Wilfrid Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 Your point is very well taken. I still have trouble shaking free of the Le Bernardin paradigm. My daughter suggests, not unreasonably, that he trimmed the rating because diners need to be "adventurous." If so, I'm not sure he's right. Unadventurous diners could do well on cold and hot fish and tame versions of the pasta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneakeater Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 8 minutes ago, Wilfrid said: Your point is very well taken. I still have trouble shaking free of the Le Bernardin paradigm. My daughter suggests, not unreasonably, that he trimmed the rating because diners need to be "adventurous." If so, I'm not sure he's right. Unadventurous diners could do well on cold and hot fish and tame versions of the pasta. 1st para. -- I think that deep down inside Wells is having trouble, too. 2nd para. -- I thought the same thing as your daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneakeater Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 FWIW, I do agree with whoever said above that Helen Rosner did a better job with FN than Wells did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilfrid Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 Arguably, you need to be adventurous to take dinner from a hatchet-wielding extrovert in a truck parked in the Bronx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilfrid Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 It's a pity the New Yorker didn't publish her review in its entirety in the print edition. A long-form specialist hired by a magazine known for long-form content that is now chopping her up into bite-size pieces. Not literally, I mean. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
small h Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 6 hours ago, MitchW said: I'd sure hate to have to share my percebes with anyone but Significant Eater. As I've whined about before, the promised percebes had been delayed in transit and were not available when I visited. So I went to Aquabest and bought my own and cooked them at home, so there. I pressed H to try one, and thus created a monster. He tried to get me to give him half. Hah! No. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneakeater Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Wilfrid said: Arguably, you need to be adventurous to take dinner from a hatchet-wielding extrovert in a truck parked in the Bronx. Well HE only got three stars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 18 hours ago, Sneakeater said: Well HE only got three stars! Maybe if they'd seen Dave with his hatchet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backyardchef Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 5 minutes ago, MitchW said: Maybe if they'd seen Dave with his hatchet... Is that a euphemism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 19 minutes ago, backyardchef said: Is that a euphemism? After Ori mentioned that Dave was eyeing his large ears...I figured he'd need a hatchet to chop them off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diancecht Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 cue the usual tiresome comments on the nyt’s website we didn’t find the loud music off-putting at all. where do these people come from? 🤨 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilfrid Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 I am sensitive to loud music while dining, but I hardly noticed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
small h Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 I noticed it, and it made me want to dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diancecht Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 there were a couple of songs that we really liked…ok, well, that i liked. remember this series on hbo? sounded just like some of those tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongo Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 i'll bring earplugs (and a blow torch to finish cooking the fish). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orik Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 4 hours ago, MitchW said: Maybe if they'd seen Dave with his hatchet... He actually asked to see our very Spanish fishmonger knife. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 Nice knife. And not even crazy expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 (edited) I was lucky enough to hop into someone's unable-to-be-used seat last night, so off a friend and I went, on up through/around the maddening throngs of the lower east side, for a nice 30-minute pre-dinner passeggiata to Avenue A and E. 12th. I've got to start by saying the consistency of the cooking is pretty amazing; maybe even moreso than my first couple of visits over FN's first months. Needless to say, the consistency and excellence of the raw material sourcing has been and is great. Both my friend and I wanted to eat lightly...HAH! While we did stick with the lighter dishes on the menu (has the menu grown a bit over time in number of offerings?), we ordered a lot of food. Because you can't come here and not order the bread/pickles/butter to start, right? Glidden Points were on point; I have to give a shout out to the mignonette, which is not an afterthought as it is on so, so many oyster platters...here, it's delicious. But my move is a dab of the proprietary E. Village hot sauce, and a squirt of lemon...all that I need. Told you we went light... What makes this salad so good? Toasted hazelnuts, crispy sourdough croutons, shavings of Garrotxa, the dressing? Or the fact that you can be sure no one is sticking their hand into a box of mesclun and plopping it onto a plate; this salad is almost still alive - and it contains my favorite of the beautiful radicchios. The Montauk yellowfin tuna confit in that spectacular chraime sauce; served alongside (unpictured) is a splendid hunk of brioche with a squirt of fiery harissa. Taken together, quite a lovely dish. Here's the saffron malloreddus with Maine uni. Maybe (or maybe not) a paean to the late, great La Ciccia's uni pasta dish - it's been mastered, and it's probably better, here. There's more uni, and the house-made malloreddus is insanely good. Great dish. How could we not have the Montauk fluke? We couldn't, so we did...have the smaller one. Fuck - it's delicious. You see that collar at the bottom of the pic...MINE! The fish. The potatoes. The cooking. The olive oil and herbs. Wow. The s/b classic Timut pepper and buttermilk gelato dish. Possibly with roasted plum (memory gets hazy by now). Watermelon gelato and I'm thinking whipped feta and compressed watermelon. Thinking? The service here is so lovely and genuine. The music isn't too loud. The ingredients and cooking are just what they need to be with said ingredients. Oh - the seasoning (i.e. salt) is spot on. What's not to like? (Well, getting in?) One more thing, and I think Ori mentioned it above...the wine list is offering wines at more reasonable prices than any other restaurant in our fair city. A big shout out to that. COMP DISCLOSURE: Those desserts. Some wine. Edited September 22, 2023 by MitchW 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relbbaddoof Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 Were you the handsome bloke who walked in 6:30ish yesterday and shook hands with Ori? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 26 minutes ago, relbbaddoof said: Were you the handsome bloke who walked in 6:30ish yesterday and shook hands with Ori? You’re too kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backyardchef Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 13 hours ago, relbbaddoof said: Were you the handsome bloke who walked in 6:30ish yesterday and shook hands with Ori? You forgot to mention young in your description. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchW Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 1 minute ago, backyardchef said: You forgot to mention young in your description. That'd really be pushing it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywood10 Posted September 24, 2023 Share Posted September 24, 2023 On 9/19/2023 at 11:45 AM, Sneakeater said: FWIW, I do agree with whoever said above that Helen Rosner did a better job with FN than Wells did. Yes, quite the complimentary piece by Ms. Rosner. Congrats. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relbbaddoof Posted September 24, 2023 Share Posted September 24, 2023 (edited) While the Helen Rosner piece was good, I did have an objection to her statement that "a meal as a whole can feel a bit repetitive. On one visit, Middle Eastern and African spices appeared over and over again, and fish preparations dominated the brief menu." Would any critic object to European spices appearing again and again? Oh, wait, are there any? And what's the problem with fish being on top? My experience is that there's plenty of variety on their short menu. Edited September 24, 2023 by relbbaddoof 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneakeater Posted September 24, 2023 Share Posted September 24, 2023 I also thought it was odd to complain (criticize?) that fish dishes dominate. What if they do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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