Sivan

I did force Orik to give them a chance, selfishly considering how much I liked them last year. No one left in the kitchen to justify the trust. Sad and disappointed to take another place off the already short list..

Yeah, still none of those Electro Canadians would exist without them. It's interesting how perception trails reality - walking up 2nd Ave. - Boukies, Calliope, Mighty Quinn, all full of people mostly in their 40s and over... why would you expect current music? eta: orik, of course

Wait, this corner? http://goo.gl/maps/VhrH I don't see it... The front of that former lighting store is the 19th century space, the back is the subway station (with stairs going down into a wall, subway station tiles, and everything), looks like they simply plopped that building on top of everything... I hope they don't touch it except to clean it up. Here's a pic from last month: http://twitter.com/WmagVVZ/status/203502230656139266/photo/1/large RP - I know someone just got approved, not sure if it's the same guys. eta: Orik, Sivan's puter, etc.

I think a major difference is that Saison is strictly a me-too restaurant where nearly every dish can be traced back to a similar (often better) version in one of a small number of restaurants and sources that Skeens follows. Carlo is doing something very different. p.s. I don't think of Aleppo Pepper or Amaranth as exotic, but what's a Noble Berry? eta: Orik, logged in as Sivan

You can't sell guides to high end dining by telling people high end dining in their fair city stinks. Recent meal at EMP - 1.5 michelin star food, more expensive than any 3 star meal in Tokyo at the worst exchange rate in decades. Still a bargain compared to what a meal with the same wine would be at Per Se. eta: Orik logged in as Sivan, obviously

Not just house made, house extruded iirc. By the way, I was recently told by a self proclaimed pasta authority that extruding pasta was a bad idea unless you use imported flour, as US flour is malted (?) and the resulting texture is no good. I don't know if that's true and/or if they use imported flour (which would make the entire exercise silly), maybe some knowledgeable MFers can shed light on this.

Sorry, I read "can't" What exactly would the bag be doing that the shell doesn't do already?

I think there's some very expensive marketing involved in making people say stuff like that. Per Se, as experienced by people not wielding heavy cameras or expense accounts is just not very good. For people who are so equipped, it can be good in an over the top sort of way that I don't think should be what a fine dining establishment should be using as a crutch. Adrian - I wasn't saying Joe Beef is better just because it's so clearly better for what it is, I was saying it's better because they take better sweetbreads and cook them with greater talent than at Per Se. Ditto for rabbit.

Point taken. Anyway, I think the odds of Carlo having a two Michelin star joint to his name over the next couple of years are very high, which gives omnivore an incentive to associate his name with their events. (whatever incentive they have for holding them, i'm still not sure)

Done trashing lauren's place, off to Suzanne F's with Scholium Martinis.

I know former MFers who would complain about his Yiddish morphology.

The TV shows are MNN quality. The similarity to Ozersky is striking indeed: http://books.google.com/books?id=UpXYNBBAC...p;q&f=false This La Frieda guy must either pay a lot or he's very scary. eta: got to stop using this logged in as Sivan

Seized by Ye Olden Marshalles.

And it always ends up tasting like chicken, doesn't it?

I guess you should be able to, but wouldn't you be taking money from people who don't have money in their bank account and giving it to people who do.