-
-
Ad Space
(728 x 90)
Published at 1:48pm
Published on 7/24/08
Video
What is the city’s best restaurant?
What is the city’s worst restaurant?
What is the most overpriced restaurant in the city?
What is the most overrated restaurant in the city?
Which restaurant in the city gives the best value?
Who is the best chef to work for?
Who is the worst chef to work for?
What’s the one dish you’re embarrassed you’ve never tried?
What’s the worst thing about New York diners?
What do you think of vegetarians?
What do you think is the best enclave of ethnic food in the city?
What is the worst “best” restaurant you’ve eaten at?
What is the most tired dish that’s still on every menu in town?
Is there anything on your menu you would not eat?
What is your least favorite food?
What is the best day of the week to eat out in NYC?
Who is the next legitimately talented up-and-coming chef?
Which publication’s reviews do you think are truly terrible?
Which publication’s reviews do you think are on the money?
What is your most embarrassing guilty-pleasure food?
Do you frequent any chef hangs? Where are they?
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
What is the city’s best restaurant?
Daniel Boulud’s Upper East Side Daniel scored the most votes, with chichi seafood spot Le Bernardin (“gets better every year”) coming in a close second. Other boldface names—Jean Georges, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon—received multiple nods, followed by a list of chef’s faves: Keens Steakhouse, August and La Taza de Oro among them.
Tourist traps topped the list—Tavern on the Green, Ruby Foo’s—but one chef was out for blood: “The worst?” he wrote. “Anything and everything by Steve Hanson or Jeffrey Chodorow. Fucking better food at Epcot Center.”
What is the most overpriced restaurant in the city?
Thomas Keller’s Per Se, in the Time Warner Center, got namechecked plenty, but his neighbor Masa won (or lost?) this round. One chef claims he spent $700 per person there.
Again, Per Se and Masa topped the list, with multiple swipes at the Italian Babbo and Momofuku Noodle Bar, too.
Which restaurant in the city gives the best value?
Our chefs loved everything from the neighborhoody The Little Owl to The Grocery—and Chinatown’s Dim Sum Go Go—but only the trattoria Lupa and the rustic Peasant got multiple shout-outs.
Who is the best chef to work for?
Andrew Carmellini of A Voce got a few winks, but his former boss was voted top gun: Daniel Boulud earned rave reviews, even from those who’ve never personally worked for him—and even though he just settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by Latino and Asian workers.
David Bouley and Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio. Also making the short list: Dos Caminos Soho’s Ivy Stark, Aquagrill’s Jeremy Marshall and...Daniel Boulud.
What’s the one dish you’re embarrassed you’ve never tried?
Sea urchin, haggis and eggplant parm got three votes apiece, but other answers included “a classical French meal,” “pig’s feet,” “blowfish,” “dog,” “100-year egg” and “Dude, I’ve had ant eggs in Mexico.”
What’s the worst thing about New York diners?
“They all go home and write blogs instead of having sex. I used to try to get my date liquored up. Now everyone goes home and writes reviews. That’s fucked up.”“Impatience.”
“Big hurry.”
“New York diners are a delight. Fucking ‘foodies’ that are allergic to cilantro—not because they’re actually allergic, but they saw some bullshit on Sex and the City about telling the kitchen you’re allergic when you don’t like something so you can make a big deal about it if it wanders onto your plate by accident—grow the fuck up.”
“Demand. An unrealistic pomposity that negates the wonderful privilege of company and luxury.”
“Nothing at all.”
“Their arrogance.”
“Fucking bunch of babies.”
“They need to rate you into the list of places they’ve gone about two minutes into their meal.”
“Snobby.”
“They are often cheap and look for everything for free.”
“There is no end to pleasing these people.”
“They go to exercise power as opposed to, you know, eat.”
“They think they know everything but the stark reality is, most of them have the palates of children.”
“Loud.”
“They judge before they taste.”
“They’re often late for reservations or don’t show.”
“Nothing—they like chefs and they know wine.”
“Some people have attitude, but that’s about being a New Yorker—it has nothing to do with being a diner.”
“Hell, they’re great compared to the rest of the country.”
What do you think of vegetarians?
Besides the one toque who said, “I like to eat them,” the chefs responded mostly with a mixture of confusion, sadness, pity and a tiny bit of love. “Who am I to judge?” asked one. “They’re in denial of evolution,” said another, “but other than that, last time I checked, vegetarian money is just as good as a carnivore’s. A lot of chefs forget this is a business. If you want to serve what you want to cook, throw a fucking dinner party and let the rest of us make a living.”
What do you think is the best enclave of ethnic food in the city?
It looks like most chefs don’t get out much—“who has time?” Besides a few mentions of Koreatown, those who do leave the kitchen head for Queens. “Jackson Heights is the most diverse,” but they also visit Sunset Park and Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.
What is the worst “best” restaurant you’ve eaten at?
“Tao,” said one. “Fucking disgusting—that must be why so many celebrities hang out there. The only thing worse than Tao is 90 percent of the restaurants in L.A., which suck ass.” But Tavern on the Green got multiple votes, followed by a collection of big names: “Per Se,” “Café des Artistes,” “Florent,” “Babbo,” “Ruby Foo’s,” “Robuchon and Gordon Ramsay’s London tie for first,” “Japonais,” “Blue Hill,” “Ducasse.”
What is the most tired dish that’s still on every menu in town?
No question: Molten chocolate cake and tuna tartare tied for “Jesus, again?,” with poor crème brûlée coming in third. Runners-up: sliders, pasta, mixed greens and “kobe this and kobe that.”
Is there anything on your menu you would not eat?
Everyone said they’d eat everything, except for a few surprising dislikes: “mushrooms,” “mussels,” “whole soft-shell crab,” “anything with truffles,” “ratatouille,” “fish-and-chips” and—feel sorry for this guy’s pastry chef—“some of our desserts.”
What is your least favorite food?
A few folks can’t stomach Indian food or cilantro, but most offered up an eclectic list that included “high-tech shit,” “white-chocolate dishes and pastries with trans fat,” “raw green bell peppers,” “vegetables,” “risotto,” “chicken feet and oysters” and “heavy, schlocky, overcooked pasta.”
What is the best day of the week to eat out in NYC?
Tuesday. Because most chefs take Mondays off and “the food’s fresher.”
Who is the next legitimately talented up-and-coming chef?
Wesley Genovart of Degustation got two votes, followed by Orsay’s Jason Hicks, Fatty Crab’s Zac Pelaccio, Zocalo’s Julian Medina, Chanto’s Kiyotaka Shinoki, Stand’s Julie Farias and “no one.”
Which publication’s reviews do you think are truly terrible?
The New York Post sickens many chefs, though The New York Sun and New York magazine—“Adam Platt, his shtick is so tired”—were also beat up.
Which publication’s reviews do you think are on the money?
The New York Times “always hits it,” though critic Frank Bruni “takes everything too personal.” Also rating high: the Michelin guide, New York magazine and Time Out New York…sometimes: “If you put Fatty Crab in again I’m going to scream.”
What is your most embarrassing guilty-pleasure food?
“Chocolate candy bars,” “Choco Taco,” “onion rings,” “banana sandwich, which is a ripe banana on white bread with mayonnaise,” “chicken liver,” “doughnuts,” “Cap’n Crunch with Crunch Berries,” “late-night wieners,” “bologna,” “McDonald’s fries,” “Swedish Fish,” “scrapple,” “Twinkies.”
Do you frequent any chef hangs? Where are they?
Five chefs hang at the cozy Blue Ribbon down on Sullivan Street, three at the Spotted Pig gastropub, but The Union Square Greenmarket is where everyone goes. “That’s where the gossip is.”
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
“Long live badass Mexican cooks. Without them this city would fall.”
“I wish New York had cheaper rents—rather than another megarestaurant opening or Duane Reade—so hungry and talented chefs would get a chance to do something. We also need another food network to kick the Food Network’s ass. No more Top Chef. And author Bill Buford to replace Frank Bruni of the Times. Oh, and for New York Noodletown not to run out of baby pig before 7pm.”
“Too many chefs think they’re rock stars—fucking dreamers who look like prison cooks.”
“We hate it when people walk in ten minutes before closing.”
“The city has changed dramatically. The dining scene is amazing, but it still lacks the intimacy that’s needed to complete the guests’ experience. We are too fast-paced; rents are so high these days that everyone must turn tables or charge outlandish prices to survive.”
“Sandwiches are fucking hard to make.”
“I hate Chowhound and blogs that can ruin a restaurant based on personal, often angry opinions.”
“What else? It’s good to be a chef.”
Scott
Sun, Aug 19, 07, at 8:58pm
What about Caterers and catering chefs...they don't get their due rewards..They work fast and furious in a half baked kitchen....Cantering Caterer in Westport CT does a ton of work in the city and they rock out loud!!!!
