Allegretti , NYC

[StephanieL]

Only 2 stars from Bruni

[oakapple]

Only 2 stars from Bruni

If you work at this restaurant, you're celebrating today, given the unjust pummelling they got from Adam Platt. This was about the highest praise they could have expected from Bruni. He gets in a few low blows, but by his standards this is pretty good, given his general lack of enthusiasm for the genre.

[Sneakeater]

I thought the exact same thing as I read it.

 

Funny world where two stars is a triumph for a place like that.

[Wilfrid1]

Cool. I love the place, and attach great value to the way it pumps life into the genre. But I would have said a very good two star, not a three (speaking in the abstract and ignoring some of the ridiculous three star ratings we now have).

 

Pick a trend or a seemingly sensible impulse. Allegretti travels in the opposite direction from it.

 

The essence of stylishness.

[Rich]

Only 2 stars from Bruni

...and reads closer to a one than two. But they did bring a wrap for one his companions because she was cold. He doesn't say if the chill came from lack of heat in the room or her dining companion.

 

Normally his writing is passable, but it lacks here. "Murmur of saffron" makes ANYTHING Restaurant Girl has written read like Shakespeare.

 

Calling the Campbell commercial "goofy" shows a total lack of understanding. "Mmmm'mmm good" was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in food history. But research has never been one of his strong suits, which is why he works for the NY Times where research has become frowned upon in the last decade. It only gets in the way of truth, or what they "need" to print.

 

But in fairness, he did discuss food in 40% of the review and was able to get a plug in for the Dow and Olive Garden - so all was not lost. Maybe he's lining up his next gig - as spokesman for one or both of those.

[Wilfrid1]

Desserts are too small?

 

 

And not worth $10? What can you buy for $10 these days?

[oakapple]

Only 2 stars from Bruni

...and reads closer to a one than two. But they did bring a wrap for one his companions because she was cold.

I thought that anecdote was legit: it was a grace note you wouldn't have in most restaurants. It reminds me of when I arrived at the Four Seasons in a driving rainstorm, and they actually brought out a towel so that I could dry off. It's well beyond what one is accustomed to expect.

[Rich]

Only 2 stars from Bruni

...and reads closer to a one than two. But they did bring a wrap for one his companions because she was cold.

I thought that anecdote was legit: it was a grace note you wouldn't have in most restaurants. It reminds me of when I arrived at the Four Seasons in a driving rainstorm, and they actually brought out a towel so that I could dry off. It's well beyond what one is accustomed to expect.

I agree Marc, it's probably the nicest thing he wrote about the place. But he doesn't say where the chill eminated.

 

I have eaten in the Puckemin Inn twice (Bedminster, NJ) and they are one of the most customer-friendly places in memory. As one example, they have several sets of reading glasses neatly placed on a display table as you walk into the dining room. I know I've left my reading glasses home or in the car many times - it is a very, very nice touch.

[Wilfrid1]

Well done Steve Cuozzo: he entirely gets it.

 

Allegretti confounds every rule and assumption about dining in late 2008. A place so expensive, so gracious, and with an unfashionably classical menu, might not seem to be the thing for the times.

 

But diners have embraced it with a vengeance. Call it, as the Wall Street-watchers do, a flight to quality.

 

Take that, Platty...

 

...whining by certain critics who evidently prefer an infantile dining experience to a civilized one.

[oakapple]

Well done Steve Cuozzo...

I entirely agree, although Cuozzo has had more than his share of misses over the years. Bruni and Platt are at least predictably bad. You know their weaknesses; they get the same things wrong every time. With Cuozzo, there's just no telling. But this time, he's right.

[Wilfrid1]

I took an opportunity last night to congratulate chef Allegretti on being named hottest chef in New York. "Ah, now it starts..." he groaned.

 

Seasonal changes in the menu; nice new dishes including a warm stew of fall fruits and vegetables and a very comforting roast salmon trout with crisp skin in a rich, dark sherry sauce. I was also pleased to see the place full, with diners waiting at the bar.

 

More details and photos to come.

[ghostrider]

But in fairness, he... was able to get a plug in for the Dow and Olive Garden - so all was not lost. Maybe he's lining up his next gig - as spokesman for one or both of those.

He (or a copy editor) left out the "ointment" phrase in that awkward stumbling sentence, which also would have given him a third spokespersonish option.

 

[Wilfrid1]

I have some pictures from the last meal posted now at the Pink Pig. The salmon trout really was very good.

 

[Sneakeater]

Just a lovely meal at the bar last night.

 

I think my favorite out of the multiple courses I had (as Wilfrid noted in the Pig, it's really hard to avoid inserting a pasta course) was my appetizer, a lovely (that's the word of the night) cassolette of root vegetables in a really nice black truffle broth. The oxtail ravioli that everybody seems to order surprised me by being more complex than I expected -- there was a sweet, fruity flavor element in there that I really liked. Because my knowledge and experience are extremely limited, I tend to think of Provencal food as summery. Certainly not like the wild boar loin I had for my main course. It was good, in any event. Next time I hope to have the discipline to try a fish. The lemon verbena creme brulee worked more because it was an expertly prepared brulee than for anything special the verbena overtones brought to it, I felt.

 

My one disappointment of the evening was that when I asked for the sommelier to come over to advise me on half bottles, a man appeared.

 

COMP DISCLOSURE: A port.

[Wilfrid1]

Right, he's using orange to flavor the beef jus with the ravioli, and I wonder if there's any orange involved in the braising of the oxtail. One would expect orange peel in a Provencale daube of beef, so it all makes sense.