the priya krishna/melissa clark thread

[backyardchef]

6 hours ago, relbbaddoof said:

My experience the one time I've eaten there was closer to Clark's (although not as bad as her worst) than to Rosner's.

This is why I don't trust any restaurant reviewers at all. If it's a crapshoot whether the meal will be transcendent or relative garbage, what use is a review? 

[relbbaddoof]

If a reviewer goes to a restaurant five times and says two visits were transcendent and three garbage, that's useful information. How much of a gambler are you with your dining dollars?

If all five visits were transcendent that's useful, too. So also if all were garbage.

Reviews *are* useful (within the limitations of the particular reviewer), but, hey, I'm a simpleton.

[Orik]

How come the critic didn't visit every location of DTF? 

[backyardchef]

 

16 hours ago, relbbaddoof said:

How much of a gambler are you with your dining dollars?

 

Not very much. That's why I don't listen to the reviews and don't jump at every new thing. 

[Diancecht]

Even as a staunch Francophile, I could have lived without some of the more wistful dishes — like the oeuf en gelée, a soft-boiled egg suspended in a cylinder of gelatinized consommé that seemed more antique than exciting. Or Les Délices “Veau d’Or,” a trio of kidney, liver and sweetbreads saturated in a mustard and Cognac-spiked jus whose overall effect was unrelentingly rich.

click

sounds like priya isn’t a fan…oh well, more for us

[Diancecht]

and it seems disguises are back 😬🧐

[Orik]

This week another review of a corporate / chain operation. Apparently one of the flagship locations is not as bad as the other and the critic was treated as the highest tier VIP. (Which, let me tell you, gets to the point of having to take a breathing break)

[Simon]

Clark’s observation that “the price point at these places has nudged out those who once came for the food in favor of those who come for the pampering and the cultural capital” makes me wonder who this review was written for.

Edited November 25, 2024 by Simon

[small h]

Boy, these interim reviewers are sure trying to burn through as much money as they can, while the burning is good. Maybe next week they'll reanimate El Bulli.

[Wilfrid]

But it's very useful to learn about dishes one might never have heard of or eaten several times.

At my first bite of a dish called “oysters and pearls,” I laughed out loud. Who spoons caviar on top of humble tapioca? It was more than daring, it was madness. But it worked — the soft pop of caviar atop bouncy tapioca pearls and plump oysters, all surrounded by sabayon as light and briny as ocean foam. 

 

[Wilfrid]

Ooh, Per Se is in a shopping mall (this really is a waste of time as much as money).

"the salmon cornet is meant to resemble a mini ice cream cone"

But what does it resemble?

[small h]

Maybe ice cream cones are meant to resemble giant salmon cornets.

I remember three things from our dinner at the Salon in (counts on fingers) 2010. Those fish snacks, a squash agnolotti that tipped me over to liking squash, and that the martinis were $20. SCANDAL!

[Diancecht]

16 hours ago, small h said:

Maybe next week they'll reanimate El Bulli.

ha ha

that would be something, wouldn’t it?

[small h]

We will spare no expense to give you useless information!

[AaronS]

my meal at el bulli was a lot better than any of my meals at per se.

[small h]

Then you should pitch the NYT on this reanimation idea.

[Orik]

Now that El Bulli is an Airbnb it can be a cross assignment with the travel section

https://news.airbnb.com/es/ferran-adria-revela-su-ultima-creacion-pasar-una-noche-en-elbulli1846/

[MitchW]

3 hours ago, Orik said:

Now that El Bulli is an Airbnb it can be a cross assignment with the travel section

https://news.airbnb.com/es/ferran-adria-revela-su-ultima-creacion-pasar-una-noche-en-elbulli1846/

Not only with the travel section, maybe add sports as well...because if you survive Roses, you can head to Rome. It just won't be as easy there...

Face your Gladiator II destiny with strength and honor at the Colosseum

[Wilfrid]

Fascinating. A cheap way for AirBnB to grab personal data. 

Quote

There is no cost to submit a request. See full rules for terms, including age and geographic eligibility, and how data is used.

 

[Diancecht]

i know it’s a slow news day so here is an excerpt from an interview priya had in august 2024 with this is taste:

“How do you feel about criticism specifically as a genre? How are you approaching it?”

“It's really stressful, honestly. My first review came out yesterday, and I was kind of like shitting my pants and losing sleep over it for weeks. When you're writing a review, you really can't hide behind other people's quotes.

You can't hide behind reporting as much. I've always approached reporting as like, I don't want to center myself, I want to center the subjects. And when you're writing a review, in a way you are centering yourself and centering your perspective.

And that's scary to me. Like really, really scary to me because I'm also just like, what do I know? Of course, I've eaten at a lot of restaurants, but I'm like, I don't know everything about everything.

So all I can do is approach this job with just like a deep sense of curiosity and a desire to learn. That's what I'm trying to do. I wonder if in this world of restaurant TikTok and social media, like how criticism needs to evolve, but that's something I am thinking about.

And I don't yet know what that looks like, but I do think criticism needs to evolve.”

 

 

[Wilfrid]

How precious. 

[Diancecht]

melissa had a similar interview re her per se review. curious about your take.

=====

“You know, the word fussy, it's a funny word because I mean, much of fine dining, of course, as we were saying, is fussy. A lot of work goes into these dishes, right? There's a lot of fussing.

That's the point. This is food that you don't make at home. You want professionals to make it.

But it shouldn't feel fussy. It should feel like you're eating, you know, just... Like you're eating the sunshine, or you're eating, you know, just something magnificent and easy.

And this felt worked over, you know? It felt like you could see the effort almost. It's hard to describe how...”

 

[Diancecht]

perhaps tangential - you can read the job posting for the nyt’s main restaurant critic here.

the salary range seems less than i had expected for a position with such influence and power.

thoughts?

[Orik]

How much are the meals for the critic and their friends worth pre-tax?

[Wilfrid]

Yes, your food shopping bill will be reduced but I agree that's a startling low range. Believe me, much less well known journalists earn within that range...