February 27, 2006
A well-known American diplomat was over today, just before his overseas flight. The talk inevitably turned to famous American chefs and cooking shows. Since this fellow had just been on a three-week cross country drive—that's how U.S. diplomats reacquaint themselves with their native country—he'd had considerable opportunities to savor a number of fine restaurants on both coasts as well as in New Orleans. In particular, he was curious about the new Balducci's ("nothing special") and the haute cuisine possibilties at Chelsea Market. We agreed that Emeril Lagasse was a bit of a bore to watch, and certainly didn't have the charm of good looks of our famous female TV chefs, whether 1970's Julia Child or more recent stars. Martha Stewart didn't come to mind though.
When you consider the enormous growth in just one year of the outlandish dining possibilities in the Meat Market-meets-Chelsea area, you realize that the supersizing of America has taken place in typical Manhattan mini-me mode. Because it's not our diners who became supersized; it's the restaurants. Although I've not yet tried the $200 haunch of veal at Del Posto, nor have I enjoyed the swashbuckling nonsense of TriBeCa's Ninja, this blogger somehow admires the huge scale of these places. I can't omit the Chelsea Market's Buddakan or Iron Chef's Morimoto, either. I imagine the chefs at Matsuri have their knives honed and webcams set up in the big round windows of the nearby Maritime Hotel across Ninth Avenue so they can conduct their gastro-espionage. They formerly had the most cavernous Japanese restaurant, and now....? Perhaps this fantasy of mine, call it the mega-Edo, could be the 2006 NYC remake of the famous Japanese movie Tampopo, where a secret to success means not having the largest or fanciest restaurant, but the best recipe for noodle soup base. Who will concoct the most outlandish Japanese-inspired restaurant?
Back to our diplomat friend, who had many great recommendations. He'd called a few weeks ago from Gallup, New Mexico, where I'd exhorted him to visit the Eagle for a bowl of lamb stew. I'd been there in November, and it too was a cavernous restaurant—but from a different era. The tacos were shockingly awful, but the lamb stew is heavenly. Because it was such an authentic restaurant of the American southwest, recommended by gurus Jane and Michael Stern, it really wasn't about the food, but rather the experience.
So it was inevitable that our conversation turned to classic New York places, some of course also recommended by the Sterns. Places like Barney Greengrass, Eisenberg Sandwich, Katz's Delicatessen, The Lemon Ice King of Corona. The sort of places you can return to 1,000 times, knowing it's not haute cuisine, but your out-of-town guests will be rather amazed that such an authentically New York place can actually still exist. And while good places go bad or even disappear, while change is inevitable in the culinary landscape of Manhattan, this trend towards mega-restaurants is kind of fascinating. Except, of course, in Times Square.
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Posted on 2/27/2006
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