303 replies to this topic

[Sneakeater]

There are a few cases of restaurants that are very famous where the chef that made the restaurant famous surprisingly wasn't the opening chef (whom nobody remembers). I'm sure this is true -- but I can't think of any right now. (I'm not necessarily talking about current places.)

[Sneakeater]

Of course, this is much harder now than it was in the past, given the hothouse food media climate.

[oakapple]

Eater's got the deets from the horse's mouth:

I always imagined ISA to be a casual, friendly, wood-fired place with Mediterranean cuisine that would be enjoyed by the neighborhood, families and friends, a few times a week. Expect to see things that take full advantage of the great grill and wood-fired oven we designed - grilled, charred, wood-roasted, smoked foods and kid friendly items too.

I’m excited to have our chef team behind Freemans and Peels, who all worked together at Barbuto for many years, in to join us in making this casual Mediterranean vision come to life. . . .

Later this summer, we’ll be adding LUNCH and delivery, and stay tuned for more fun news. With these upcoming changes, as of today chef Ignacio Mattos will no longer be working with us at ISA.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised at how easily bookable Isa was at reasonably short notice. It filled up on Friday night, but not before 8pm. Though clearly not struggling, it was perhaps not packed daily, and Somer may have realized that Mattos's intellectual cuisine wasn't going to be pulling in heavy repeat business in the neighborhood.

Then again, he may have been disenchanted with Mattos for completely different reasons, and bringing in the team he knows would've been the quickest fix to keep the place open. Either way, Isa is now just another Freemans and Peels: not bad places (for what they are), but I wouldn't traipse to Williamsburg to visit them.

[oakapple]

There are a few cases of restaurants that are very famous where the chef that made the restaurant famous surprisingly wasn't the opening chef (whom nobody remembers). I'm sure this is true -- but I can't think of any right now. (I'm not necessarily talking about current places.)

Yes, that no doubt happened. I am thinking of cases where there is a well publicized and clearly involuntary departure, as there is here.

[Sneakeater]

Yeah, that seems hard to recover from.

(I assume we're not going to count Gilbert Le Coze's as a "clearly involuntary departure.")

[erha2]

Eater's got the deets from the horse's mouth:

I always imagined ISA to be a casual, friendly, wood-fired place with Mediterranean cuisine that would be enjoyed by the neighborhood, families and friends, a few times a week. Expect to see things that take full advantage of the great grill and wood-fired oven we designed - grilled, charred, wood-roasted, smoked foods and kid friendly items too.

I’m excited to have our chef team behind Freemans and Peels, who all worked together at Barbuto for many years, in to join us in making this casual Mediterranean vision come to life. . . .

Later this summer, we’ll be adding LUNCH and delivery, and stay tuned for more fun news. With these upcoming changes, as of today chef Ignacio Mattos will no longer be working with us at ISA.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised at how easily bookable Isa was at reasonably short notice. It filled up on Friday night, but not before 8pm. Though clearly not struggling, it was perhaps not packed daily, and Somer may have realized that Mattos's intellectual cuisine wasn't going to be pulling in heavy repeat business in the neighborhood.

Then again, he may have been disenchanted with Mattos for completely different reasons, and bringing in the team he knows would've been the quickest fix to keep the place open. Either way, Isa is now just another Freemans and Peels: not bad places (for what they are), but I wouldn't traipse to Williamsburg to visit them.

Sadly it's all about the benjamins...Disappointing but I can't say I'm surprised. The food was really challenging at times. I remember eating the sunchoke cream dessert which had pieces of dried mushrooms (they had the same exact texture as the hallucinogenic mushrooms I'd eat when I was in college and would make me hurl). Was not a pleasant memory for me although I enjoyed almost everything else from my dinners there.

Without even seeing the new menu, it's safe to say I probably won't be back if it's like Peels/Freemans.

[Orik]

It's an interesting case, because it's not purely about the Benjamins. I mean, of course as a result it is - if the restaurant costs more to run than it makes then it's going to close, but there are more than a couple of restaurants in Brooklyn charging similar prices.

I think the most blatently obvious problem was the entree situation - the fish were revolting - I mean, oakapple, would you ever want to eat that mackerel again? maybe if it was a small plate and had some extra textural elements, but as it is? oy. The other fish had the same issues, and the steak wasn't impressive either. This meant people who had the $50 prix fixe (more recently $55 iirc) probably weren't coming back for it, or at least they weren't raving about it to their friends... a far larger contingent of diners were just taking an appetizer and a drink or two, and that just couldn't justify having this kind of kitchen.

[AaronS]

Ok which one of you guys posted this:

Rumor has it that Do Or Dine is going to open a pop up based on the 2006 Momofuko menu in the Isa space. Mark my word...

you do know that Do Or Dine chose to celebrate their one year anniversary by offering the opening Noodle Bar Menu? I didn't go.

I'm kind of upset that I missed Isa, every time I made up my mind to go I looked the website put me off it.

[oakapple]

I think the most blatently obvious problem was the entree situation - the fish were revolting - I mean, oakapple, would you ever want to eat that mackerel again? maybe if it was a small plate and had some extra textural elements, but as it is? oy. The other fish had the same issues, and the steak wasn't impressive either.

I wouldn't want that mackerel again. As a one-time visitor, of course, I had no idea whether it was typical.

The steak was $29, and for that price you're not going to get a great specimen anywhere.

[Anthony Bonner]

Ok which one of you guys posted this:

Rumor has it that Do Or Dine is going to open a pop up based on the 2006 Momofuko menu in the Isa space. Mark my word...

you do know that Do Or Dine chose to celebrate their one year anniversary by offering the opening Noodle Bar Menu? I didn't go.

I'm kind of upset that I missed Isa, every time I made up my mind to go I looked the website put me off it.

I did not know that.

[Suzanne F]

What I wonder is: if the place was open as long as it was already, and the owner's idea had been "I always imagined ISA to be a casual, friendly, wood-fired place with Mediterranean cuisine" but the chefs did otherwise, why was the food so different in the first place? Why did the owner let it be so different from the start? Who is BSing now? If the owner's "vision" was never, ever fulfilled, but he is only now doing something about it, he does not strike me as an owner who knows how to manage his staff, regardless of how "successful" his other places are.

I mean, you don't hire a chef based on what s/he wants to do, you hire based on how well s/he executes the concept. At least, that's what I would do.

[Lex]

What I wonder is: if the place was open as long as it was already, and the owner's idea had been "I always imagined ISA to be a casual, friendly, wood-fired place with Mediterranean cuisine" but the chefs did otherwise, why was the food so different in the first place? Why did the owner let it be so different from the start? Who is BSing now? If the owner's "vision" was never, ever fulfilled, but he is only now doing something about it, he does not strike me as an owner who knows how to manage his staff, regardless of how "successful" his other places are.

I mean, you don't hire a chef based on what s/he wants to do, you hire based on how well s/he executes the concept. At least, that's what I would do.

Excellent point. We're not getting the whole story.

[oakapple]

What I wonder is: if the place was open as long as it was already, and the owner's idea had been "I always imagined ISA to be a casual, friendly, wood-fired place with Mediterranean cuisine" but the chefs did otherwise, why was the food so different in the first place? Why did the owner let it be so different from the start? Who is BSing now? If the owner's "vision" was never, ever fulfilled, but he is only now doing something about it, he does not strike me as an owner who knows how to manage his staff, regardless of how "successful" his other places are.

I mean, you don't hire a chef based on what s/he wants to do, you hire based on how well s/he executes the concept. At least, that's what I would do.

An owner's explanation of what went wrong is always self-serving. It's not in his interest to tell you the whole, unvarnished story. It's part justification, part marketing, and part spin-mongering.

On its face, and taking Somer at his literal word, it's hard to see how such a huge disconnect could happen. I suspect it was more nuanced than that. The restaurant launched, and initially it was full to the gills. The food wasn't quite what Somer expected, but the place was packed, so he decided to roll with it.

Of course, even if the problem had been apparent to him then, once they were into the review cycle it would have been total capitulation to fire the whole kitchen staff. I can very well understand being reluctant to make that move.

Then he started to see some empty tables. He started to get feedback from friends and customers that the food wasn't accessible enough. He brought this to the chef's attention, and it went back & forth, until finally he realized that he needed to reboot.

We may never get the full story of how it went down, but this is quite believable to me, and it happens all the time in business, whether you're talking about the CEO of Yahoo or the director of Spiderman on Broadway. And even in the restaurant business, chefs get canned all the time, with the owner saying that the food wasn't what the owner had in mind.

The only thing that makes this one different is that Isa was not (by any account I can find) struggling, and most of the reviews were positive. Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton even opined that Isa was a shoo-in for a Michelin star. I don't agree with that, but it's notable that he even said it.

What this tells me is that Somer is a Jeffrey Chodorow or Stephen Hanson type of restaurateur. He is just not interested in critical acclaim or serving destination cuisine of any kind. He wants to be low-brow.

[Sneakeater]

"Gold Star" (I prefer "Ditto" myself)

[Orik]

You've got it more or less right, and of course as in any failed venture the dynamics between owners and senior employees quickly enter a death spiral.

I think Somer would be thrilled to serve good food, but that personally he couldn't tell mackerel from a wet pita. He's got the idea that a restaurant is not just a place to eat right, but he fails to see that the critical acclaim still hinges somewhat on it being a place to eat.