When I learned that the Russian Tea Room was about to reopen earlier this month after four years as a darkened stage, I hoped for the best and expected the worst. The six-story former brownstone on West 57th Street, wedged between Carnegie Tower and Metropolitan Tower, was purchased in 2004 for a reported $19 million Read More
When I learned that the Russian Tea Room was about to reopen earlier this month after four years as a darkened stage, I hoped for the best and expected the worst.
The six-story former brownstone on West 57th Street, wedged between Carnegie Tower and Metropolitan Tower, was purchased in 2004 for a reported $19 million Read More
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Sidney Poitier, Lauren Bacall, Jonathan Demme, Matthew Broderick—none was in attendance last Thursday evening when I visited, “invitation only,” the Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, the new venture in Westport, Conn., owned by the Newmans and their executive chef, Michel Nischan. In advance of the formal Read More
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Sidney Poitier, Lauren Bacall, Jonathan Demme, Matthew Broderick—none was in attendance last Thursday evening when I visited, “invitation only,” the Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, the new venture in Westport, Conn., owned by the Newmans and their executive chef, Michel Nischan.
In advance of the formal Read MoreThree weeks ago, on a Thursday, shortly after lunch service at Oceana, the elegant seafood restaurant on East 54th Street, a short, slight man in a business suit presented himself to the receptionist and inquired, in an unmistakable French accent, if he could have a word with the manager.
Paul McLaughlin, the restaurant's managing partner, promptly Read MoreWarm, woody and welcoming, the Harrison works its charms from the moment you arrive. Upon passing through the door, you meet up with two, sometimes three, greeters, all of whom appear to be having a very good day. Within seconds, you are coatless and cheerfully on your way to the table, where you are thanked Read More
Two years ago, when Michael Sherman completed his cooking apprenticeships at several of the city's most famous kitchens-among them Lespinasse, Bouley, Aureole and March-he decided, like so many impatient young culinarians, to open his own restaurant.
"I looked at all of the boroughs in the city and discovered a huge void-in the Bronx," Mr. Sherman recalled. Read MoreWhen the restaurant economy is good-and it's very good indeed-culinary maternity wards overflow with the wistful, the risk-takers and, as always, the inept. This spring's crop of new restaurants reflects these flush times in scope, number and variety. More than ever, it seems that successful restaurants are spinning off carbon copies of themselves, while others Read More
In the past few months, Manhattan has been the giddy beneficiary of two major spectacles in the world of art: first, the recondite Gates installation in Central Park, and second, the unveiling of the Museum of Modern Art after a long renovation. While the former held my interest for as long as it took to Read More
Like a gentleman who cannot decide which suit to wear to dinner, Compass, the protean, three-year-old establishment near Lincoln Center, continues to seek an identity. Since opening three years ago, it has bid adieu to three chefs and in the process has seen more twists and turns than a slalom course. The latest culinary theme Read More
Last Thursday evening, eight of New York's leading chefs were AWOL from their kitchens. They went to the movies.
The invitation-only event was the screening of a documentary about Ferran Adrià, the Spanish culinary alchemist who in recent years has enjoyed more press than a rich man's suit. Just last month, the 42-year-old's boyish face graced Read MoreThis was my fourth restaurant wake of 2004-and by far the jolliest and least sentimental. It is fitting that Le Cirque folded its tent on New Year's Eve, when the entire world was clowning around and hardly paying attention. That's how owner Sirio Maccioni wanted it-to get it over with and move on.
"I wish I Read MoreAlmost everyone, at one time or another, dreams of opening a restaurant-holding forth at the copper-topped bar as you welcome stylish and good-natured customers, fielding compliments for the divine food, pouring exquisite wine and chatting with happy customers as they take their leave, vowing to return soon (with lots of friends).
Then there's the other Read MoreDon’t touch my food. Please.
I was reading the New York Times food section recently and came across a photograph of a chef at one of the new restaurants in the Time Warner Center (I’ll kindly withhold the name) who was preparing a dish of yellow snapper filets. Leaning over the serving plate with the intense Read More
