Big Stars and Brooklyn

Since his early days in New York kitchens, Atlas in 2000 and Papillon in 2001, Paul Liebrandt has had a by-any-means-necessary attitude in his quest for perfection. Having shared our thoughts on The Elm (and the N.Y. State of Restaurant Minds) back in July, we were curious to know what Pete Wells would think of the chef's latest venture. Today, he awards the restaurant two stars.

"The Elm, in other words," the critic writes, "would be just like a hundred other restaurants if not for Mr. Liebrandt. He has ratcheted down the complexity and the number of surprises in his cooking," Wells says, comparing Liebrandt's cooking in Williamsburg to Tribeca, where the chef left his most recent post at Corton this summer. "This could have dumbed down the cuisine, but it has focused its pleasures instead."

"A dish called Flavors of Bouillabaisse, in quotation marks, sounds ominous," Wells writes, before concluding, "It is lovely. Mr. Liebrandt has kept it in seafood-stew form but rearranged the emphasis." And in the Summer Garden, with an array of vegetables, the critic notes some were "raw, some were pickled, some were roasted, some were braised; all tasted extremely fresh and delicious."

Wells touches on the restaurant's price point. He writes, "But while you can find a couple of sleepwalkers on nearly any menu, you’d be lucky to find just one dish as good as Flavors of Bouillabaisse. The Elm has at least a half-dozen that equal or surpass it, and none of them is more than $30." More than $30? The times they are a-changin'. How long ago was it when entrees in and around Williamsburg weren't more than $20? Then again, when was the last time a Michelin starred chef thought it a solid career move to leave Manhattan for Brooklyn? It's a move that seems enticing to more and more chefs and restaurateurs. Eater notes Tom Colicchio is opening some version of his Craft empire in Downtown Brooklyn, Hill Country hopes to open their location in the same neighborhood by year's end, and Grand Central Oyster Bar will soon be in Park Slope.

Despite the pair of stars, Liebrandt's new project in the King & Grove Hotel is closer to Corton and Manhattan fine dining than it is what we've dubbed the two-star template – the current trend of sophisticated food served cheaply in casual, whimsical, and oft slightly boisterous environs. Then again, Liebrandt has worked against the grain from the moment he donned an apron. Maybe he's a trendsetter. His presence in Brooklyn certainly reveals the borough's changing landscape and, with The Elm, he's taken a giant leap towards proving it can sustain a highly-refined and well-curated vision.

Midtown Dining With Giorgio Armani

[john lei for the ny times]We missed Frank Bruni's 2009 blog post about Armani Ristorante and it seems that was our chance to hear about the restaurant. But places like Luksus, Estela, Piora, and Khe-Yo are all too new to review, and since another #NYFashWeek has come and gone, Pete Wells sheds some light on the swank Midtown eatery in the Armani store that opened just after the '08 market crash.

"The mood in the city was humbled, downsized, frightened," Wells writes of the gloom that washed over the city (country) in the fall of 2008, "and here was an expensive restaurant reached by a private elevator from the street or, better, a sinuous white ramp that twisted past two floors of gowns and luxury leather goods like a floating catwalk."

The expensive part rears its ugly head in the $11 price tag for bottled water and the $35 average entree price. But Wells enjoyed most of what he ate, namely branzino with salsa verde, langoustines with green apple, black risotto with speck-wrapped cuttlefish, and bone-in veal chop Milanese. Baby octopus, spaghetti with tuna belly, and tagliolini with mushrooms, truffles and langoustines not so much. Of the latter, the critic writes, "Removing one accessory, Coco Chanel-style, would have focused the flavors and helped lower the ridiculous $38 price tag."

Sandro Romano, the chef responsible for the good, the bad, and the ugly, hails from the Modern, where he worked for seven years as chef de cuisine before teaming up with Giorgio Armani. "While the prices aren’t quite so out of step with the times," Wells concludes, "nobody would describe Armani Ristorante as of the moment." But for the gentlemen that sit with uncanny leans and the women that walk with weighty purses, a two-star dining experience awaits on the third floor at 717 Fifth Avenue.

Midtown is tough. Although Armani Ristorante was awarded two stars, it doesn't fit what we've been calling the two-star template. Armani Ristorante's location, elegant room, and pricey menu go against the casual approach that thrives downtown and defines the two-star template. Given the competition and plethora of two-star restaurants to have opened of late that actually are of the times, we don't think Well's positive review will turn Armani Ristorante into a midtown juggernaut, especially not when recently reviewed Betony operates around the corner with a shining third star. [NYTimes]

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]

Go Wanus Go, One Star for the Pines

We had a sneaking suspicion Pete Wells was going to review the Pines this week. With recent reviews of Costata, ABC Cocina, Uncle Boons, Alder, Lafayette, and Carbone, the Times critic has just about exhausted the white-hot (at least three-months-old) hits of late.

When Wells wrote about Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese Food on Orchard Street, he wove a Led Zepplin theme throughout the review. For the Pines, a looser, louder restaurant in a less-polished part of town, he goes for Television and the punk/new wave era of late 70s CBGB.

"None of my five meals at the Pines since its opening late last summer in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn has been in the “just awful” category," Wells writes of his early visits, "But two were so frustrating I swore I’d never return." "Three months later," he continues, "I was back. That night, the Pines and its chef, Angelo Romano, were in control of their chords and the tempo from start to finish."

Wells writes that chef Angelo Romano, "has a discerning eye for prime ingredients, but isn’t always as discerning about his ideas." Wells cites a few dishes that didn't work and calls out some early service blunders. Many of those kinds have been worked out, and a few of the restaurant's initial policies, i.e. cash only and no reservations, have since been changed, making a meal at the Pines that much more approachable. Wells awards one star.

Wells ate at the Pines five times and gave the restaurant almost a full year before filing his review (the restaurant opened on September 19th, 2012). This much time, and this many visits, have become a rarity it today's media driven food world, but the critic saw potential and wanted to give the young team time to get their Gowanus Canal sea legs.

In our opinion, each of our meals at the Pines have been two-star worthy. Romano's food, along with his knowledge and deft execution of unique ingredients, breathes a breath of fresh air into the city's foodmosphere. There's no doubt the one star is a bright one, and while two seems to be the trend, the solitary star gives Romano plenty of room to grow - which, according to an interview Romano did last week, sounds like it will be happening sooner than later. When asked, "What's next for you?" Romano's responsed, "We have a few projects we're working on this year that I can't really talk about yet. They're all Brooklyn-based." [NYTimes] [VV]

Violet, You're Turning Violet, Violet

[elizabeth d. herman for the ny times]The world has turned a watchful eye to food and the people who cook it. Now more than ever, food cultures thrive like mother starters and chefs/restaurateurs with solo projects are a dying breed. The guys from Battersby are expanding, Alex Stupak cooks some of the city's best Mexican in two different neighborhoods, and while Danny Bowien's business model thrives on two coasts, chefs like Mario Batali and Michael White seem to be chasing world domination. As chefs grow their restaurant empires, and grow them they will, it gives New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells plenty to eat, but might come at the cost of a diluted vision.

Wells took the forth star away from Daniel recently and hinted that it was due, in large part, to the idea that Daniel Boulud might be spreading himself thin. With a global empire that includes seven restaurants in New York, Boulud's task to maintain perfection at Daniel, his flagship, is exponentially more difficult with so many cooks in the kitchen.

The same might be said of today's review, in which Wells files on Costata, Michael White's return to 206 Spring Street where he started cooking in New York more than a decade ago. Costata, like the Elm and the Marrow, seemed to us as a concept that was chasing three New York Times stars. The Marrow fell two short, we patiently await Wells' thoughts on the Elm, and find Costata coming up one star shy.

"All those Foreigner and Stone Temple Pilots songs aren’t helping to set the mood," Wells writes, even though the loud rock thing worked for Babbo in 2004 when Frank Bruni awarded the restaurant three stars. Wells isn't a fan of the decor, a facet of the restaurant Adam Platt focused on for 80% of his short-winded review of Costata recently. Wells comments on "flame-shaped light bulbs programmed to flicker on and off." To Costata's defense, there's little else you can do without an open flame permit. But enough about that. On to the food.

Wells loves the pasta, "For a minute, we’re wondering if he’s laying it on a bit thick, showering shredded fontina over the oxtail ragù with cavatelli," he writes. "Then we take another bite and decide that when somebody makes pasta as wonderful as this, there are some questions you just don’t ask."

Pointing to a couple of the entrees, the critic writes, "Some of these dishes have a coarseness that wasn’t there when we first met," referring to White's time spent at Convivio and Alto before imploding with his Altamarea Group. Since the group's inception, Michael White's (exceptional) cooking and ensuing success has spawned projects in Hong Kong, London, New Jersey and New York, where he has opened six restaurants, three of which this year alone.

Few do it better than Michael White, and when a chef of his calibar falls short of the third star, it solidifies what we wrote about two weeks ago – two is the new three – and brings us to this question: If Costata were a standalone concept, or even White's second or third restaurant, would the likelihood of a three-star review be higher? [NYTimes]

N.Y. State of Restaurant Minds (and Our Meal at the Elm)

The Elm is one of the few restaurants to open this year that seems to be after three stars from The New York Times. The Marrow and Lafayette struck us as concepts that sought the same achievement, but both came up two stars short. We're certain Michael White's team at Costata is chasing three as well, but that review won't be out until (probably) September.

The trend is very much away from fine dining, polished rooms, and chiseled service from suited waiters. It's as if every new restaurant is following what's become the two star template. Pearl & Ash, Uncle Boons, ABC Cocina, Montmartre, Hanjan, and Mighty Quinn's have all opened in the past seven or eight months and have all received two stars. They are fun, casual eateries where reservations and a month spent saving aren't necessary to eat there.

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