i'm ryan sutton, the new york food critic for bloomberg news.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
I’ve been studying the diner burger lately, and there’s something so reassuring about the formula of burger, bun, garnishes, fries, and small cup of slaw—if you want to go wild, you can simply dump the slaw on the burger. This is food at its simplest and most elegant, food that doesn’t want to slap your face. This is food that is simply good, and defines a sort of normalcy in eating that no longer exists. Nowadays, every meal is a challenge and a problem. Have you eaten well enough? Have you eaten innovatively, locavorically, and seasonally enough?
That’s the elegant level-headedness of Robert Sietsema, the longtime Village Voice food critic who was fired today, per a Gawker report. He’s the guy who writes about restaurants you’ve never heard of, because they don’t have publicists and they’re not listed on UrbanDaddy. Sietsema goes reviewing in parts of the city where yellow cabs don’t fill the streets, where subways aren’t always close by, in neighborhoods you didn’t know existed, and where English isn’t the first language of either the clientele, the waiters or the owners. He was, and still is, one of our most essential critics.
“His relationships with small restaurant owners not only led directly to the creation of the paper’s annual, sold-out “Choice Eats” event, but his written reviews literally changed the economic fortunes of several hundred small business owners throughout the five boroughs over the past two decades and left an indelible mark on the city’s food culture,” Hugh Merwin eloquently writes for New York Magazine’s Grub Street.
It’s important for us food writers and critics to cover the highly-touted new restaurants in Manhattan and cool parts of Brooklyn, because, well, that’s where people are spending their money, and it’s our job to follow and critique that money trail. Of course, every now and then, with re-reviews, we try to lead our readers off the trail by turning a spotlight on a more forgotton venue, or a venue that’s imporoved over the years.
And while Sietsema covered the big important new joints like the rest of us, his dedication to leading us WAY off the beaten path, outside of our Manhattan-Williamsburg-Carroll Gardens comfort zone, is why he’s so necessary. And with our city’s hospitality industry still getting back on its feet in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, it’s ever more vital that these small “Sietsema restaurants” (if I can call them that) be given their proper due.
I hope we find him writing again soon. New York City needs Sietsema.
![Here’s Something We Haven’t Seen Before: The bartenders at Manon, a tri-level Meatpacking District restaurant run by the people behind the failed Brasserie Pushkin (RIP), want you to drink, but they don’t tell you what your drinking, just like that shady guy wearing sandals at a December frat party back when you were a freshman at SUNY Binghamton. Not only do you not get the brand name of the base spirit at Manon, you don’t get the name of the base spirit itself. Gin? Rye? Bourbon? Who knows.
Imagine going to a steakhouse where, instead of dry-aged ribeye, the menu reads, “flavors of grass, corn, notes of varsity high school locker room funk.” Guess what? Most people would prefer the former description, even if the latter description is more accurate.
Why? Because we like to know what we’re putting in our moufs.*
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This all goes against the prevailing zeitgeist that suggests we learn more about what we consume, where it comes from, and the hardworking people who make it. Instead, at Manon, we have descriptions like “salty ocean breeze, light banana notes, and sunshine,” and drinks with names like “Marshmallow Clouds” and “Love to Turn You On.”
How are the drinks? We tried two and we won’t lie they’re pretty decent. Who knows, maybe this is what it takes to get Meatpackers to drink something that’s not vodka (and the waiter will tell you what’s in it upon request). But still, there’s gotta be a better way.
*moufs is Ludacris spelling for the word mouths.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/db0aeffe81c674d844d5adc70196099b/tumblr_mmwigeV3Ac1qlsrcmo1_r1_500.png)
Here’s Something We Haven’t Seen Before: The bartenders at Manon, a tri-level Meatpacking District restaurant run by the people behind the failed Brasserie Pushkin (RIP), want you to drink, but they don’t tell you what your drinking, just like that shady guy wearing sandals at a December frat party back when you were a freshman at SUNY Binghamton. Not only do you not get the brand name of the base spirit at Manon, you don’t get the name of the base spirit itself. Gin? Rye? Bourbon? Who knows.
Imagine going to a steakhouse where, instead of dry-aged ribeye, the menu reads, “flavors of grass, corn, notes of varsity high school locker room funk.” Guess what? Most people would prefer the former description, even if the latter description is more accurate.
Why? Because we like to know what we’re putting in our moufs.*
Corton is where DADDY goes to fill up on FLAVOR. That’s the gist of my four star Bloomberg News review of Paul Liebrandt & Drew Nieporent’s outstanding Tribeca restaurant. Click through for a course-by-course slideshow of the entire $155 tasting menu (real cost: $400 for two), with gorgeous photos by Evan Sung.
Pictured here (my photo) is a Violet Hill Farm poussin, slowly poached in its natural casing, with flavors of ramps, green garlic, broccoli and French sorrel. It’s poultry to the power of 10, and on the side (not pictured) is a bangin old school chicken royal, which is poultry to the power of 100. There you have it, one of New York’s best restaurants.
![This week in my Bloomberg News column I awarded 2.5 stars to Pearl & Ash, Chef Richard Kuo’s affordable small plates joint on New York’s Bowery. As is the case with any review, I eat a lot more food than I get a chance to write about. So here I thought I’d say a few words about one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant, the “Peas & Carrots.”
Briefly: It’s is a mix of roasted and pickled carrots, with sauteed sugar snap peas, snow pea leaves and a little pea puree thrown in for good measure. Everything soaks up the aromatic roasting juices, packed with so much [expletive omitted] flavor that you’d swear there’s some beef stock in there. There is not. The preparation is 100% vegetarian. It’s a wallop of fresh acidity, clean sugar, restrained bitterness and surreal meatiness for just $8.
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This is what we expect from a Corton alum. Anyone who’s had Paul Liebrandt’s food knows that guy can make fireworks with vegetables. Fredrik Berselius, another old Corton-er and Kuo’s old partner at Frej, had already blown our minds with banana-like roasted parsnips and brown butter foam at Aska. So it was high time for Kuo’s time to strut his vegetarian stuff. And he delivered.
I asked the chef to describe his Peas & Carrots in detail for The Bad Deal. Here’s what he had to say:
“The thought process behind the peas and carrots follows a very similar pattern like many other dishes on the menu which is to take familiar flavour combinations and reintroduce them as new and interesting ideas. We wanted to utilize as much of what is available at the market as possible and there always seem to be an abundance of a wide variety of organic carrots. The dish contains both peas and carrots in many different shapes and forms:
- Roasted carrots. A very classical roasted carrot like one you would find with a roast chicken. we sous vide whole carrots from the market in carrot juice at 90 Celsius for approximately 20-30min. It is chilled after cooking which is then wrapped in aluminum foil along with thyme, rosemary and garlic and roasted in the oven at 450F for 8min. The two part process allows the carrots to be cooked perfectly which is then infused with the aromats. During service, this component is first cut into small bite sized pieces then picked up with a little shallot confit and chopped parsley.
- Pickled baby carrots. Neatly peeled and trimmed down, pickled in a white wine vinegar-based pickling liquid.
- Sugar snap peas are sauteed in the pan with a little blackening/blistering on the sides, which is then tossed in a loose pea puree made from English peas as well as a little shallot confit.
- Snow pea leaves are lightly sauteed in the and and mixed with the rest of the components to provide some contrasting texture.
The entire dish is an attempt to showcase what is available from the garden during spring through applying a variety of contrasting techniques and flavours.” (Richard Kuo).](http://24.media.tumblr.com/7f426811c7fdd804bc4d877610cb5d79/tumblr_mmjfdbXdSJ1qlsrcmo1_500.png)
This week in my Bloomberg News column I awarded 2.5 stars to Pearl & Ash, Chef Richard Kuo’s affordable small plates joint on New York’s Bowery. As is the case with any review, I eat a lot more food than I get a chance to write about. So here I thought I’d say a few words about one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant, the “Peas & Carrots.”
Briefly: It’s is a mix of roasted and pickled carrots, with sauteed sugar snap peas, snow pea leaves and a little pea puree thrown in for good measure. Everything soaks up the aromatic roasting juices, packed with so much [expletive omitted] flavor that you’d swear there’s some beef stock in there. There is not. The preparation is 100% vegetarian. It’s a wallop of fresh acidity, clean sugar, restrained bitterness and surreal meatiness for just $8.
after what seems like an eternity, it’s finally happened, we have secured our liquor license! we still have a few tweaks here and there and a few things to iron out, so we will remain BYOB until memorial day (may 27). we will be closed on memorial day and will begin selling beer & wine on tuesday, may 28th!
thank you in advance for your support this past year and for your continued support while we make this transition. we understand that many of you enjoyed being able to BYO at our restaurant, and we hope that you understand the necessity of a liquor license for our continued success. thank you thank you thank you. we cannot say it enough. we will be posting the menu as soon as we finalize it!
if you have any questions, please email us at thirtyacresrestaurant@gmail.com.
so much love,
alex & kevin
We at The Bad Deal look forward to this transition, as one of the nice things about going to a restaurant is trying beers, wines and booze that you can’t normally find at your neighborhood liquor shop (which quite frankly is usually the stuff we brought to Thirty Acres). Sure, this will cost the consumer a few more dollars, but we think it’ll be worth it.
The James Beard Foundation judges could have given its best group food blog award to a publication like Eater, known for its diligent reporting about how New York restaurants recovered from Hurricane Sandy, the biggest storm to hit our city in a generation.
But last night, The Beard Committee gave that award to Dark Rye, whose content includes this “ten tiny houses we love” feature, which Dark Rye posted FIVE TIMES on its tumblr in the past week. So next time you think about taking the Beard Awards seriously, think about this one long and hard.
We at The Bad Deal would like to give a Friday SHOUT OUT to all our hard-working, number-crunching, slim-toned, bikini-clad, caviar-consuming brothers and sisters at The Price Hike for this feature, which we think you’ll appreciate if you’re pinching your pennies like we are! Just to be clear, there are no actual brothers and sisters at The Price Hike, just Ryan Sutton, who happens to be the editor of The Bad Deal, and who happens to be me. We (ahem) just thought that sounded cooler. Check it out.
TACO BELL SAYS WORKING ON NEW LOW-END MENU
Actual, literal, for real, unironic Bloomberg News headline.
Or perhaps Bud Light drinkers put more of a premium on flavor than refinement. AB InBev said the decline of [Bud Light] Platinum was “partially offset” by the growth of Bud Light Lime Straw-ber-Rita and Bud Light Lime Lime-A-Rita, both of which also debuted last year to considerable wonderment.
We present without comment this quote from Bloomberg Businessweek.
![What we don’t need from a restaurant’s Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook feed:
Links to your appearance on the Today show, making prosciutto melon balls (“if you can’t find prosciutto at your local 7-11, Vienna sausages work fine.”)
Photos of that marlin you caught off the coast of Madagascar.
“We’re one follower away from the 550 on Twitter help us get there!”
RT-ing every single single gosh darn positive guest experience.
The same fuzzy Instagram photo (without a price), published on your Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook feed simultaneously.
How excited you are about your sixth cookbook.
Crowdsourcing things only a kindergarten teacher would ask: “And what did YOU have for breakfast today?”
This word, or any of its synonyms: YOGA.
What we need from a restaurant’s social media feed:
Links to the latest menus, with prices.
Food pictures, particularly specials, with prices.
24-hour advance notice if you’re closed for a private event. All the more important if you’re a walk-ins-only joint that doesn’t answer phones.
Last minute availability, with prices if you’re tasting-menu-only.
Unexpected wines you’re opening up by the glass, with prices.
What philanthropic event you’re cooking at, with ticket prices.
When you’re cooking at an out-of-town-pop-up, with prices.
When you’re sold out of a popular special for the evening.
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These may seem like bromides to some, but trust me, I wish I had a dollar for every time I showed up a restaurant that was closed for a private event that wasn’t announced on Twitter. And as for photos — we’ve said this before and we’ll say it again — a la carte restaurants that don’t publish prices with their Instagrammed or Twit-pic food specials are like old-school waiters who don’t include prices in their oral spiel. Are you really gonna make us ask to find out if we can afford it?
Now I’m sure there’s a chef out there saying, “Well, you know, the people who follow our account, they’re familiar with our prices, and we don’t want to clog up our feed with numbers.” Great, so why don’t you just remove all the prices from your dinner menus and wine lists, since all of your guests are up to speed?
As for positive guest experiences, please don’t clog up our twitter-verse with an RT from every single diner who writes ”can’t stop thinking about our meal at SQUID last night, it was my boyfriend’s birthday and he loved the squid four ways in cuttlefish ink.” So be judicious with the RTs. Or try a simple reply instead. Social media is about building a sense of community by engaging people. RT-ing every guest compliment isn’t engaging people, it’s just spamming our feeds with a locust plague of mini press releases.
So let’s make a deal. If you can work on the important stuff, like prices, we at The Bad Deal will let you get away with the tweeting photos of your vacations in Bora Bora, and yes, even your Saturday yoga routine, because we know being cool on social media is about being human and not a press machine. We get it.
For what it’s worth, our favorite restaurant social media accounts are Thirty Acres (which posts its menu every day), Dirt Candy (which uses its feed to show table availability), and Next/Alinea, the two tasting menu restaurants by Chicago’s Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas. They use their twitters to give out last minute tables, and they always tweet the price of those tables. And the Next Facebook community is probably the most transparent dialogue you’ll ever see between a restaurant and its clientele. Very cool indeed.
Who needs to be better? Virtually everyone else. Especially the three-Michelin-starred venues. Anything to add? Let us know in the comments, or — heave forbid — in the “reblogs.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/b08e30ee80901de9c362a3671756b708/tumblr_mm4mzscFth1qlsrcmo1_500.png)
What we don’t need from a restaurant’s Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook feed:
- Links to your appearance on the Today show, making prosciutto melon balls (“if you can’t find prosciutto at your local 7-11, Vienna sausages work fine.”)
- Photos of that marlin you caught off the coast of Madagascar.
- “We’re one follower away from the 550 on Twitter help us get there!”
- RT-ing every single single gosh darn positive guest experience.
- The same fuzzy Instagram photo (without a price), published on your Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook feed simultaneously.
- How excited you are about your sixth cookbook.
- Crowdsourcing things only a kindergarten teacher would ask: “And what did YOU have for breakfast today?”
- This word, or any of its synonyms: YOGA.
What we need from a restaurant’s social media feed:
- Links to the latest menus, with prices.
- Food pictures, particularly specials, with prices.
- 24-hour advance notice if you’re closed for a private event. All the more important if you’re a walk-ins-only joint that doesn’t answer phones.
- Last minute availability, with prices if you’re tasting-menu-only.
- Unexpected wines you’re opening up by the glass, with prices.
- What philanthropic event you’re cooking at, with ticket prices.
- When you’re cooking at an out-of-town-pop-up, with prices.
- When you’re sold out of a popular special for the evening.
Michelin-Starred Restos in The Global South? ZERO. But Southern Hemisphere Eateries on “World’s 50 Best List”? There Are SIX.
So perhaps there is something to this San Pellegrino list of the so-called “World’s 50 Best Restaurants,” which released its rankings tonight in London. Here’s another fun fact: the number Mexican or South American restaurants on the list EQUALS the number of U.S. restaurants on the list. That’s a strong hat tip to Mexico and the Global South, and it’s especially significant in a world where culinary conversations often revolve around Europe, Japan, and the U.S.
The six restaurants in Mexico or South America are:
- D.O.M. (Sao Paolo)
- Astrid y Gaston (great place, Lima)
- Pujol (Mexico City)
- Biko (Mexico City)
- Mani (Sao Paolo)
- Central (Lima)
We believe that Gustu in Bolivia, which opened this April, will be well-positioned to crack the Top Fifty next year. Also keep in mind that there are a number of South African, Australian, Brazilian and Peruvian spots on the bottom half of the list (51-100). Michelin does not publish guides for restaurants in the Southern Hemisphere.
These Are "The World's 50 Best Restaurants." Commence Your Eye-Rolling.
Click through for the Bloomberg News story, courtesy of Richard Vines, who’s also the UK and Ireland chair for the awards. The big news is that Spain’s El Celler de Can Roca has “ousted” (if such a thing were possible) Noma as the “world’s best restaurant.” Eleven Madison Park, which moved up five spots to fifth, is the only American establishment in the top ten. The most excellent Astrid y Gaston in Lima moved up 21 places, to number 14. For a more critical take on things, check out The Ulterior Epicure’s legitimate gripes with the list.
Happy Hour at the Bar!!
IT’S A DEAL! Pizzas at Roberta’s normally cost $9-$17; the mini pizzas during Happy Hour are just seven bucks. Also doesn’t hurt that Roberta’s makes some of NYC’s best pies, period. Here’s my Bloomberg review from November 2011.
Here's What's Wrong With The "World's 50 Best Restaurants" List, Which Drops Later Today
Click through for the fine essay by Bonjwing Lee, the “Ulterior Epicure,” who argues against the annual list by San Pellegrino. He writes: “At best, these are the fifty trendiest (or most-publicized) restaurants in the world…And let’s not forget the sponsor of this list is San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, a company that has much to gain on the tables and in the tumblers of the high-end restaurants that this list seems to favor.”
So The Bad Deal probably shouldn’t link to the list when it drops later today, but alas, we will anyway. Look for whether Noma will lose the top spot to Tokyo’s Narisawa, as Eater’s Raphael Brion suggests might happen.
There are other factors that make Albert’s emerging empire different, as well. The scope of the food being served falls well beyond the Spanish food he built his name on. He is now putting his stamp on high-end Mexican food, on kaiseki-style Japanese cuisine, on spice-charged Peruvian food…To top it off, he’s making this push in one of the worst economies in Europe, if not the entire developed world. Unemployment in Spain stands at an all-time high of 25 percent (a staggering 40 percent for youth) and GDP is shrinking now at its fastest pace since the recession began. Walk the streets of Barcelona at 2:30 and 9:00 pm, the peak eating hours of the day, and you will find a city full of empty restaurants.
This is all from Matt Goulding’s epic profile on Albert Adria, the man who’s just as responsible for having made El Bulli what it is as his more famous brother, Albert.
