Betony and the Midtown Artery

[daniel krieger for the ny times]If you're a chef or restaurateur and you're after three stars from the New York Times, your best bet is to head north of 42nd Street. There has been recent talk of a downtown discovery, but certain restaurateurs aren't into the casual approach that thrives below 14th Street. Take Eamon Rockey and Bryce Shuman, the General Manager and Executive Chef, respectively, of Midtown newcomer Betony. The restaurant opened on West 57th Street earlier this year and, today, Pete Wells awards it three stars.

Shuman, Rockey, and Luke Wohlers (the restaurant's wine director) are all veterans of Eleven Madison Park. "As you’d imagine," Wells writes, "The two restaurants bear a family resemblance." This appears in many guises, notably service, in what Wells calls "E.M.P. ESP” – when servers know what you need before you do. And the food? Wells finds, "Traces of Mr. Humm’s style, minus the party tricks, show up in Mr. Shuman’s cooking, especially in the way that the signs of hard work have been tucked out of sight." The critic loves nearly everything he at in his visits to Betony and comments briefly on the decor. "But what would most help that dining room right now is a crowd," he writes. "Betony deserves it."

The guys behind Betony could have modeled their restaurant after the two-star template and opened a refined-yet-casual concept anywhere. The fact that they chose West 57th Street was a sign that they were taking a different approach. Midtown spaces are bigger and rents are higher. It results in a smaller margine of error and the need to raise menu prices. Part of the reason downtown has seen an explosing in smart, well-executed, delicious, and affordable food comes down to rent. The difference between $17,000/month and $37,000/month isn't just twenty grand, but maybe be the difference in a $17 fish entree and a $37 fish entree.

That's not to say Wells hasn't awarded downtown restaurants three stars (Kyo Ya, Carbone, Atera), just that the difference between a three star restaurant downtown and one uptown is itself significant. An artery runs through midtown dining and beats to the rhythm of a particular aesthetic. There's a slower pace, sprawling and grandiose rooms, and a certain elegance that comes with dining north of 42nd Street. Not everywhere of course, but restaurants that could flirt with three stars, or Times recognition in any sense, are at a caliber all their own compared to restaurants downtown with the same three star rating. [NYTimes]

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Will Close June 30th

When Pete Wells reviewed Alison Eighteen a few weeks ago, he pokes at the current trend in restaurants that has taken place "in the decade since she (Alison Price Becker) last operated a Manhattan restaurant," stating that, "all of New York below 42nd Street has been taken over by kids."

He goes on to say, "Their bodies are still limber and lean, curse them, so when these kids are finally shown to a seat, and it turns out to be bigger than a laptop but smaller than an actual human lap, they can wedge into it without hearing anything inside creak or snap.  The seat (O.K., it’s more like a stool or a bench or a tree stump or maybe an anvil) will offer no lumbar support, but still they won’t wake up the next morning feeling as if they’d been lifting file cabinets all night.  The damage to their eardrums hasn’t started to manifest yet, so they can bob their heads to an early ’80s hair-metal anthem while recounting the latest episode of "The Walking Dead.""

Wells' prelude to the evolution of dining trends in New York City gets further support with the announcement yesterday that Joel Robuchon and the Four Seasons Hotel will amicably part ways.  L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon's last day of operation in the hotel will be June 30, 2012.  The restaurant opened in 2006 and for six years was a significant player in the world of fine dining.  Just last fall, L'Atelier received two Michelin stars.

While the restaurant lies above 42nd Street, its closing follows the changing trends washing through the city.  As more and more people continue to frequent small, casual, sometimes loud restaurants, fine dining establishments struggle to remain relevant.

Pete Wells Loves Le Bernardin, and the Yankees

revamped dining room at le bernardinLast year, towards the end of summer, Le Bernardin shut down for a month to get an overhaul from a team of architects and designers from Bentel & Bentel.  The restaurant reopened in mid September, and today, Pete Wells files a four-star review on his recent experience at the restaurant Eric Ripert has been the executive chef at for 18 years.

"People sometimes ask him (Ripert) if he gets tired of cooking fish. Clearly these people have never eaten at Le Bernardin. No other restaurant in the city makes the simple cooking of fish (and the fish at Le Bernardin is cooked simply, when it is cooked at all) seem so ripe with opportunities for excitement."

"Like nearly all the savory dishes, this one depends upon the kitchen’s expert sauciers, especially Vincent Robinson, who has been on the job since 1985. Standing over his stockpots, Mr. Robinson has the control of Mariano Rivera on the mound. (Get well soon, Mr. Rivera.)" 

You can almost taste the dishes as Wells points out combinations of flavors put together by Mr. Robinson, "When he blends bergamot with grapefruit and other citrus for lobster, or jalapeño with lime for fluke sashimi, the nip of acidity will touch down precisely on this spot of your tongue, and nowhere else."

Wells is happy to join the ranks of Times critics that have placed Le Bernardin at its most acclaimed, four stars.  "Why wait to say it: today I fall in line, happily, with my predecessors."

Ben Benson's Meats Its Maker

Midtown's Ben Benson's has been doing meat and potatos at 123 West 52nd Street since 1982.  At a meeting held Wednesday, Mr. Benson announced with tears in his eyes that the restaurant will close on Father's Day, June 17th. 

The Paramount Group, who owns the building, refuses to renew the lease.

"Mr. Benson hasn't ruled out the possibility of another Ben Benson's, a proposition he gives a 50-50 chance. A couple of restaurateurs have already approached him about doing a joint venture."

It'll be a sad day for many.  One regular who got engaged at Benson's said, "For me it's like my kitchen and living room rolled in one."

One Star for Midtown's La Silhouette

In today's Times, Pete Wells awards La Silhouette one star in a review that reads like Bruni's recent article about having gout.  Chef Matthew Tropeano's menu has more than one foie gras dish on it.  There is a foie gras sauce, truffled forcemeat, sweetbreads, duck pate, and butter poached lobster.  It's a rich menu and you may be better off walking to 362 West 53rd Street to taste its offerings than taking the subway.

As for all the goose liver, Mr. Tropeano "ought to know his way around a lobe of foie gras.  He spent eight years in the kitchen at La Grenouille, mastering old-guard French dishes that fewer and fewer chefs in New York know how to pronounce."

La Silhouette "is on the extremely short list of good French restaurants in walking distance of the Broadway theaters," despite the fact that it operates in a "dark space that is about as inviting a spot for a restaurant as the Holland Tunnel."

Blue Bottle Coffee Pours Over to Rock Center

Blue Bottle Coffee announced yesterday that their Rockefeller Center location is officially open.  That marks the third New York City locale with one on Berry Street in Williamsburg and another on West 15th Street in Chelsea.

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Midtown coffee culture.