68 replies to this topic

[Aaron T]

According to the Post, Ian Schrager has found a new chef for the chinese resto in the Gramercy Park Hotel:

IAN Schrager has a new chef for the Chinese restaurant in his Gramercy Park Hotel - and he's Japanese. Schrager has a tentative deal to bring superstar Yuji Wakiya to the glam inn where an earlier deal with London-based Alan Yau fell through. "It is not signed, sealed or delivered, but I am more than hopeful that it will be happening," Schrager told Post restaurant columnist Steve Cuozzo. "During my week in China and Japan, I tasted phenomenal Chinese cooking, but none better and more original than Yuji's." The place should open this spring. Schrager was exposed to Wakiya through Nobu partners Robert De Niro and Nobu Matsuhisa. "The complete Nobu team will be involved in operating the restaurant - but it will be Yuji's restaurant."

Wakika's website

[shelora]

Where is the restaurant located in the hotel? Viewed the billiards/lounge room and the adjoining bar, but I don't recall a restaurant space.

[TaliesinNYC]

Wakiya is a long, fairly narrow room with areas for private parties, all done with splashes of colorful, stylized printed patterns and accents of ebony and shiny black tile. About the only specifically Asian features are the chopsticks at each setting.

It appears that the restaurant is set to open in July. Click here for a preview.

[juuceman]

dinner there tonight.. reservation for four secured wednesday afternoon.. the two of us arrived at 9:30 and were seated immediately pending the arrival of the remainder of our party, whom we indicated would be drifting in over the next 30 minutes.. no efforts were made to park us at the bar, and we were given a large six top in the rear of the resturant that was overly comfortable and made a great setting for the evening..

overall, it felt like a studied approach to present day, high end, nyc small plate eating..

cocktails off the list were nice, not overly sweet or syrupy; i don't understand anywhere nearly enough about wine, but eat out enough to usually recognize a few bottles on the list; whle my focus was on white tonight, i recognized nothing, with the exception of a Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc which we skipped over.. 3x markup on bottles, they had a bottle of most everything open and available by the glass.. bottles were iced down to order- if you open something, enjoy it, and expect to order another bottle, it should probably be done with this in mind..

food was great- we quickly went thru vegetable and shrimp dumplings and an order of spring rolls.. wrappers not as delicate as the dim sum at Chinatown Brasserie but fillings were all fresh, of high quality, and well prepared.. the spring rolls were fried well and good with the drinks..

dishes came out individually throughout the evening plate by plate, were served family in a well paced format and dishes were switched 3+ times throughout the meal..

mains varied a bit, nothing wasn't good or better, with the standout being the sea bass with salt and pepper in a pepper sauce that was served with a tea strainer style spoon.. the vegetable fried rice was very well prepared and a nice ending point of the evening.. beef negimaki, wrapped around asparagus, with a sweet/sour chili dressing was good; creamy lemon shrimp is the first departure from the creamy spicy shrimp dish at nobu that dirves so many fried asian fusion dishes.. seafood toast, with a tomato/sweet/spicy sauce (the recommendation of the waiter) was the suprise hit of the night, highly reminiscent of the guilty pleasure of the crispy rice cake with spicy tuna dish at koi.. the peking duck was the low point of the meal- the crepes were of a very high quality but the meat itself was just good..

the asian affogato should be the show stopper dessert of the year, a vietnamese coffee that's brewed over the ice cream at the table.. the warm chocolate cake was disappointing in that it was only what it needed to be- warm, molten, mildly bitter chocolate with a small scoop of ice cream served on the side..

if you enjoy the cooking and experience of Perry Street, I think you'll enjoy this.. the menu wasn't as consistent, but it's better done than any of the high end asian that's currently in new york, i.e., budakkan, shun lee, tao, none of which will experience a drop off in sheer number of clientele they serve but Wakiya offers so much more personable of an interaction, and a high caliber of food, that it will be a shame if they overbook the restaurant and allow a corresponding drop off in the level of staff interaction and/or quality of food that we enjoyed tonight, which was perfect and attentive..

expensive.. good for a fun night out.. hard to describe the overall experience, but think of it as a fun alternative to the front room in the modern..

[Cathy]

The Ma Po tofu is excellent, as is the XO omelet fried rice - although we were advised to order the latter or something like it as a last course, and it's too rich and heavy for that.

Juuce, did you try the pear and honey martini? Delicious.

[juuceman]

The Ma Po tofu is excellent, as is the XO omelet fried rice - although we were advised to order the latter or something like it as a last course, and it's too rich and heavy for that.

Juuce, did you try the pear and honey martini? Delicious.

the pear and honey martini was very good..

i'd read that portions were extremely small before going.. we ordered three dim sum as soon as we could as the ladies were starving, then moved into five mains, we could have done without the beef rolls and the duck.. the rice and noodle dishes are probably good ways to bulk up at the end of the meal, all of the food is otherwise served without rice.. every dish is, by design, properly portioned for four people to share and served in the center of the table..

the staff was extremely familiar with the menu and their suggestions as to both cocktails and food were spot on.. i think that if one were to put their trust in them to put together a meal, it could be incredible..

[g.johnson]

An excellent dinner last night.

The watermelon cocktail for Yvonne and the Jala Tini for me. Both good. The martini, the clear plagiarism involved in the name notwithstanding, was good with a real capsaicin kick.

Spicy beef salad with yuzu dressing.
Slices of tenderloin with bits of various vegetables. Yvonne loved this but I thought the beef was a bit spongy. The flavours were excellent.

Pork belly with chili soy.
Wonderful stuff. Thin slices of slightly warm belly in a hot enough to be interesting sauce. Even Yvonne, who is not the greatest fan of pure fat loved this. Accompanied by long slices of cucumber that were an excellent textural counterpoint to the unctuousness of the pork.

Crab soup dumplings.
The most standard Chinese dish of the evening. Good crab. Good dough.

Gilled washu steak (I'm guessing Wagyu) with black pepper sauce.
Steak and chips. The least Chinese dish of the evening. Slices of good beef in a fairly mild sauce with deep fried vegetables, including potatoes. Yvonne's least favourite dish but I thought it fine, if not terribly exciting.

Chin shan lobster.
Something I have never encountered and, according to the waiter, the specialty of the restaurant. A basket of raw lobster and vegetables sitting on a bowl containing, I'm guessing, heated rocks is brought to the table. Tea is then poured into the bowl creating loud hissing and cooking the food in clouds of steam. After a minute, the clouds subside, the waiter returns to remove the lid, and perfectly cooked lobster is revealed. No great flavour revelations here, but great theatre and good lobster.

Seafood fried rice.
Very good and, although I understand Cathy's objection, I found this a comforting end (almost) to what had been a fairly light meal.

Affogato.
As juuceman describes. Very good.

Not quite what I expected. Given the aborted involvement of Yau, I was expecting something Hakkasanish -- more or less standard Chinese food executed to a very high standard. But this, though definitely Chinese, had fusiony elements. Not the lame sort of fusion practiced by every other second rate restaurant in the city, in which some ingredient ending in -zu is added to a standard bit of protein in a desperate effort to lend some interest, but some little European touches like the vegetable accompaniments to most courses.

Nice room. Friendly and knowledgeable service. One odd point. We booked the table in the morning and were told 6:45 or something late. We opted for 6:45 and were told that we had to free the table by 8:45. Fine. But when we left the restaurant at around 8:30 the place was mostly empty. I hope this is not some sort of lame attempt to create a buzz about the place.

With a rather underwhelming $65 bottle of gruner, $260 before tip. Very reasonable for the quality of the food.

Ambition and innovation above 14th Street. Who'd have thought it possible?

[juuceman]

An excellent dinner last night.

One odd point. We booked the table in the morning and were told 6:45 or something late. We opted for 6:45 and were told that we had to free the table by 8:45. Fine. But when we left the restaurant at around 8:30 the place was mostly empty. I hope this is not some sort of lame attempt to create a buzz about the place.

My thinking is that they're purposefully under booking the restaurant to allow both the service and kitchen to come up to speed and be on top notch behavior. Once the reviews start coming in, you might see them fully book the restaurant. The bar here isn't huge by any means, and it doesn't lok like they've designed the place with the intent of having a large bar crowd, we'll see what happens though..

[Daisy]

According to Bruni, Wakiya's reservations policy explicated.

[Aaron T]

A goose egg verdict of Satisfactory - no stars - for Wakiya. Bruni review

Bruni liked the desserts and the drink list better than the food.

[Rich]

What's interesting is that he zeroed it, yet recommended nine dishes. So if I go and pick from those nine choices will I have a 3-4 star meal?

This says two things emphatically - the star system no longer works and the Times critic is in way over his head.

[g.johnson]

He did like most of the things that we ordered so maybe we ordered lucky but this still seems an insane rating.

[Sneakeater]

Based on my one meal there, over the summer right after opening, that rating is well deserved.

(I also don't see why an expensive restaurant, with pretensions the critic doesn't appreciate, can't get a no-star rating even if the critic liked some of the dishes on an extensive menu.) (That's speaking generally, not just about Wakiya.)

[nuxvomica]

i refused to go after how they handled my reservation. the original one was changed but when they called to confirm only part of the change was reflected. the manager was not interested in solving the problem but assigning blame for the mixup. lost appetite and canceled on the spot.

from the reports i heard, the goose egg is quite deserved. they certainly get one from me for handling of the reservations

[Wilfrid1]

I'm beginning to wonder if Eater doesn't have someone on the inside. They called the zero rating with confidence, and a zero rating for a "name" restaurant is rarely obvious.

I am also left wondering how a restaurant which can serve the meals described by Juuceman and g.johnson above can be so clearly bad.