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Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘benoit’

NewsFeed 

7/23/08

5:10 PM

Cuozzo Hammers the New Wave of Absentee Chefs

mystery chef

Um, the chef isn't here right now…Photo-illustration: iStockphoto

Steve Cuozzo brings it hard in today’s Post, jumping on a new generation of absentee chefs with both feet. The Cuozz finds it bad enough when it’s a Daniel Boulud or Jean-Georges Vongerichten who's not holding down the fort, “but today, kitchen-aversion has infected much lesser talents and pops up at restaurants where the chef is MIA almost from Day One.” You can well imagine whom Cuozzo has in mind in this diatribe: The classic Post illustration features milk cartons with Zak Pelaccio, Marcus Samuelsson, Todd English, and Alain Ducasse on them. (Their photos are with "What, me worry?" expressions for comic effect.) It’s a stinging rebuke, all right, and backed by first-person condemnations of recent meals at Pelaccio’s Chop Suey and Ducasse’s Benoit. It’s not just about kicking high-profile chefs, though: Cuozzo makes the point that the chef is a managerial role, and, when he or she is not present in a restaurant, especially a new one, the food inevitably suffers, as it did at his visits to Bar Q and Five-Napkin Burger, when Anita Lo and Andy D’Amico, respectively, weren’t there. The only place that comes out of the article unscathed, more or less, is Bar Boulud, which Cuozzo sees as having developed to the point that the kitchen is up to speed even without Daniel there cracking the whip. Which, for Cuozzo, is exactly the point.

Chef Search: Where Are the Great Chefs of NYC? [NYP]

Two for Eight 

7/23/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Benoit; Le Cirque, Picholine, and Gordon Ramsay at the London Fully Booked

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Gourmet French.

Read more»

Neighborhood Watch 

7/11/08

3:00 PM

New York School Coming to East Village; Financial District Giddy Over Fresco to Go

East Village: Correction: The O.G. restaurant on East 6th Street will close on August 2, and the owner plans to reopen the space this fall as the New York School, which, we think, could be another restaurant. [Eater]
Financial District: Downtown office workers are really excited about the new Fresco to Go on Pearl Street: They were lined up around the block today for a free little taste. [Eater]
Greenwich Village: It's Cow Appreciation Day for the Chick-fil-A chain, and anyone who stops by a location in a cow costume will win — wait for it — a free Chick-fil-A meal. Sneaking into NYU dorm Weinstein is the only way to eat at the city's sole location. This could either assure or destroy your chances of a fast-food chicken today. [Ad Age via Gawker]
Related: Sneaking Past Security for the Sandwich of the Week
Harlem: Le Pain Quotidien is looking at the east side of the neighborhood, near where the Ottomanelli Brothers New York Grill will open at 1325 Fifth Avenue. [NYS via Uptown Flavor]
Tribeca: If you're concerned that Benoit's Bastille Day party on Monday won't feel so celebratory after this week's poor reviews, you could try Cercle Rouge, which will have live music, or another spot on this list of French events happening on Sunday and Monday. [Zagat Buzz]
Williamsburg: There's a cookout Saturday afternoon at the Red Shed Community Garden with $2 hot or veggie dogs and $3 burgers. [Brooklyn Life]

Two for Eight 

7/ 9/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Benoit and Cru; Gordon Ramsay Fully Booked

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Gourmet French.

Read more»

The Other Critics 

7/ 9/08

10:15 AM

Benoit Ekes Out One Star From Bruni; Cuozzo in Love With Alloro

Benoit misses the mark on one note after the other, but a few dishes pleased Frank Bruni enough for the place to earn a single star. Bruni suspects that Alain Ducasse's heart just isn't in the place, and he's not the only one. [NYT]
Related: Faux French [NYM]

Steve Cuozzo goes hog wild for the quirky, two-week-old Alloro, which served him five of the best pastas he's had all year. [NYP]

Sarah DiGregoiro paints the East Village's Persimmon as a cheaper, more accessible alternative to Ko. And who wouldn't want that? While admitting the place lacks Ko's “experimental edge,” her review of Persimmon's food verges on rapture. [VV]
Related: Kimchic [NYM]

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Neighborhood Watch 

7/ 8/08

3:15 PM

Bruni to Take on Benoit; Diner Makeover in the Burg

Astoria: Aegean Cove is up and running on Steinway Street, with the former chef from Gus' Place. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: Frank Bruni's at bat tomorrow on Platt-bageled Benoit. [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Murray Hill: Red Cherry frozen yogurt has opened on Fifth Avenue near 33rd Street, "just a block or two from Pinkberry, Crazy Bananas, and (soon) Red Mango." And first word has it not as good as the veteran fro-yo players. [Eater]
Sag Harbor: Montauk may be so hot right now, but Zagat has still called out the American Hotel for both appeal and service. [Zagat]
Williamsburg: Kellogg's has had its makeover, but will the food be better, since before it "was like the worst small-town Denny's ever with food that was three times as expensive"? [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
West Village: One If by Land has submitted a recipe for sautéed gulf shrimp with hearts of palm, so it looks like they haven't had trouble sourcing seafood after dropping purveyor Wild Edibles. [Restaurant Girl]

In the Magazine 

7/ 7/08

9:30 AM

A Mid-Summer Bouquet of Surprises

benoit

Platt hated the room at Benoit, and it only got worse from there.Photo: Zach Desart

In the magazine this week, New York's food editors bring you a bevy of mid-summer surprises. Rob and Robin report on a much-needed ice and gelato bar in Brooklyn, a paella palace on the west side, and a long-delayed Asian bistro in the East Village. Adam Platt visits Alain Ducasse's much-hyped Benoit, finds it utterly, shamefully wanting, and hands it an ignominious bagel. And Grub Street's Josh Ozersky presents a guide to summer grilling that will, hopefully, make you forget the hardened hamburgers and gray hot dogs of the Fourth of July. Add in news of a new Whole Foods and a labor shortage facing New York's kosher meat business, and it's another good week for feeding in New York.

Read more»

Two for Eight 

6/23/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Picholine; Bar Boulud and Le Bernardin Mostly Booked

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Gourmet French.

Read more»

The Other Critics 

6/18/08

9:30 AM

Bar Q Steals Two Stars; a Split Decision on Benoit

Despite mostly hating the barbecue parts of the Bar Q menu, Frank Bruni found enough to like at Anita Lo's new restaurant to justify giving it two stars, thanks to dishes “eclipsing my frustrations and lifting Bar Q well above its unevenness.” [NYT]

Ryan Sutton lays a merciless beat-down on Scarpetta, even going as far as to call chef Scott Conant's famous spaghetti overcooked! In fact, Sutton did like a few things — a fish here, a pea soup there — but he's not buying into Scarpetta, and puts down his flag with the first vehemently negative review. [Bloomberg]

Steve Cuozzo drops the hammer on Benoit, and from what we're hearing, he won't be the last. “Boring,” “irredeemably dull,” “unseasoned enough for convalescents…” Welcome back to the critical shit list, Mr. Alain Ducasse! Your brief honeymoon with Adour is now officially over. [NYP]

Read more»

The Other Critics 

6/11/08

9:30 AM

Ago Gets the Bruni Bagel; Richman Sky-high on Scarpetta

Note to restaurateurs: It's generally a good policy, when Frank Bruni comes into your place, not to pour wine all over the table, make him wait an hour, stick his friend behind a column, and send him waiters who don't know what's on the menu. Because that's how Ago earned a zero-star review from him. [NYT]

Alan Richman is the first major critic to file on Scarpetta and has only the most glowing things to say about Scott Conant's “refined, clean-cut, extraordinarily poised, modern Italian-American cuisine.” A big win for Scarpetta, even though Richman does call out the restaurant for being noisy. [GQ]

Restaurant Girl hits Benoit and, after paying the requisite tribute to its provenance, gets around to saying that the food there is completely unexceptional in every way. Its two stars seem like a gift. [NYDN]

Read more»

Two for Eight 

6/ 9/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Benoit and Picholine; Balthazar and Le Bernardin Mostly Booked

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Gourmet French.

Read more»

Neighborhood Watch 

5/13/08

3:00 PM

Tickets Still Available for Taste of the Nation; Jean-Jacques Rachou Cooks Classics for Free at Benoit (But You Have to Pay for Them)

Midtown West: Alain Ducasse lets septuagenarian chef Jean-Jacques Rachou (who owned La Côte Basque, which once occupied the Benoit space) cook the quenelles de brochet (classic pike dumplings) and cassoulet served at Benoit. He does this for free from 9 a.m. to noon. [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation event still has tickets available; visit the event site to get in on tomorrow's huge tasting. [Grub Street]
Nolita: Small, quality bar the Randolph might be opening up its basement to drinkers. [Down by the Hipster]
Red Hook: The Pioneer Inn, which was shuttered on Van Brunt Street, has changed hands and will reopen as the Brooklyn Ice House. The 360 space isn't so fortunate: Since the owner "cracked," the spot's "for rent. Still looks like 360 inside. But there's a new message, emblazoned on a t-shirt, hanging in the window: 'Stop and Think.' Stop and think about what? About renting the place?...About life?" [Lost City]
West Village: The new "Mr. Skewer (at 43 West 14th Street) has about as much in common with a Brazilian churrascaria as its neighbor Quizno’s does," but the chorizo plate is pretty tasty. [Gothamist]
The Rusty Knot has pros (like the space) and cons (sugary cocktails). [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]

Mediavore 

5/13/08

10:00 AM

More Meat-Plant Trouble; Marco Pierre White Can Live Without the Molecules

• Another meat plant is the subject of a federal investigation now, but in this case it's because of the illegal immigrants working there, not the abused animals. [NYT]

• Fancy-pants Gordon Ramsay was seen speaking fluent French when he stopped into Benoit. [NYDN]

• Gordo also thinks that restaurants using out-of-season produce that is not grown locally should be fined. [Reuters]

Read more»

VideoFeed 

5/ 6/08

1:35 PM

Overheard: Bistro Benoit

Alain Ducasse’s Benoit just opened, and we were on the spot last week to see what some of the first customers thought of their lunch. Was it truly classique? Did it live up to the legacy of Le Côte Basque, the French landmark that formerly occupied its space? Alexandra Vallis finds out in this video.

Mediavore 

5/ 5/08

10:00 AM

Danny Meyer in Harlem; El Morocco in Washington Heights

• Danny Meyer is being courted to open a café in Harlem. [NYT]

• The restaurant world’s royalty showed up at the opening of Alain Ducasse’s Benoit last week; Geoffrey Zakarian said his new West 44th Street restaurant should open in January. [NYP]

• Don’t worry about safety at Studio B’s new rooftop area, since the wire mesh encircling it totally makes it look not at all dangerous. [New York Shitty]

Read more»

In the Magazine 

5/ 5/08

9:30 AM

Wylie Dufresne Creates a New Hot Dog for PDT

Taavo Somer

A Picknick in the park.Photo: Emilie Baltz

In the magazine this week, the Underground Gourmet bestows three stars on the New French and Gael Greene has early intel on Benoit. As the weather warms, so do the grills at outdoor restaurants — Rob and Robin compiled a list of favorites. Gramercy Tavern chef Michael Anthony shares his recipe for green-garlic sauce in this week's "In Season," and chef Wylie Dufresne creates a new hot dog for PDT. In "Openings" this week, Rob and Robin bring news of BarFry's replacement, Cabrito, and welcome Abigail Café and Wine Bar to Prospect Heights. Finally, can a farmed bluefin tuna save the planet? Only the Robs know for sure.

Read more»

Mediavore 

5/ 1/08

10:00 AM

De Niro to Open Nobu Hotel; Start Stockpiling Food Today

• Robert De Niro plans to open Nobu Hotel — a Japanese-themed hotel-condo complex housing an outpost of the famous restaurant — in the financial district. [NYP]

• Gordon Ramsay was expected to stop by the launch of Alain Ducasse’s Benoit last night. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]

• In case you missed Law and Order: SVU on Tuesday night, Robin Williams played a creep who also happened to be a locavore. What are the writers implying here? [Serious Eats]

Read more»

The Other Critics 

4/30/08

9:45 AM

Ko’s First Non-Rave Finally Arrives; One Star for Commerce

The first less-than-stellar Ko review is in and suggests that reality is creeping in. Yes, the food was terrific, but you’ve already heard all about it, and the staff isn’t particularly friendly. Plus, “[s]itting on backless, uncushioned wooden stools for more than two hours can be a challenge for the best of us.” [WSJ]

It’s one-star time for Commerce; Frank Bruni admires chef Harold Moore’s as “ambitious and unpredictable,” but not necessarily in a good way. And the place is LOUD. [NYT]
Related: Commercial Appeal

A surprise two-star review for the mostly unnoticed Korhogo 126 in Brooklyn; Restaurant Girl loves the African spices. But did she really have to say that it had “soul”? [NYDN]
Related: Embattled Bistro Now Serving ‘Nouveau African’ at Korhogo 126

Read more»

Mediavore 

4/25/08

10:00 AM

Ducasse Dines at Brasserie Cognac; Don't Eat Too Many Soft-shell Crabs

• Alain Ducasse and Eric Ripert dined together at Brasserie Cognac the other night, in spite of the fact that it was the night Ducasse’s Benoit opened. [NYP]

• Stephen Aspirino, the well-attired former Top Chef contestant, may open a second restaurant in Miami. [NYP]

• There’s more to Cinco de Mayo than just drinking margaritas. [Feed/TONY]

Read more»

Mediavore 

4/22/08

10:00 AM

Meehan Talks ‘Times’; Benoit Opens

• Who should Peter Meehan’s successor at the Times be, according to him? “Somebody fucking hungry, that’s for sure.” [Eater]

• Just like food prices, beer prices are expected to rise due to global warming. [NYP]

• With lying chef Robert Irvine out of the way, Iron Chef Michael Symon will serve as the new star of the popular show Dinner: Impossible.
Related: Surprise, Surprise: Robert Irvine Gets the Boot From the Food Network

• Alain Ducasse’s Benoit opened yesterday in the former La Côte Basque space, and though it’s not as expensive as Adour, it’s still a pricey bistro. [Zagat Buzz]

• Dom DeMarco of Di Fara, the Saint of Avenue J, continues to be worshipped as a godlike figure. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

NewsFeed 

4/18/08

4:45 PM

Brasserie Cognac Gets a Jump Start on Ducasse's Bistro

brasserie cognac

Elegant exterior, cheesy interior.Photos: Courtesy of Cognac

This week marked the opening of Brasserie Cognac de Monsieur Ballon (henceforth known simply as Cognac), the new Serafina restaurant that stands to join the likes of Brasserie Ruhlmann as a reliable “Balthazar in midtown” option. The exec chef, Florian Hugo (a descendant of novelist Victor), worked under Alain Ducasse for eight years, which lends some drama to the fact that Ducasse is opening his own Balthazar-esque bistro, Benoit, down the street in about a week. So what does Cognac have going for it?

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Neighborhood Watch 

4/14/08

3:10 PM

Ducasse to Open Benoit in One Week; Picholine Honors ‘South Pacific’ With Special Menu

Dumbo: Forager's Market now has a juice bar serving house-made ginger ale and the Aphrodite: ginger, melon, parsley, and pineapple. [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: Frank and Sal are looking for an apartment in Manhattan, and if more consistent hours at Artichoke don't inspire you to help, the cousins are offering "a slice a day for a month." [Eater]
Hell's Kitchen: Kyotofu has a new spring menu that incorporates seasonal Japanese ingredients like the mountain peach, which is used in a dessert of blueberry-blood-orange-tofu cheesecake. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: Alain Ducasse should have the Stateside outpost of his casual Paris bistro Benoit open by April 21 in the space that was formerly La Côte Basque. [Flickr]
Upper West Side: Picholine is serving an Asian- and Hawaiian-inspired three-course prix fixe in honor of the revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center. Why? Because it's spring and chef Terrance Brennan tells us he's "having fun in the kitchen these days." [Grub Street]
West Village: Good opened its sidewalk seating over the weekend just in time for a sunny Saturday brunch. [Grub Street] Citarella is selling prepared Passover foods like matzo meal and tsimmes. [Grub Street]

NewsFeed 

4/ 9/08

4:20 PM

The French Still Occupy New York, If Not Greenmarket

auguste escoffier

Will Escoffier replace Alice Waters as the city's
food guru? Maybe not.Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Is it just us, or has the entire city turned aesthetically schizophrenic? How can the forces of anti–fine dining, led by David Chang, be at the forefront of gastronomy, while, uptown, restaurants like Eighty One, Dovetail, and South Gate are springing up like ramps, avatars of a genre supposedly half buried in the proverbial potter’s field? As Florence Fabricant writes in the Times today, haute Greenmarket hegemony continues to hold sway, and yet here come Benoit, Bar Boulud, and Bouley’s new French project resurrecting blanquette de veau and lobster thermidor. Is there some key to understanding the city’s culinary Zeitgeist right now? Or is this just a period of historic fecundity and instability, like the Roman empire after the death of Augustus? Either way, it adds up to a lot of very different, and very good, restaurants. Maybe New York will never have a single ruling spirit again, but rather a confederacy of aesthetics. If so, we could live with that. As long as lobster thermidor is in there somewhere.

There’ll Always Be a France, Especially in New York [NYT]

Mediavore 

6/27/07

10:10 AM

Pearl’s Oyster Bar Sues Ed’s Lobster Bar; Ducasse Taking Over Brasserie LCB

The owner of Pearl Oyster Bar sues the owner of Ed’s Lobster Bar for intellectual-property theft, accusing her former sous-chef of having stolen everything from the paint job to the Caesar salad dressing. [NYT]

Alain Ducasse has taken over Brasserie LCB and is looking to convert it into a bistro along the lines of Benoit, his casual place in Paris. [NYT]

It might not be such a good idea to hire a Top Chef. [NYO]

Read more»

 

 

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