Tailor

[Lex]

Once Nathan joined the army, they were doomed.

 

To be fair, they're filing for chapter 11 and aren't immediately closing. Look at Kurve. After Eater reported they were $52K behind in their rent and had been served with an eviction notice they still soldier on. Perhaps Tailor will join the ranks of the Undead and begin offering MasonBurgers.

[Sneakeater]

I'm surprised that the bar business is not enough to keep them open. Without gloating or wishing anyone ill I do have to say that the fact that this place is closing and WD-50 is not strange to me.

 

I think that WD-50 has some indulgent backers, though.

[Wilfrid1]

There's nothing to celebrate in any business closing, but - cocktail scene aside - I never thought it was a well-considered restaurant.

[Orik]

Once Nathan joined the army, they were doomed.

 

To be fair, they're filing for chapter 11 and aren't immediately closing. Look at Kurve. After Eater reported they were $52K behind in their rent and had been served with an eviction notice they still soldier on. Perhaps Tailor will join the ranks of the Undead and begin offering MasonBurgers.

 

Oh, I look at Kurve almost every day and I'm still convinced that it is a rather weak attempt at inconspicuousness by alien invaders.

[Lex]

I'm surprised that the bar business is not enough to keep them open. Without gloating or wishing anyone ill I do have to say that the fact that this place is closing and WD-50 is not strange to me.

 

I think that WD-50 has some indulgent backers, though.

The reviews of WD50 have always been good. At Tailor they've been mixed.

 

I've never heard that the crowds at WD50 have been sparse. If they are then your point about indulgent backers could be true.

[Wilfrid1]

WD-50 shared some of Tailor's faults in its early days, but made significant adjustments. Out went "foie. sardines. cocoa" as one thinks of it, and in came thoroughly satisfying dishes like the cod with smoked potatoes and the lamb loin with aged goat cheese. Wylie continued to put out wild stuff, but not at the expense of really enjoyable food. I am sure portions grew too.

 

Perhaps Tailor made some compromises; perhaps not enough.

[TaliesinNYC]

WD-50 shared some of Tailor's faults in its early days, but made significant adjustments. Out went "foie. sardines. cocoa" as one thinks of it, and in came thoroughly satisfying dishes like the cod with smoked potatoes and the lamb loin with aged goat cheese. Wylie continued to put out wild stuff, but not at the expense of really enjoyable food. I am sure portions grew too.

 

Perhaps Tailor made some compromises; perhaps not enough.

 

 

Remember the pressed oysters? I sure do.

 

Hard to find that these days as the sole attraction in a place that hopes to remain open in these times -- what good is avant garde if the vast majority of your intended audience won't eat it?

[Sneakeater]

That's the problem with avant-garde food as opposed to art and music.

 

Restaurants are all for-profit ventures.

[mongo_jones]

food is also consumed differently than art and music. which is something people who talk about avant-garde food often seem to forget about.

[Sneakeater]

For all you care, I agree with you completely.

[oakapple]

As I understand it, Tailor is not closing—at least, not yet. It filed for Chapter 11, which is actually a way of staying open—or trying to.

 

It seems people are trying to figure out what Sam Mason purportedly did wrong. The reasons for the bankruptcy are probably rooted in details we don't see, like real-estate costs and the expense of the original build-out. Of course, I am not denying that Mason made mistakes (many of them since rectified), just pointing out that financial survival and culinary excellence are entirely different things.

 

For the record, it has always seemed to me that Tailor was fairly busy. Not "Momofuku busy," but busy enough to stay in business if there wasn't some kind of financial cancer underneath the surface.

[Stone]

Is it worth going to? Will the filing affect the food? Is it worth the money? Will I be missing out if I don't eat there before it's gone (assuming I can't eat there after)?

[Sneakeater]

I think you'll certainly be missing out by not drinking there before it's gone.

 

I like the food, though. Have the brisket. It's really good.

[oakapple]

Ditto Sneakeater's recommendation, assuming you like avant-garde cuisine or are willing to give it a try. Our most recent visit was on New Year's Eve (blog report here). We chose Tailor because we figured Mason wouldn't dumb down his cuisine on amateur night. There's a low-light photo of the brisket that Sneakeater mentioned. Obviously that was pre-bankruptcy filing, but I have to assume that Mason is still doing his usual thing. After all these years, what else would he do?

[Stone]

Undeserved rumors aside, I'm not much of a drinker. I've rarely felt that at cocktail made or broke and evening. I've been meaning to try either Tailor or WD50, but never quite got around to it. I am a little gun-shy about another expensive meal of small portions after my $350 sushi bill last week.

 

And, I was trying to find some place to go in Brooklyn, but that's