He had reviewed some of the restaurants that I previously opened/ran. He was generally a nice enough, but standoffish guy. I’ll never forget the feeling of realizing he was seated. One of those moments that you train for, and now it was game time . There are all sorts of tricks that people employ, cheat sheets with reviewers photos (there is one unfortunate photo of him that everyone has, it must be on every restaurant office wall in NYC), serving extra dishes to the tables around him (so that he got a look at things he didn’t order but should have), and calling friends to fill an empty dining room when he sat down for example. It was always an awkward interaction, he knew I knew, I knew he knew I knew. I generally think Sifton was a better writer, I appreciate that he reviewed restaurants that weren’t your typical white male chef joints, and I’m happy to see Tejal still doing well out west. I’m particularly excited to read some Mellissa Clark reviews in the meantime.
It was an amazing experience, it made me who I am. I cooked through university, and then studied wine to become a sommelier after graduation. After a few years in a Relais and Chateau hotel in Colorado I moved to NYC for 10 years. I’ve since moved on to marketing in SaaS. I firmly believe that it gave me a big leg up in understanding consumer behavior and a unique ability to empathize with the end user. It was definitely stressful, but I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. That being said, my quality of life has improved beyond measure since changing careers.
Absolutely! Recommending restaurants may be the unofficial New Yorker pastime. As a best practice, I recommend checking some of the Eater.com lists before visiting any town. They don't always hit the mark, however you can get a pretty good feel for the restaurant scene by what they are reviewing. I'll put a mix of genres below. But I'm more than happy to answer any others.
Ugly Baby (Carrol Gardens) is my favorite Thai restaurant outside of Thailand. The Chef/Owner also has a restaurant in Sylva, NC for those in WNC.
Popina (Columbia Street Waterfront) is a cozy Italian spot, with a stellar wine list.
Claud (EV) is casual fine dining that serves all the good stuff. They're two old Momofuku vets that serve a lot of the stuff chefs like to eat.
Lilia and Misi (Williamsburg) are always excellent for pasta.
Lucali (Carrol Gardens) is the best pizza in the city. Razza (Jersey City) is the best pizza outside of a borough. Frank Pepe (New Haven) is the best outside the city.
Rossi Rosticceria Deli (Poughkeepsie) is an amazing deli, up by the CIA.
Glacken's Bar and Grill (Bronx) is absolutely the best bar to stop in before a Yankee game.
Minca (EV) for Tsukemen Ramen
Paisanos (Carrol Gardens) is my favorite Italian Butcher.
My favorite restaurant in NYC at the moment is Frenchette (Tribeca).
Bars in no particular order Dante (everything campari, get a Garibaldi), Attaboy (anything is great), Dead Rabbit(Irish Coffee is spectacular), Four Horsemen (natural wine).
Amazing! Thank you for the deatiled answer, I've added all these to my Google Maps list for when I'm back in the city. I've walked by Minca a bunch of times, next time I'm going in for sure.
There are plenty, but my favorite celebrity encounter had to be this one. Dan and Eugene Levy dining with Paul Shaffer, they were the last ones in the restaurant, and paid with a gift card signed “Love Dave.” It was mid winter, in Gramercy and they thoroughly enjoyed their evening, including wine. While I was fetching their coats, they were singing show tunes outside of the coat check (restaurant management isn’t always glamorous). Apparently when I got Paul’s jacket his yellow beanie fell out. I remember this because while I was getting Eugene’s jacket, Paul stormed through the curtain yelling “Where is my hat?! It was a yellow hat! It was a very good hat! Find my hat you son of a bitch!” There were a couple of times in my career when in the moment I thought “Given all the possible outcomes for my life, how did I end up in this one?” This was one of them. In the end, I found his hat and they were off into a cold and rainy winter night. They were all absolutely lovely guests. Funny, charming, and they tipped the staff well.
Thank you! I've never fancied myself a good writer; I feel like, on a personal level, I can identify the beauty in things. However, I tend to have a hard time putting it to paper in a way that I feel conveys how I feel. But I'm working on it!
It's nice to be able to convey your feelings to your audience through writing, but great writers go further.
The world needs great writers, because they are travel guides. They guide us to visit places we couldn't reach alone. Worthwhile places that would go unvisited and unknown without our guides.
That's why "Kitchen Confidential" is such an amazing book. It's a travelogue.
When Gay Talese wrote "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", he didn't write a profile of Frank. He was inviting us to go see Frank with him, to sign up to the great adventure of finding out who Frank really was.
If you would like to be one of our guides, I thank you.
Study the book "On Writing", by Stephen King, and begin inviting us to your travels!
From my days of racing downhill mtb and cycling this came naturally to me when I first got on a moto. I still have a really hard time describing the how, but can execute it intuitively. It's a really strange concept to wrap my head around.
