|
|
FORK PLAY July 27, 2009
Bruni at Locanda. Hats and Stars. Sho Shaun Hergatt. Eat to the Beat. Gus & Gabriel.
Dear Friends and Family.
I would rather not have known about Frank Bruni's bulimia. Of course I sympathize with his suffering, but I don't think I will ever again read his comments about food  without feeling his crippling conflict as confided in last Sunday's Times magazine. From now on when I read him on food, I will always be imagining him ricocheting between joy and repulsion.
Of course I'm hungry too. I'm always hungry. I think I'm reasonably, sanely hungry. That is to say for a few hours after dinner, I don't think of food at all. But except when I'm actually eating, I am at least mildly hungry. I don't keep peanut butter in the house ever. And I don't buy Swedish fish or Jujy Fruits more than once every two months. I can sit here writing about food without actually eating for hours. I think this means I am more or less in control.
But even if food as a mortal enemy is no longer an issue for Bruni, I would quarrel with his Locanda Verde review. I don't usually bother second guessing other critics (click here for my take on Locanda Verde's charms). We each have our fatal burps and fixations. Mine I suppose is excessive pleasure in macaroni and cheese.
I don't think Andrew Carmellini needs a quieter, calmer or more serious restaurant to reach three-star level. If he has enough staff and drive, he should be able to make every dish coming out of the kitchen as good as the luscious crostini, the lamb sliders, and the tender little calamari stuffed with yogurt and mint. I believe you can have a three-star diner, maybe even a three-star wine bar.
Within its genre, a bistro might earn three stars, as Momofuku Ko did. I remember when Craig Claiborne was obsessing about whether to give the Gaiety Delicatessen two or three stars that week in the Times. Consistently great food should be the standard for rating. And I'm hoping Carmellini can rise to that at Locanda. Meanwhile, it's fun, too hot to get in easily, alas, and desperately needs sound proofing.
***
Hats and Stars
I would have given Locanda Verde 2 ˝ stars myself or two stars with a more glowing benediction. But that's my problem. That's why I never wanted to hang stars on my  reviews in New York. It would have always been 2 ˝ or 1 ˝. I only agreed to use hats on my reviews in Crain's with the hope readers would accept my columns as early impressions. Three hats for "I can't wait to go back," two for "I'll go back one day soon to see if they get it together," one for "I'll let them simmer a while (before I spend that much money again)," and no hats for "never again." But even I have a problem expressing my feelings in hats when it is the high prices and not the quality that stifle my eagerness to return.
***
Advertisements for Myself
Two weeks ago in FORK PLAY I asked if anyone knew an upholsterer willing to fix my collapsed sofa right in my living room. Betsy, who lives around the corner, saw my plea and emailed me the name of Sonny. He retied our green velvet sofa's springs and replaced a collapsed board in two hours on Saturday. Given our advanced age, it may last the rest of our lives.
Haven't I always said you should advertise on FORK PLAY? Patina Group agreed. If you click on their "Lobster Festival" ad, you'll get details, addresses and a chance to reserve.
We don't want to be improperly cozy with our advertisers (go to Insatiable Critic to see the very prestigious lineup) but the powers at Patina Group have been friends of Citymeals-on-Wheels for 25 years and I'm smiling to see their ad. The Insatiable Critic does not cater to advertisers, but we don't punish them when they're clever or delicious.
If rain and the blight don't interfere, Patina's restaurants will launch a big tomato festival August 1. Brasserie 8˝ will do a fried green tomato BLT. Sea Grill will serve chilled heirloom tomato consommé with peekytoe crab. And Café Centro will offer Long Island duck breast with tomato brűlée. Yes, it's marketing, but I thought you'd like to know.
***
That's Quite a Mouthful
When was the last time you felt compelled to explore Wall Street? That's just one strike Sho Shaun Hergatt has  against it. A new restaurant named for himself by a chef you probably never heard of is the second. Hidden away on the second level of the Setai Condominium on Broad Street, where your cab has to pass through a turnstile and be sniffed by dogs to protect the stock exchange (but the turnstile is broken) could be the third and fourth strikes. Even so, I urge you to make the effort. Discover the zen of the space, the luxurious fuss, and the mostly delicious options on Hergatt's remarkably modest $69 menu. Beggar's purses with gold leaf? Click here to read what I ate in this week's BITE.
***
Eat to the Beat
In 1989 we were all flocking south, the city's ficklettes and old fogeys alike.. Eating downtown was simply sexier. New York asked me to document the scene at that moment when downtown began in the West Village and Battery Park didn't exist. You probably won't remember Wings or La Vie En Rose that replaced it. I scarcely do myself. I wore black leather from my cap to my domination boots. Unfortunately, Grace Jones was wearing the exact same disguise. I was so invisible, I wasn't sure I existed. Unlike today, the Lower East Side and Alphabet City had yet to take off. "The spaces are too small," I quoted restaurant consultant Annik Klein. "You have small artists in small spaces doing cockroach art." I just posted "Eat to the Beat" in my Vintage department along with a 1992 review called "Meat and Frites" about Terrance Brennan's Union Square adventures and an early appearance of Mario Batali at Rocco's. Click here and scroll down to read about how Batali, an economics major at Rutgers, scratched an itch to cook.
***
What Makes Michael Run?
Michael Psilakis had time on his lease at 222 West 79th Street when he moved Kefi uptown to a duplex space big  enough to accommodate the racous army hungry for his inexpensive Greek cooking. The landlord persuaded him to stay. Gus and Gabriel (after his father and son), with its roster of junk and comfort food and ice cream parlor cocktails, is just the newest of his outposts. I needed time to recover from our first eating binge but I went back again because That's My Job! And with a little discipline - you don't need a burger and the pulled pork "Cuban" and the nachos and the peanut butter cupcake and the Black Cherry Chocolate float with Ezra Brooks bourbon all in one sitting. Or do you? Click here for more details of gastric excess and euphoria at what Psilakis is calling a Gastric Pub.
***
Travelers' Library
Last time we spent three weeks in Morocco, I would have loved having a compact little handbook like "Shopping in Marrakech" by Susan Simon (The Little Bookroom $18.95). It doesn't tell you how to avoid succumbing to your own shopaholic compulsions at the wily rug merchant's but it certainly helps you find other treasures you didn't know existed that you can trade for money.
On your way to Venice soon? You want to reserve ahead by email for dinner at my favorite Osteria alle Testiere. It's very small and is in demand for its seafood. If you score a table, ask Luca where you can buy the charming new cookbook he and chef Bruno have just published. A small book in heavy cardboard, it has a wonderful handmade feel.
***
| Photos of Locanda Verde sliders, Sho Shaun Hergatt salmon and Gus and Gabriel burger cannot be used without permission from Steven Richter. |
Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2009.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
