Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘robin raisfeld’

In the Magazine 

7/14/08

9:30 AM

Platt on Scarpetta; Recession-Era Lemonade Stands

scarpetta

Scarpetta: three stars from Adam Platt.Photo: Noah Sheldon

In New York this week, Adam Platt finds three stars in his heart for Scott Conant's Scarpetta and Gael Greene calls the soba at Matsugen an “exciting revelation.” In "Openings" this week, Rob and Robin introduce us to Brooklyn's new American bistro Peaches, Soho's long-awaited Delicatessen, Michael White's new Convivio, and the Tabla Street Cart. Ignacio Mattos provides this week's recipe for grilled fava beans, and the staff of three lemonade stands talk business in a recession. It's tough all over.

Read more»

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»

In the Magazine 

6/16/08

9:30 AM

Making Sense of Summer Eats

bar q

Adam Platt visits Bar Q in the West Village this week.Photo: Zach Desart

The week in New York, Adam Platt visits two very different sorts of barbecue restaurants in Bar Q and Wildwood Barbeque — you may be surprised by his preference. Rob and Robin take it upon themselves to taste-test all the gelato in the West Village, Silvano Marchetto of Da Silvano goes downscale with his new restaurant, and Harold Moore of Commerce shares a recipe for beef tataki with scallion greens. Finally, the Robs introduce Audrey Saunders' new cocktail destination, Clover Club, and Marc (son of Larry) Forgione's new restaurant, Forge, all in this week's issue.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

6/ 9/08

9:30 AM

Eat Pizza in Brooklyn and Buy Meat in Union Square

brooklyn pizza

Brooklyn pizza beyond Di Fara and Totonno's.Photo: Noah Kalina

In this week's magazine, Rob and Robin deliver the definitive guide to buying meat and dairy in the Union Square Greenmarket, along with welcome news of a pizza renaissance in Brooklyn. The Robs also manage to find a decent boxed wine and deliver news of two new restaurants, in Harlem and on the Upper East Side. You'll also find a recipe for fluke and Gael Greene's notes on Hundred Acres. In the "Intelligencer section," read about a former West Village diner destined to be a high-end chophouse.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

6/ 2/08

9:30 AM

It's Breakfast Time in New York

bacon

New York brings home the bacon in this week's magazine.Photo: Mitchell Feinberg; food styling by Sarah Jane Crawford

Breakfast may or may not be the most important meal in a typical day of a New Yorker, but it matters: That's why we've devoted a whole issue this week to the first meal of the day. We break down the science of breakfast and ask 60 New Yorkers what they ate one morning. We send Adam Platt into a room with 100 breakfast cereals and refuse to let him out until he reviews every one. We've got the authoritative guide to bacon and eggs and all you need to know about the city's massive caffeine addiction. And Platt joins Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld in nailing down the city's twenty best breakfasts, from French toast to burritos. Pour yourself some coffee, order a bialy, and start reading.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

5/27/08

9:30 AM

Platt on Bar Milano; Learn to Pair Spanish Wines

bar milano

Bar Milano -- not quite three stars.Photo: Zach Desart

In the magazine this week, Adam Platt stops in at Bar Milano, finding the Lupa spinoff worthy of two stars and some measured prose. In “Openings,” Rob and Robin introduce a Bosnian restaurant (Kafana), a new Korean restaurant from a Momofuku alumnus (Persimmon), and even an American restaurant (Sheridan Square) from a chef who's been out of the picture for a while. The chefs of three of the city's best Spanish restaurants pair three of the best 2007 Spanish wines with just the right dishes. And do a few words from Tom Colicchio mean Top Chef will go global? Find out in New York.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

5/19/08

9:30 AM

Dining Out With Food Allergies; Platt on South Gate

south gate

South Gate comes in for the Platt treatment this week.Photo: Brad Paris

This week's New York explores eating in the city with food allergies. How do you avoid various nuts, fruits, and spices in your favorite restaurants? Two allergic diners test three different restaurants, and food-allergy coach Sloane Miller gives tips for where (and how) to eat safely at restaurants. Adam Platt visits the posh South Gate and finds it far short of its aspirations, deeming it worth just a single star. And in "In Season," asparagus gets a novel treatment from Phillip Kirschen-Clark, the “secret chef” at Jimmy's No. 43.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

5/12/08

9:30 AM

Secrets of Grand Sichuan, and Welcome to Scarpetta

Wildwood Barbeque

Olana comes in under Adam Platt's microscope.Photo: Zach Desart

In the magazine this week, Adam Platt bestows two approving stars on Olana and Mia Dona, while Gael Greene is mostly pleased with Wildwood Barbeque. The Robs provide insight on the world of Chinese food with the founder of the Grand Sichuan chain, and Amanda Freitag of the Harrison gives the Robs her recipe for lovage with gravlax. In "Openings," our food editors announce the arrival of three restaurants with backstories: Hundred Acres, the successor to the recently closed Provence; Scarpetta, Scott Conant’s new casual Italian in the meatpacking; and Curry-Ya, the latest Japanese import to the East Village. Plus, hotelier André Balazs launches his own wine. It's just another busy week in New York.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

4/14/08

9:30 AM

The Fruits of Ingenuity, in This Week's Issue

grilled cheese sandwiches

Really, what's better than a good grilled cheese sandwich? Or four?Photo: Noah Sheldon

The theme of this week’s issue, at least that of its food content, was immediately obvious to us: ingenuity. In a city so stocked and teeming with restaurants, how can chefs find niches to fill? A noodle bar is reconfigured as a poor man’s Masa and earns four stars from Adam Platt; a wine bar forbidden from hard liquor uses wine, port, and sherry to create cocktails; and a restaurant catering to wealthy clients produces foie gras–flavored dog biscuits. Rob and Robin, in their tireless rounds, suss out such acts of creativity but also stop to appreciate the simple things, like the chocolate cookies at Payard Patisserie, say, or a promising Japanese restaurant opening on 8th Street, or the grilled-cheese-sandwich program at the bar at Smith’s. Add to this an inexpensive Argentine grill encountered by Gael Greene, and it’s another week in the life of New York, and New York.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

3/24/08

9:30 AM

Spanning the Globe, From Africa to Connecticut

merkato

If you can get Adam Platt to give you two stars for African food, you're doing something right.Photo: Zach Desart

This week's issue goes far and wide, from the past to the future, from Connecticut to remotest Africa. Rob and Robin have worked up a foodie spring break: four can't-miss restaurants that will compel you to rent a car and head out of town. No such effort is required to sample the cooking of Africa, via the kitchen at Merkato 55, which Adam Platt enjoys to the tune of two stars. On more familiar European ground, Gael Greene stops in at Mia Dona and finds much (though not everything) to her liking. There's a warm review of Arthur “the food maven” Schwartz's new cookbook, a definitive source on the story of Jewish foodways in New York. In "Openings" this week, Rob and Robin do us no favors by introducing an NYU-area cookie store catering to night owls. The Robs also mark the opening of Pomme de Terre, a bistro welcomed by residents of Ditmas Park.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

3/17/08

9:30 AM

Good Times for High and Low in This Week's Issue

Adour

This is what a three-star restaurant looks like.Photo: Eric Laignel/Courtesy of Adour Alain Ducasse at the St. Regis New York

These are high times we’re living in. Every stratum of society has something going for it. On the tippy top, the wine-swilling swells who frequent Adour can enjoy what, in Adam Platt’s view, is three-star cuisine. And their fellow plutocrats will enjoy South Gate’s posh but lively room and Gael Greene–approved food (well, except for the clams). But for the rest of us, Rob and Robin have a panoply of awarding options: There are the spring-inspired rhubarb hamantaschen made by Emily Isaac at Trois Pommes Patisserie; an interview the Robs did with Momofuku man Joaquin Baca, who now is doing the menu for world-class dive bar the Rusty Knot; and, adding to this embarrassment of riches, takeout sweets from Pichet Ong’s Batch, and a very appealing-sounding little Tuscan restaurant on Bleecker Street. On top of everything else, crackling is the latest snack trend. Good times, friends. Good times.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

2/18/08

9:00 AM

Platt Disses Daniel, and Other Holiday Tales

Platt is ready to admit that the room is handsome, but…Photo courtesy Bar Boulud

Presidents’ Day is a holiday for Grub Street, but, thankfully, there’s enough in this week’s magazine to read till we return tomorrow. Daniel Boulud, whom Adam Platt respects as the Last Great French Chef, falls down in his new restaurant and gets only one star. In this week's "Openings," Rob and Robin introduce us to Olana (American with Italian influences) and marvel at Akhtar Nawab and Noel Cruz for putting a restaurant where Jimi Hendrix used to (reportedly) play. At Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Rob and Robin find the mind-bending “Frankensteak”: hanger steak that is literally glued to world-class rib-eye deckle. The Insatiable Critic falls for Fiore, a funky, rustic Italian place in Williamsburg; for those at risk of scurvy, pickled lemon is in "In Season" this week. But if you want a drink, you’ll find a guide to the city’s top boutique wineshops by the Gastropoda herself, Regina Schrambling.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

2/11/08

9:30 AM

We Haven't Had That Spirit Here Since 1968

The good old days.Illustration by Wes Duvall

Though it may be New York's 40th anniversary, 1968 was a rough year: the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Tet Offensive, riots in Newark and Detroit. But one area no one could complain about was food in New York, as this week’s anniversary issue attests. Gael Greene, who was then — as now — a potent force in the city’s restaurant culture, conjures up one of the era’s most vivid restaurant scenes at Orsini's, complete with a cast ranging from Yul Brynner to Porfirio Rubirosa, the era’s greatest playboy. Rob and Robin, scoping out the city’s treats circa 1968, find everything from Japanese raw-fish sandwiches called “sushi” to quenelles at La Côte Basque. And, in a fitting tribute to an era when “fine dining” meant French food, a recipe for “ze Soufflé” at La Grenouille.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

2/ 4/08

10:30 AM

Dovetail Takes Flight, Merkato 55 Opens, and All Is Well

Dovetail's three-star review, coming right up.Photo: Noah Sheldon

Well, here’s some news the food world will find welcome: Adam Platt is so won over by the Upper West Side’s Dovetail that he has gone and awarded the place three stars. And in further good news, Merkato 55, Marcus Samuelsson’s much-awaited African restaurant, finally opens its doors in the meatpacking district, as Rob and Robin report in this week’s Openings. On the other side of the trendiness spectrum, the 2nd Avenue Deli comes under the gaze of Gael Greene, and the Insatiable Critic likes what she sees. Add in the mysteries of the Tasting Table and a fine sangria recipe, and you have plenty to chew on in this week’s magazine.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

1/28/08

9:30 AM

Platt Pans Brasserie 44; Make Your Own Guacamole

Bar Blanc

Inside Bar BlancPhoto: Noah Sheldon

Reading this week’s magazine — or at least the food-related parts of it — had its own special rhythm. First came the shock and guilty excitement of reading Adam Platt’s review of Bar Blanc, which he liked, and Brasserie 44, which he didn't — zero stars. In a week with only one opening (Bridge Vineyards Tasting Room), Rob and Robin taught us how to make guacamole (there's a video, too!) and turned us on to the rebellious risotto at Dell’anima. They also found local treats that are globally inspired and clued us in on the rabbits multiplying across city menus. Gael Greene managed to get a table in the early days of Chop Suey, and her pre-pre-pre-review is favorable.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

1/ 7/08

9:30 AM

Alain Ducasse Tries to Win Our Love

Ducasse

Alain Ducasse at AdourPhoto: Hans Gissinger

New York City hasn’t been kind to Alain Ducasse. But after reading this week’s big feature on the world’s most-starred chef and his latest effort to make New York love him, we find it hard to believe that he doesn’t have a fighting chance. Adam Platt somehow manages to appreciate delicacy this week and gives Smith’s an enthusiastic two-star review. Finally, Rob and Robin bring us two things sure to warm the insides of any New Yorker in January: Charles Gabriel’s collard greens and the hot cocktails at three of New York’s best bars.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

12/ 3/07

9:30 AM

It’s All Topsy-Turvy in This Week’s Magazine

The hallowed halls of meat: Primehouse New York.Photo: Noah Sheldon

The magazine’s content this week, which is copious, compelling, and diverse, is also curious. How in the world did Adam Platt give Primehouse New York the two stars we thought it deserves? Is it possible that the big man is softening? Likewise, we expected Gael Greene to be skeptical about Shelly’s La Tradizionale, a Shelly Fireman restaurant that was Shelly’s New York just a few short months ago — but instead she’s agog over the Italian seafood. Rob and Robin devise a guide to group dinners in the city, an antidote to the annual stress of holiday gatherings. For Hanukkah, they consulted with Julian Medina of Toloache for a Mexican take on latkes. Plus, there’s plenty of news in the openings department: Philoxenia makes a welcome return to Astoria, and Rheon Café brings high-tech Japanese restaurant equipment to New York.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

10/29/07

9:30 AM

It's a Haute Barnyard Type of Week in New York

And imagine, it'll all come down in a few months.Photo: Michael Harlan Turkell

“The doctrine of seasonal correctness is as ingrained in the collective restaurant psyche, these day, as linen napkins, pre-dinner cocktails, and superfluous baskets of bread,” Adam Platt writes in his review of Park Avenue Autumn, and who are we to argue? The combined efforts of Platt, the Robs, and Gael Greene all point to the triumph of the seasonal aesthetic. But that’s not to say they aren’t fun. Platt gives two stars to Park Avenue Autumn, Gael seems fairly pleased with Irving Mill, and the Robs introduce three restaurants (Lunetta, Bacaro, and Smith's) that are all about fresh ingredients, as well as a recipe for Bosc pears that is, of course, in season. Meanwhile, back at the Greenmarket, a long-overdue crusade against plastic bags is at work. And, though not an expression of the Haute Barnyard mystique, it's very much a sign of the times: PDT has named a hot dog for David Chang — proof that the Original Soupman has made it to the big time at last.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

10/15/07

9:30 AM

Go Around the World Without Leaving New York

You call that a pizza oven? THIS is a pizza oven Photo: Jeremy Liebman

This week’s issue, appropriately, spans the globe. The foodie’s guide to traveling tells you where to eat in vacation spots from Taipei to the Berkshires, but really, there’s no need for you to even leave town. Adam Platt is turning Japanese (we really think so) with a double review of Soto and BarFry; Gael Greene stops into Pamplona to run with Alex Ureña’s newly mainstreamed cuisine; and Rob and Robin (in a new feature called "Tools of the Trade") describe in detail the secrets of a new oven brought over from Italy to Una Pizza Napoletana. Meanwhile, grapes and white truffles abound, there are two restaurants on Avenue B, and all is good with the world, or at least our little corner of it in New York.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

7/16/07

10:30 AM

What Is Summer for But Barbecue, Ice Cream, and Vegetables?

Hill Country knew what Adam Platt's rating would be, and made it a design element.Photo: Morini for New York Magazine

Summer's end is already in sight: The All-Star Game is in the books, and another Fourth of July has passed without America being challenged by either the British or savage conquerors from another planet. All that remains are the most basic elements of summer eating: barbecue, ice cream, and fresh vegetables. And that happy trinity constitutes this week’s food section. Adam Platt finally finds barbecue happiness at Hill Country, so much so that the loquacious critic was reduced to declaring the ribs “really, really good.” Also on the subject of barbecue, Rob and Robin announce the debut of three more places, from a New Hampshire Yankee, a former boy-band star, and two ex–Blue Smoke cooks. The Robs also give the world their definitive list of the city’s top four ice-cream places (the best one rhymes with “Tom”). Finally, there's a conspicuously healthy recipe for zucchini with mint and scallions via the Slow Food haven Franny’s, in (where else?) Park Slope.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

6/11/07

9:30 AM

Choose Your Food Group Wisely: Which Side Are You On?

Quantity didn't equal quality for Platt.Photo: Lea Golis for New York Magazine

There are four restaurant-related stories in this week’s issue, and they ask you to take a side. Are you a New Yorker who glories in the freshness of newly arrived strawberries and seasonal cooking in general? Or are you an atavistic who prefers to sit in air-conditioned steakhouses, consuming red meat in 90-degree weather? This week, at least, Adam Platt is clearly the latter, dining in the Freon fortress that is Landmarc and finding only the heaviest, most beef- and bacon-laden foods worthy of (faint) praise. Those of us who have fathers like him are enjoined, in one of this week’s Short Lists, to visit various steakhouses with our dads. On the side, there is more cool, natural frozen yogurt than ever to be had, enumerated in another Short List, and this week’s In Season features a recipe for delicate pasta with strawberries from Sfoglia.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

5/14/07

9:30 AM

Small Precious Pleasures in the New York Food World

Platt loves the silent, solitary art of sushi. Especially the silent part.Photo: RJ Mickelson

A trio of food events, some stinging nettles, and two very serious Japanese restaurants make up this week’s food news. Though the items may be few in number, the magazine’s contents carry a significant freight of good tidings. Adam Platt visits a modern sushi restaurant and an intimate Japanese kaiseki establishment, and finds both pleasingly stark and traditional, a welcome change from the big-box Asian behemoths of recent years. Sara Jenkins, formerly of Bread Tribeca, provides a similarly plain but elegant recipe for one of the spring’s most welcome greens, wild stinging nettles, which adorn a simple Tuscan bucatini dish. Last, this week’s Short List features three events which have nothing in common except all sounding absolutely delicious.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

4/30/07

9:30 AM

Indulge in the Easy Life in This Week’s Issue

Just try to find Adam Platt in this picture.Photo: RJ Mickelson for New York Magazine

New York’s food coverage this week has an air of decadence and satiety to it. Its mood is one of indulgence. Adam Platt wanders into two gastropubs and wanders out happy with one and very unhappy with the other. Charles Stuart Platkin describes the gastronomic orgy that is a tasting meal at Per Se and explains, scientifically, how insanely fattening it really is. Our three announced openings are likewise all of a starkly sybaritic kind: an expensive new sushi restaurant, a wine store, and a gelato parlor. And, this being Kentucky Derby time, this week’s In Season spotlights that perennial favorite of the idle, the classic mint julep, as prepared by LeNell Smothers, New York’s resident bourbon guru.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

4/23/07

11:00 AM

Nature Bursts From the Pages of This Week’s Issue

Platt versus Psilakis, round two at Anthos.Photo: RJ Mickelson/Veras for New York Magazine

In this week’s issue, as befits spring, nature is bursting out of our food coverage. Snails and sea urchins take supporting roles in Adam Platt’s review of the highly rarefied Anthos; Gael Greene flutters into a restaurant called Tree; Rob and Robin talk tomatoes, spring almonds, and even more snails; and, in the spirit of growth, our food editors lay out two Short Lists of places where you can introduce young, growing gourmands to their future lifetime pursuit. Plus, four new restaurant bloom in the April sunshine, all in New York this week.

Read more»

NewsFeed 

3/19/07

11:20 AM

Hark! James Beard Award Nominations

After much speculation, the 2007 nominees for the James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the restaurant world, are in. Adam Platt, Rob Patronite, Robin Raisfeld, and Grub Street all filled out Beard brackets (or at least revealed whom we’d like to see win) on Friday. Here's how the academy's coming down.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

3/19/07

10:31 AM

Platt Seduced By High Society; The Robs Wait Patiently in Line

In this week’s issue of the magazine, things are a little topsy-turvy. Back from London after sampling (and writing about) that city's burgeoning restaurant scene, Adam Platt eats at a place that hasn’t technically opened, and Rob and Robin provide some choices for killing time at one that reopens this week. And if the winter weather is keeping you home, the Underground Gourmet provides a recipe for little purple potatoes, cooked simply up and smashed with a fork, just the way they do it at Gramercy Tavern.

Read more»

 

 

Advertising

About this Blog

Welcome to Grub Street

What to expect from New York Magazine's food daily.

E-mail the editor

Sign up for the Newsletter