55 replies to this topic

[Sneakeater]

No, my point is that NOBODY has to go to Perla. It's another very good rustic Italian place. It's not doing anything you've never seen before.

[Nathan]

it's really a shame that NYC has a surfeit of these places now. meanwhile you basically can't find them anywhere else. really time to share the wealth.

[Sneakeater]

It would only be fair.

[oakapple]

No, my point is that NOBODY has to go to Perla. It's another very good rustic Italian place. It's not doing anything you've never seen before.

Taking the reviews at their word, it sounds like this is a notch above replacement level. I mean, it's the same guy who was at Manzo, and the food at Manzo is(was) quite good, offset by the lousy atmosphere.

it's really a shame that NYC has a surfeit of these places now.

The reason for the surfeit is that they keep succeeding. They'll keep opening until they saturate the market, and clearly that hasn't happened yet.

[Sneakeater]

When you go there, I think you'll see what I mean, oakapple. It's very good food -- but a lot of these places have very good food. I wouldn't call a place that's a little bit better than Lupa mere "replacement food" -- but the "sorry" fact remains that we have a surfeit of high-quality places in this genre right now.

(Perla's definitely NOT at the level of Manzo, BTW. I don't mean to knock it by saying that. Just to give you an idea of what it is.)

Think of it this way. If somebody opened a really really good bistro in New York, many of us would be really excited. If there were two of them, we'd be ecstatic. By the time we got to the fifteenth one, though, we'd be a little ho-hum -- even if the chef were someone we liked.

[Nathan]

is Manzo still good? I really enjoyed my meal there.

[Sneakeater]

I haven't eaten there since Chef Toscano left, but the consensus seems to be that it still is. (Although I get the feeling most people didn't really understand it, so it could lose its Piedmontese focus and commentators wouldn't realize it.)

I really liked it before, too.

[Nathan]

yeah if it becomes just another good Batali restaurant what's the point?

[Sneakeater]

Then it would just be part of the surfeit.

[oakapple]

Presented without comment. Cue Wilfrid.

[Sneakeater]

Oh come on, Oakapple. I'll link this if you won't.

[oakapple]

The "cue Wilfrid" bit was mostly relating to the $150 meal of just one animal, which I know he has colorful opinions about.

The current menu has a degustation of beef for two, costing around $85. Add appetizers, even extravagant ones, and you can eat happily, and stay below $150 for two (before booze, tax and tip). So I'm not going to pay double that.

[irnscrabblechf52]

good review, i enjoyed it

[Orik]

I wonder if Eater realize what they're getting themselves into.

[mitchells]

What are they getting themselves into?