Chevalier at The Baccarat

[Wilfrid]

Yes, the restaurant bar could have a different list from the hotel bar. I said that pages back. I also said that I can think of reasons it doesn't other than sending a signal of contempt.

[Anthony Bonner]

sometimes it doesn't matter if its intentional or not ya'know.

[Steve R.]

I have enough trouble trying to figure out what places I haven't been to sound like something I'd like. No trouble at all taking a place like this out of contention for one small reason.

 

By the way, do they let you keep the cocktail glass afterwards?

[cstuart]

I have enough trouble trying to figure out what places I haven't been to sound like I something I'd like. No trouble at all taking a place like this out of contention for one small reason.

 

By the way, do they let you keep the cocktail glass afterwards?

Only if you buy the big one with the lights.

[Wilfrid]

sometimes it doesn't matter if its intentional or not ya'know.

 

An unintended effect of a reasonable decision. Yeah, I'll buy that. And like Taion said, most people won't notice anyway.

[Wilfrid]

I have enough trouble trying to figure out what places I haven't been to sound like something I'd like. No trouble at all taking a place like this out of contention for one small reason.

 

 

 

Best opening of the year, and as I predicted people will choose Rebelle or La Gamelle instead.

[Neocon maudit]

Given that the general Baccarat crowd don't seem interested in Chevalier, will the restaurant last longer than The Elm?

[Steve R.]

 

I have enough trouble trying to figure out what places I haven't been to sound like something I'd like. No trouble at all taking a place like this out of contention for one small reason.

 

 

 

Best opening of the year, and as I predicted people will choose Rebelle or La Gamelle instead.

 

 

That's 2 more places that aren't on my list either.

[Neocon maudit]

Fairly sure La Gamelle won't be around very long.

[Wilfrid]

Given that the general Baccarat crowd don't seem interested in Chevalier, will the restaurant last longer than The Elm?

 

Probably not. Part of what I've been saying about the place--and this discussion reflects that--is that high quality in food and service don't determine success.

 

Like I said, progress...

[Sneakeater]

And my guess is that the NoMad's bartenders are inifinitely more competent than those mixing drinks at Chevalier.

I want to be clear about something. I can't speak to the lounge, but the restaurant service bar is just that: a restaurant service bar. The bartenders were not hired on the basis of their mixing skills AT ALL (they were hired by Charles Masson for their looks and their ability to be affable to old people). The restaurant service bar has no real pretentions toward being good (beyond having the now obligatory list of signature house cocktails that, compared to real cocktails at real cocktail bars, are not very good).

 

Now all of that is to be expected. It's always -- or at least it used to be -- a surprise when a restaurant like Daniel or EMP turned out to have a good enough cocktail program to be a destination in its own right.

 

But of course, that only makes the prices even more galling.

[Sneakeater]

Sneak, is Joe right? Is the guy making cocktails in the service bar at Chevalier that bad?

 

See my post above.

[joethefoodie]

 

Given that the general Baccarat crowd don't seem interested in Chevalier, will the restaurant last longer than The Elm?

 

Probably not. Part of what I've been saying about the place--and this discussion reflects that--is that high quality in food and service don't determine success.

 

Like I said, progress...

 

Sometimes what determines success is having fun and feeling like you're getting a good value for your hard-earned cash.

[Neocon maudit]

Is the success of Chevalier important to the success of Baccarat? Or to put it another way, why did Baccarat bother with launching the best new restaurant of 2015?

 

If someone wanted to start a qualité restaurant and wanted it to succeed, wouldn't they try to pull as many interested diners as possible? [That said, they did apparently host someone from Eater...]

[Sneakeater]

It's much harder work than just being able to say that the food and service are crap.

 

Because they aren't. And no one is claiming that they are.

 

To me, that was the big issue about writing about Chavelier. Why I put it off for more than a week. Because how can I explain my feelings about a restaurant with excellent food, some of the best I've had in ages, that STILL turned me off?