Michelin 2017

[Suzanne F]

Don't tell the folks on CH about Crispo.

They love Crispo? I guess most of them never worked for him.

[villagerOFtheEast]

Not that I care, but it's hard to construct a judgment metric under which The Finch is a better restaurant than Olmsted.

 

Also, how can IBAV only be a Bib Gourmand if it has three NYT stars? [sarcasm emoji]

More like how can IBAV be on this list when the average entree price is like $34.

 

Somtum Der now appears on the BG list - it had previously had a star. That was just nuts - it was a decent neighborhood Thai place, nothing more. If you ordered carefully you could put together an OK meal but nowhere in the league of Ayada or Sripraphai. We go occasionally if we're in the area but the star made it hard to book. When word gets around that should ease up.

Zaab Elee was dropped and I rejoice. I had 2 of the worst Thai meals of my life at that hellhole and refused to go back. Deb initially liked it but found that the food gradually declined.

 

Zabb Elee doesn't exist anymore, the Queens location closed (now a different Thai place) and the EV location is called something else now, though still run by the same chef as before (the same chef as Larb Ubol and Lan Larb).

 

And I disagree about Ayada/Sri being in a different league than Somtum Der.

[Lex]

Zabb Elee doesn't exist anymore, the Queens location closed (now a different Thai place) and the EV location is called something else now, though still run by the same chef as before (the same chef as Larb Ubol and Lan Larb).

I actually did know that but the restaurant has resurrected itself like the Walking Dead. Same chef, same staff, same location. To me this is like Adam Sandler changing his name. There is no reason to expect his movies to get any better.

 

Yes, I sound bitter and angry but you'd be too if you were served things like this.

 

Dead Beef:

 

 

From my previous visit -

 

Dead Chicken:

 

 

And Dead Pork:

 

 

 

It's a little late in my career to go running around in circles spanking myself and saying "It's all my fault! I ordered wrong!" Instead, I'm going to blame that sloppy kitchen. If Sri pulled this type of shit people would rightfully crucify them. Just because Zaab set up shop on 2nd Ave is no reason to cut them special slack.

[Lex]

Ryan Sutton wrote a piece today in Eater handicapping the upcoming Michelin stars. It's good and worth reading but then we get this.

This brings us to another reason you should care about Michelin: It has, for better and for worse, a very different take on what our city’s best places to eat are than our local critics or food writers. As we learned last week, The Spotted Pig, one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted burger spots, has been removed from the starred list, while Olmsted, widely viewed as one of New York’s best new restaurants, didn’t make the cut either.

The Spotted Pig and its burger? I couldn't let it go.

Ryan, with all the good will in the world, you really need to let the Spotted Pig’s demotion go. Listen to yourself – "… one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted burger spots…"

Lets try a little experiment and substitute other pleasant but simple dishes in that phrase:

"… one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted mac and cheese spots…"

"… one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted fried chicken spots…"

"… one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted baked beans spots…"

"… one of the city’s most crowded and vaunted meatloaf spots…"

I would love to hear your explanation of how a burger is inherently different than any one of these popular but simple dishes.

A burger is easy to make – it doesn’t require a great chef to produce one. It doesn’t challenge a kitchen at all. Sometimes a good burger is exactly what we want but lets not pretend it’s Michelin star worthy.

 

[Sneakeater]

I started to read Lex's comment on Ryan Sutton's Michelin preview piece on Eater without looking at the commentator's name and thought, that sounds just like Lex. As indeed it should have.

 

ETA -- Cross-posted with Lex above.

[Sneakeater]

I wouldn't call Le Bernardin and Jean Georges "tasting menu spots". I'll bet most people order from the carte at both.

[Lex]

I started to read Lex's comment on Ryan Sutton's Michelin preview piece on Eater without looking at the commentator's name and thought, that sounds just like Lex. As indeed it should have.

 

ETA -- Cross-posted with Lex above.

 

I'm thinking of starting a franchise.

 

I would really like to see Sutton accept my challenge and try to tell us how a burger is Michelin star worthy but fried chicken and mac and cheese are not. This is the old Chowhound voodoo in action - the deification of simple foods.

 

[Sneakeater]

The actual stars (two days early).

[taion]

Jewel Bako still has a star? What?

[Orik]

And Tulsi, and Per Se still has three, but overall substantially less random than it used to be, once you get past the bib gourmands.

[Wilfrid]

Jewel Bako still has a star? What?

Am I right that Sushi Yasuda never got one?

[Wilfrid]

And Tulsi, and Per Se still has three, but overall substantially less random than it used to be, once you get past the bib gourmands.

The hilarities of the first edition are behind us: Ms Shea Gallante and the gastronomy of La Goulue.

[Sneakeater]

This is useful.

[Sneakeater]

 

Jewel Bako still has a star? What?

Am I right that Sushi Yasuda never got one?

 

 

No, it has a star.

[Sneakeater]

And Tulsi, and Per Se still has three, but overall substantially less random than it used to be, once you get past the bib gourmands.

 

The one-stars still seem pretty random to me. More like not making sense as a category than that things are included or excluded inexplicably.