’s despite the fact that Platt rates on a five-star scale.

Though I often disagree with Bruni’s ratings, I do agree with the core conclusion: 2007 wasn’t a great year. Anthos was the only truly new-in-’07 restaurant that won three stars on this blog. Insieme and Soto barely missed, and I don’t think there were any other reasonable candidates.

Bruni and Platt both suffer from the same disease: they are hostile to luxury restaurants. That explains why neither of them awarded three stars to the new restaurant I would rate as the year’s best, Anthos. Ironically, though they much prefer casual restaurants, neither critic has loosened the criteria for three stars. Thus, you have the paradox that they don’t award three stars to the places they truly like, but they seldom award three stars to the restaurants that truly deserve them.

A case can be made for Gordon Ramsay, which like 15 East opened too late in 2006 to be counted in last year’s roundup. I had a considerably more favorable impression of it than the mainstream critics. The fact that Ramsay had to fire the chef de cuisine is clearly not a factor in its favor, but if you count it as an ’07 restaurant, then it was the best new place that opened.

I would also award an honorable mention to Rosanjin, which also opened in late 2006, but did not start serving its exquisite sit-down Kaiseki until December. Frank Bruni awarded it two stars, but perhaps he felt that Soto and 15 East (also two stars, according to him) had used up his quota of Japanese restaurants. I can’t comment on 15 East, but I would rate Rosanjin higher than Soto, by a nose.

The only restaurant listed that’s in serious disagreement with my own experience is Park Avenue ______, to which I awarded no stars. But as all three critics included it, I have to assume we caught it on an off-night. It’s now on my “return-to” list. I haven’t yet made it to 15 East or Resto, but I am now eager to try both. (Resto remains awfully tough to get into, which is the main reason I haven’t gone yet.)

Bruni’s other unusual choice is Mai House, which no other critic included. But based on my four visits, I agree with Bruni that it deserves a spot in the top 10.

Platt had three choices listed by no other critic: BLT Market, Hill Country, and Market Table. I can’t comment on the latter, but BLT Market and Hill Country were two of my favorites in 2007. Bruni relegated BLT Market to the “Dining Briefs” treatment, once again showing that he often under-appreciates the best places. And as Hill Country was covered in the “$25 and Under” beat, Bruni never reviewed it.

Hodgson had some of the oddest choices, listing restaurants that no other critic was especially excited about, like Tailor, Cafe Cluny, and Morandi. Hodgson didn’t limit herself to ten choices, and she said they were in “no particular order.” She also included restaurants with new chefs, even if they weren’t new in ’07. (Bruni and Platt considered “transformed” restaurants, but not in their “top-10” lists.)

In his year-end retrospective, Bruni once again sounded the themes that have defined his tenure: as he sees it, the younger diners—“food adventurers,” he calls them—have rejected the traditional trappings of luxury dining:

The restrained size (along with the tight focus) of so many of these ventures speaks in part to the desire of young chefs to call their own shots and do their own thing, even if it means downsizing the settings in which they work.

It speaks to economic factors as well: high rents, exorbitant start-up costs, a local economy with less swagger than in the past.

But I suspect it also taps into wider cultural dynamics, into the anxieties of a country, overextended abroad and self-doubting at home, that has lost some of its appetite for grand plans and grand gestures, that would prefer to play things safe.

Bruni, as always, misjudges the market for high-end dining. Just try getting a last-minute prime-time table at Alto, Aureole, Babbo, Country, Cru, Daniel, Del Posto, Eleven Madison Park, Felidia, the Four Seasons, Gramercy Tavern, Gordon Ramsay, Gotham Bar & Grill, Jean Georges, La Grenouille, Le Bernardin, the Modern, Per Se, Union Square Cafe or Veritas—to name a few. These places are generally full, which suggests that the market for the luxury experience is not truly on the wane.

Now, you’re probably not going to find young foodies dominating these restaurants’ clientele, but these are expensive places. They don’t cater to young people on tight budgets, except perhaps as an occasional splurge. These diners naturally will gravitate to places like Allen & Delancey or Resto, where you won’t find three-star food, but where you can eat well without breaking the bank. A restaurant that’s relatively good is not “best” in the absolute sense.

Bruni needs to distinguish between reporting on trends and influencing them. Anyone considering a new luxury restaurant will be aware that it’s tough to get a fair shake from him, unless the cuisine is Italian. Gordon Ramsay made it over the hump, but others might not be so fortunate. So far, 2008 once again shapes up as a year of humbler ambitions, pending the arrival—or not—of Paul Liebrandt’s mysterious four-star wannabe.

Bite Club

 

Another New Year’s Eve…what to do? Most restaurants serve a less interesting version of their normal menu, while at least doubling the price. The only exception I’ve found is WD–50, but as we tried that last year, I wanted something different.

Enter Bite Club, the “French Laundry of dinner clubs.” With raves on Grub Street and eGullet, I knew it was for real,  and that owners Daniel & Alicia would turn out another of the fantastic menus they’re quickly becoming famous for.

But first, there were a few hurdles. You don’t just call Bite Club for a reservation; you have to become a member. Then, a 50% deposit was due (that’s $200), payable in cash, hand-delivered either to Daniel’s or Alicia’s workplace.  Three days before the event, clandestine instructions came by e-mail, cautioning us to “maintain silence” in the apartment building where the dinner was held, until were in the apartment itself. “Should you be in the elevator with someone, it is imperative that you NOT mention Bite Club. Even if you suspect they are fellow diners for the evening, please wait until you are both brought into the apartment to confirm that.” My girlfriend wondered if we should have brought payment in small, unmarked bills.

There are reasons for all of that secrecy, as Bite Club’s operation is something between a restaurant (with all the laws and regulations that implies) and a just dinner party amongst friends. It isn’t quite clear on what side of that line Bite Club falls. Initially, it really was just Daniel and Alicia throwing dinner parties for their friends. It has clearly become something a bit more commercial over time, though the party atmosphere still lurks in the background.

I was surprised at the size of the crowd, as I’d been led to expect somewhere around a dozen guests. There were nearly 30, at tables mostly for 6–7 guests, although there was one two-top. We were seated with a party of four, but we quickly built a rapport and enjoyed our four-hour meal together as if we were old friends. One of Bite Club’s advantages is that you know you’ll be eating with people who really appreciate great food and wines. With Daniel and Alicia serving plenty of both, you won’t lack for conversation.

There were printed menus for everyone, describing both the food and the wines in some detail. Daniel and Alicia’s style is modern, not clearly beholden to any particular cuisine. They relish combining ingredients in unexpected ways. What comes out on the plate is generally spare and uncluttered, though the preparation may well have been complex. Daniel told us they started cooking at 7:00 the night before.

We noted that there were hardly any vegetables on the menu; we weren’t sure whether this was a preference, or if they had reached the limit of what two people could accomplish in such a small space. I don’t know what they have at home—this was not their own place—but we were in a standard Manhattan apartment, with a fairly small kitchen clearly not designed to turn out 7 courses for 30 diners. Assisting were a dish-washer and two servers—the place couldn’t have accommodated any more helpers, even if Daniel and Alicia had wanted them. What they produced was a marvel.

Besides preparing all the food, Daniel and Alicia also have an impressive battery of stemware and china. Given the length of the meal and the number of guests, they needed all of it. As they raise Bite Club to new levels, they might want to consider a small investment in flatware. A few times, we were given utensils that weren’t quite right, or asked to re-use utensils from a previous course. Butter knives would have been helpful. But this was the only small complaint we had, with what was otherwise flawless service.

Dinner was seven courses with paired wines. I wasn’t sure about the etiquette of taking photos, and in any case I didn’t want to risk disrupting such a festive occasion, but check out Off the Broiler if you want to see what some of Daniel and Alicia’s creations look like.

We began with a sparkling Spinetti Moscato d’Asti, followed a short while later with a crazily good amuse-bouche, venison loin with Thai chili and goat cheese. Two breads were served, along with two contrasting spreads, a soft butter and a liver pâté. Soft, warm onion rolls came later.

The first savory course was called Egg (truffled egg custard, vodka cream and caviar), paired with a Casa Ferrienha Esteva 2002. The custard and caviar came inside of a hollowed out egg. The combination was terrific.

Next came Lobster (cream of lobster, black truffle pastry), paired with a Tissot Les Bruyeres 2004. Though described as cream of lobster, there were actually several solid chunks of butter-poached lobster with the pastry on top, in a small dish that you’d normally use for crème brûlée. The presentation didn’t quite work, as you couldn’t really navigate your knife inside of the dish to cut the lobster. The wine was a Chardonnay with an unusual smoky flavor.

After that, Sweetbreads (JG raisin caper emulsion and cauliflower puree), paired with Rosenblum Viognier 2005. Three hunks of sweetbread each rested on a dab of cauliflower, with the raisin emulsion splashed between them, in the middle of the plate. The lusciously tender sweetbreads and the cauliflower puree complemented each other perfectly, but we felt that the raisin caper emulsion didn’t really add anything.

The main savory course was titled “Pork & Beans”, a sly name very much in the French Laundry style. Two juicy slices of caramelized pork belly were bathed in a cranberry bean puree and pomegranate reduction, paired with Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico 2003. This was a highlight for everyone at our table, though I have to admit that I’ve hardly ever seen a pork belly dish go wrong: with all of that fat, there is bound to be decadence on the plate.

The Cheese Flight offered five raw (i.e., unpasteurized) cheeses, which I believe Daniel and Alicia import from Canada. There was a contrast of cow, goat, and sheep’s milk cheeses, arrayed in order of increasing intensity. I found one of them a bit dull, but the other four were first-class; overall, it was a well judged selection. The paired wine was Brovia La Brea Barbera 2005.

In perhaps their most daring choice of the evening, as well as the most complex, the last savory course was Foie Gras (also a Canadian import) with poached pear, ginger snap, cacao nibs, and star anise caramel. Foie gras is normally served early in the meal, so I was surprised to find it after the cheese course. But  foie gras is a versatile ingredient: serve it with poached pears and caramel, and it becomes a dessert. Brilliant! The paired wine was Rasmussen Late harvest Gewurztraminer 2003.

Midnight approached as the foie gras plates were being cleared, so everyone pitched in to get the champagne poured (Roederer Anderson Valley NV Methode Champenoise), and we counted down the seconds to midnight.

The final course, captioned Chocolate, was the only one that really misfired: a chocolate cake bedecked with a frosted scotch bonnet (a kind of chili pepper). Despite its time in the freezer, the pepper packed serious heat, and I was the only one at my table who ate all of it. It was a four-alarm fire in my mouth, but it felt great afterwards. After that adventure was over with, we were left with a dull mound of chocolate that wasn’t worth eating. After four happy hours and seven wine pours (several with refills), nobody at my table was paying much attention to the chocolate anyway.

The overall quality of the meal approached the level of the better tasting menus in town. Wine pairings were all lovely, and some of them even witty. It is all the more remarkable when you consider that (as I understand it) Daniel and Alicia are self-taught. They also don’t have the advantage of trying everything out in a test kitchen: every meal they serve is unique, based on the ingredients available and their own whims. And in another week or so, they’ll have to go out and do it all again. (Bite Club events are generally on weekends, since Daniel and Alicia have day jobs.)

Daniel and Alicia richly deserve all the accolades that have come their way. They are also gracious and gregarious hosts, and love to talk about the food. I suspect that even greater things are to come, and I hope to be at Bite Club again to enjoy them.

The Payoff: Primehouse New York

In tomorrow’s Times, the animal-sex imagery abounds, as Frank Bruni pays homage to Prime, the mighty steer who sires the porterhouse at Primehouse New York:

And Primehouse New York, on Park Avenue South? It’s the seminal steakhouse.

It’s also an estimable one, with virtues that will rightly earn it the affection of many discerning carnivores and give it a solid chance in a competitive field.

[D]essert doughnuts … come in the form of hollow balls, accompanied by three plastic syringes of a sort containing chocolate, butterscotch and strawberry. You use the syringe of your choice to, um, fertilize each one.

He loves the steaks, but uneven service, an over-priced wine list, and a shortage of recommendable non-steak dishes, all add up to one star, as both Eater and New York Journal had predicted. We both win $3 on our hypothetical $1 bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$58.50		$77.67
Gain/Loss	+3.00		+3.00
Total	$61.50		$80.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	26–11		28–9

The Harrison

Note: This is a review of The Harrison under Chef Brian Bistrong, who has since left for Braeburn. For a more recent review, click here.

Now might not be the best time for a re-review of The Harrison, given that executive chef Brian Bistrong is leaving at the end of the month, with Amanda Freitag replacing him in January.

Owner Jimmy Bradley says, “We’re going to go in a new direction. We were doing French cookery in a New American style, but with Amanda the menu is going to be lusty, soulful, rustic Mediterranean-inspired cookery.”

Be that as it may, I chose The Harrison for a holiday dinner, because I knew (from past visits) that it would be rock-solid—and it was. Freitag has a lot to live up to.

I gave the restaurant’s fascinating background the last time I reviewed it, so let’s get straight to the food:

 

Just like last time, flavors and textures were perfectly judged. Fried Oysters ($12; above left) rested on coleslaw and bacon mustard sauce. Local Trout ($25; above right) had lovely crisped skin, overshadowing the haricots verts and the red cabbage purée.

Everyone raved over the Fall Squash Risotto ($12; above left), which must be the side dish served at the gates of Heaven. One of my colleagues had the Warm Chocolate Cake ($9; above right), while the rest of us supped on after-dinner drinks.

The Harrison seems to be one of the few serious restaurants where the wine prices are still reasonable, meaning that there is are respectable bottles under $60, and very good ones not far above that amount. To boot, The Harrison offers over a dozen half-bottles, something far more restaurants should do. I settled on a 2005 St. Michael-Eppan Gewürztraminer from Alsace that all of us loved.

Service remains a problem at The Harrison. Our server disappeared for long intervals, and it was hard to get his attention. A colleague ordered Dewar’s & Soda, but she was quite certain that she wasn’t served Dewar’s. Whatever it was, the server spilled a bit of it on me while passing it over my head.

As we say goodbye to the Brian Bistrong era at The Harrison, it will be interesting to see how this great restaurant evolves.

The Harrison (355 Greenwich Street at Harrison Street, TriBeCa)

Food: **½
Service: *
Ambiance: **
Overall: **

Rolling the Dice: Primehouse New York

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Primehouse New York, Stephen Hanson’s contribution to Manhattan’s over-saturated steakhouse industry. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 4-1
One Star: 3-1 √√
Two Stars: 4-1
Three Stars: 50-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: Bruni loves steakhouses. It’s his second favorite cuisine, after Italian. The trouble is, his steakhouse reviews are unpredictable. With Italian cuisine, you know he will rate the restaurant one star higher than it would receive if the chef were French. With steakhouses, there’s just no telling.

He awarded two stars to: Peter Luger, Craftsteak (re-review), Keens, and Wolfgang’s. He awarded one star to: Craftsteak (first review), Harry’s Steak, Porter House, Robert’s Steakhouse and V Steakhouse. He awarded zero stars to Kobe Club and STK. Numerous others—including some clearly better than those that won full reviews—got the Diner’s Journal treatment: BLT Prime, Capital Grille, Chemist Club, Quality Meats, Staghorn Steakhouse. (Phew! Am I leaving any out?)

That brings us to Primehouse New York. The two available data points are my review and Adam Platt’s. I hesitate to admit I have anything in common with Adam Platt, but both of us are confirmed carnivores, and both of us awarded two stars. Cutlets also likes it. Weighing against Primehouse are its steep prices and Bruni’s general hostility towards chain or “chain-like” restaurants.

There’s virtually no doubt that Primehouse has superlative cuts of meat and knows how to prepare them. Bruni’s rating will come down to his assessment of everything else: ambiance, service, and the non-steak dishes. My sense is that Bruni has gotten tougher on steakhouses—Wolfgang’s (reviewed less than a month into his tenure) might not get the same two stars if it opened today. His other two-star steakhouses have a “destination” appeal that Primehouse, despite its merits, does not really offer.

The Bet: We’ve vacillated all day, but it’s almost review time, so we have to make a decision. We agree with Eater that Bruni will award one star to Primehouse New York.

The Master Class at Gordon Ramsay

Note: The master class was offered under chef Josh Emett, who has since left the restaurant. Ramsay sold his interest, and is now affiliated in only a consulting role. The current chef is Markus Glocker.

*

A year ago, Gordon Ramsay at the London opened to outsized expectations. The city’s major critics quickly pronounced it a dud, with both Adam Platt and Frank Bruni awarding just two stars to a restaurant that was vying for four. I was more impressed than they were, awarding three stars, though I agreed with Platt and Bruni that the restaurant didn’t quite live up to the hype.

Ramsay fired chef de cuisine Neil Ferguson, replacing him with Josh Emett, who had cooked for Ramsay at the Savoy Grill. Neither Platt nor Bruni has been back since the change, which is understandable, given their hostility to upscale European (non-Italian) cuisines, even when it is executed well. But Ramsay was redeemed when the restaurant earned two stars in the 2008 Michelin Guide, making Gordon Ramsay at the London one of the top ten restaurants in town, in at least one informed opinion. It also earned the top rating of four stars in the annual Forbes survey.

I received an e-mail promotion for a Master Class at Gordon Ramsay, offered weekdays for parties of four to eight guests. Chef Emett demonstrates the day’s menu, and then you have a multi-course lunch at the Chef’s Table. My girlfriend and I thought it would make a great Christmas present for our parents. We made it a surprise, so they knew only that we were going to the London Hotel, with no idea what was to come.

The day went far beyond our expectations. We arrived at 10:30 a.m. After coffee and continental breakfast, Chef Emett spent ninety minutes demonstrating three complex recipes and explaining how the kitchen worked. We then sat down to a luxurious six-course lunch with wine pairings, finishing at around 2:30 p.m. All of that was only $195 per person for our party of five. This is a bargain when you bear in mind that it included what amounted to a private cooking lesson with a Michelin-starred chef and four bottles of wine.

The Master Class photos are in the previous post.

After the master class, we sat down to lunch at the Chef’s Table, which is in a nook facing the kitchen. We began with a bottle of champagne.

 

 

First we were served two canapés: a crispy cod fish with salmon roe, and a fried mushroom (above left). Then came the amuse-bouche, a light butternut squash soup (above right).

Another bottle of wine came out, as we watched the ravioli plated at the pass: 

 

 

Above: Ravioli of Tiger Prawn with Fennel Cream,
Shellfish Vinaigrette and Chervil Velouté

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the ravioli were plump and generously filled; two of them would have been excessive, especially given how rich they were. This was a four-star dish, easily the best ravioli I’ve had in a long time. It’s a popular dish, too: we saw many plates of it leaving the kitchen.

Another bottle of wine arrived. We watched the complex operation of plating of the Beef Wellington, and Chef Emett came by to check on us:

And the pièce de resistance:

Above: Short Rib of Kobe Beef; Fillet of Beef Wellington with Madeira Jus

The Beef Wellington entrée was outstanding, and puts to shame every other preparation of this dish that I’ve ever had. There were something like a dozen separate ingredients on the plate. The Kobe beef short rib practically melted at the touch. The beef was beautiful,  perfectly aged and tender, the crisp puff pastry shell offering a gorgeous contrast.

By the way, the Beef Wellington is not currently on the regular menu, although Emett told us it has been offered in the past.

It was time for dessert:

The palate cleanser was a passion fruit crème with coconut foam and mint granata (above left). I must admit that I had doubts about whther the rice pudding (above right) could live up to the culinary fireworks of the rest of the meal, but there was far more to it than I expected, with a raspberry jam, mascarpone ice cream and pecans. It came with a dessert wine, followed by petits-fours that we could barely touch.

This was among the best meals we have had in New York. It is difficult to rate a meal like this, bearing in mind that most guests won’t experience the restaurant under these conditions. But recent reviews seem to confirm our impression that Gordon Ramsay is now one of the top handful of restaurants in the city.

Gordon Ramsay at the London (151 W. 54th Street between Sixth & Seventh Avenues, West Midtown)

The Master Class at Gordon Ramsay (Photos)

Note: The background of our visit and the meal itself are in the next post.

We all donned aprons and joined chef de cuisine Josh Emett in the kitchen, where he demonstrated the Ravioli of Tiger Prawn, Beef Wellington, and Rice Pudding. Besides being a master chef, he was a patient teacher and a true gentleman, spending close to ninety minutes with us.

I was encouraged to take photos liberally, which I did: He said, “We’re very laid back about that, contrary to popular belief.” He also said that he speaks to Ramsay almost every day, but that he has complete freedom to design the menu.

We began with…

Ravioli of Tiger Prawn with Fennel Cream, Shellfish Vinaigrette and Chervil Velouté

First, Emett makes the pasta by hand:

There’s enough leftover for a heavenly linguini, which was not actually part of the planned menu. We ate right out of the skillet it was prepared in:

The ravioli are filled with a shrimp and tiger prawn mousse, then assembled and trimmed into a circle. They are extremely delicate and prone to puncture, in which case the whole operation must be repeated:

Now it was onto… 

Fillet of Beef Wellington with Madeira Jus

The beef had been seasoned and pre-seared in a hot pan. A chicken, mushroom and shallot mousse was spread onto a light crêpe:

Then the fillet was wrapped inside, and the edges sealed:

Then, a flat puff pastry was brushed with an egg wash, and the crêpe containing the fillet rolled inside:

Lastly…

Rice Pudding with Raspberry Jam & Mascarpone Pecan Ice Cream

I’ve not much to say about the rice pudding, which was the most straightforward part of the demonstration, so I just offer the photos:

And some scenes from the kitchen:

Left: A line cook prepares venison loin for the dinner service; Center: There are two massive French stoves, which cost $750,000 apiece; Right: Emett is proud of an Apple Tarte Tatin, which is offered as a dessert for two.

It was time to sit down to lunch…

The Payoff: Allen & Delancey

Today, Neil Ferguson wins vindication, in the form of a rave two-star review from Frank Bruni:

In its unusual marriage of setting and style, his new restaurant, Allen & Delancey, makes a striking bid for attention. But that’s not all it has going for it.

It’s easily one of the prettiest, most comfortable places I’ve been introduced to in a while, a reminder of how crucial to an evening’s enjoyment the right visual trappings, the right amount of elbowroom and the ability to have a conversation without shouting can be…

And the food at Allen & Delancey is at once sophisticated and accessible, reliant on fail-safe luxuries deployed in a modestly creative and occasionally playful manner. It’s not entirely unlike what Mr. Ferguson was doing uptown, but context is everything.

While his approach seemed too tame and uneventful in one milieu, at one price point, it plays differently in another. At Allen & Delancey the vibe is relaxed, and all the entrees are under $30. You don’t typically get polish like this at prices like these.

We win $4, while Eater loses $1, on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$59.50		$73.67
Gain/Loss	–1.00		+4.00
Total	$58.50		$77.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	25–11		27–9

Rolling the Dice: Allen & Delancey

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Allen & Delancey, the place where Neil Ferguson re-surfaced after getting canned by Gordon Ramsay. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 5-1
One Star: 2-1 √√
Two Stars: 4-1
Three Stars: 7-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: Bruni awarded two stars to Gordon Ramsay at The London, with Ferguson running the kitchen. For a restaurant of that calibre, it was a serious smackdown. If we take that review as a general indictment of Ferguson’s talent, then it doesn’t bode well for Allen & Delancey, where the overall mise en scène can’t compete with Ramsay’s uptown palace.

But I didn’t read the Ramsay review that way. The Times star system, particularly as Bruni interprets it, weighs price very heavily. All Bruni was saying was that, at these prices (among the highest in town), he expected more culinary fireworks. Now, I thought that Bruni missed the boat at GR, even allowing for his price-weighted grading curve. But even allowing for that, it doesn’t necessarily follow that Ferguson will get slammed at Allen & Delancey.

The other way of seeing it is that, at a much gentler price point, you get a chef whom Gordon Ramsay thought was capable of earning four stars—for there is no doubt that Ramsay intended his New York restaurant to compete with the city’s very best. All of the entrées at A&D are below $30, which in this era is practically bargain pricing for a chef with Ferguson’s pedigree. Of course, that’s still no guarantee that Bruni will like it, but I’m betting that A&D’s hearty rusticity will appeal to him.

At any rate, I liked it, and while Bruni’s tastes and mine don’t always coincide, I can’t help using my own reviews as a tie-breaker—clearly not a fool-proof betting strategy!!

The Bet: It’s a close call, but we predict that Frank Bruni will award two stars to Allen & Delancey.

The Payoff: Grayz

In tomorrow’s Times, Frank Bruni awards one star to Grayz, as I had expected. He actually loved the food—there have been three-star reviews that weren’t this rapturous—but ultimately the restaurant’s “befuddled and befuddling” concept is its undoing:

These dishes demand fuller attention than the setting allows, and the prices — $39 for the short ribs — only make total sense if eating is the point of a visit. There’s an awkward mix of signals that distracts you from the kitchen’s efforts, which are noteworthy nonetheless.

I also stand by what I said earlier today: Grayz cannot coherently get two stars while Café Gray is also carrying two stars. Bruni’s version of the star system has its quirks, but I thought this review simply had to be one star. Now, if this had been a double-review, with Café Gray upgraded to the three stars it arguably deserves, then Grayz might have had a chance at two.

We win $4, while Eater loses $1, on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$60.50		$69.67
Gain/Loss	–1.00		+4.00
Total	$59.50		$73.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	25–10		26–9