December 22, 2008: This Morning's Headlines from the Insatiable Critic
Dear Friends and Family,
My congenitally negative mindset already disliked Rouge Tomate as soon as I got wind of the premise. Healthy? Always scary. Remember raw food? Market-driven? As if most chefs worth their weight in press releases aren't market driven these days. Locally sourced? So what else is new? A menu that adheres to the principles of Sanitas Per Escam (SPE), "health through food," expressed in its long winded charter, with a full time registered dietician? Puh-leeze. Did restaurateur Emmanuel Verstraeten come all the way from Belgium hoping to sell New York a new cult? And isn't East 60th Street just off Fifth an unlikely temple for some contempo macrobiotic sprouting?
It took two visits to conquer my mindset. To decide if Rouge Tomate is your kind of urban spa, go to When Being Good is Not as Bad as It Seems in BITE: My Journal, new on Insatiable Critic this morning.
And if like me, you missed the murmurs of pleasurable excess breezing in from a little cheese and wine bar in the theater district, catch up at Casellula over a magnificent mountain of endive and blue-cheese salad and a grilled cheese sandwich for the memory book. Just scroll down a ways in BITE and decide if your arteries can take it.
Also check out what Le Cirque's exiled chef Christophe Bellanca has been up to since he abruptly exited the kitchen without explanation. Go to the Short Order box on my home page and click on Christophe Bellanca is stuffed from eating around... Want to wade in nostalgia for more innocent times? Go to Vintage (on the top navigator) and find Ma Vie Avec Le Grape Nut (November 20, 1970) and the infamous New York cover story: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ice Cream But Were Too Fat to Ask (August 3, 1970).
Break an egg,
Gael
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