318 replies to this topic

[Suzanne F]

According to Tribeca Citizen, Atera (which was supposed to have opened last September, yeah right ) will have F&F next week.

From their mouth to God's ear.

For those who have forgotten, this was the precious Compose with not-ready-for-prime-time chef Nick Curtin that is being replaced by a new place with Matthew Lightner as chef.

[Sneakeater]

Since that's dated March 2, when they say "next week" they probably mean THIS week.

[Suzanne F]

Yeah, well, I'm not holding my breath in any case.

[Sneakeater]

I think that's a good policy to adopt with respect to this place.

[Wilfrid]

Worth repeating, perhaps, that the name is Hebrew for "pray."

[Orik]

Except it isn't

[oakapple]

Grub Street has photos, and explains that "Atera" is Basque for "to go out". The menu format is $150 prix fixe for ten courses.

I have to say that none of the photos are screaming, "I must eat this!" They could be perfectly good, even superb, but I won't be rushing over to spend one and a half Benjamins to find out. This is another version of the Romera problem. At this price, you expect one of the top ten restaurants in the city. I'll let other people test that hypothesis before I'm prepared to test it myself.

The website is up. Most informative.

[Orik]

They should come up with a meaning in New Nordic next.

[Rich]

One would hope the food tastes better than it looks - or they are in dire need of a better photographer.

[Wilfrid]

I saw Ryan Sutton tweeting about the price. A big gap is opening up in tasting menu prices. I've eating tasting menus recently at La Quenelle and Gwynett St for $75. I believe Degustation is still hanging in at that price. Yes, this is ten courses - which is more courses - but it's not like those were small meals at the places I've visited.

I have the impression that there was a narrower range of prices a couple of years ago.

ETA: I see Ramirez is bringing a ten seat tasting table to Manhattan later this year. I expect the price for that will be stratospheric.

[oakapple]

I saw Ryan Sutton tweeting about the price. A big gap is opening up in tasting menu prices. I've eating tasting menus recently at La Quenelle and Gwynett St for $75. I believe Degustation is still hanging in at that price. Yes, this is ten courses - which is more courses - but it's not like those were small meals at the places I've visited.

It's not so much that $150 is an unfair price for ten courses, as that he is not allowing the option of ordering à la carte, which La Quenelle and Degustation both do.

Degustations's $75 for ten courses is really remarkable.

[Wilfrid]

Yes, the fact that it's an entry price is an issue in itself. I was just struck by the divergence we're seeing in tasting menu costs. I'm not prejudging whether it's fair; I don't know the guy's work (which in itself is going to make it a hard sell).

[Orik]

It's not the price that's the issue, but the difficulty believing the food and service will match the pretense.

[Adrian]

... and then we wonder why Torrisi, Roberta's, Momofuku, Mads (slightly different, I know) et al. start with the casual restaurant before going high-end.

[Wilfrid]

It's not the price that's the issue, but the difficulty believing the food and service will match the pretense.

Maybe they didn't hear about Romera.