Ask Gael
Early in 2006 the editors at New York Magazine decided to change the name of my weekly column from Ask Gael to Insatiable Critic…I have revived Ask Gael. So please email me your questions and I will try to answer them. You’ll also find Ask Gael archives here from January 23, 2006 back to 2004.
Hot Topics
11 Favorites I Discovered in 2016
I’ve been going out for dinner six nights a week. On the seventh evening, I sloth out at home with …
It Isn’t Easy to Name the Best Dishes of 2015
After a longish mea culpa, I am now going to try to choose the other best dishes I’ve eaten this …
Where are you sending friends now?
Where do I eat when I’m not hustling to find something to review? That what all my friends ask. Here’s …
Feeding the Folks: Where to Go
HE’S KOSHER. SHE’S VEGETARIAN. WHERE CAN I MAKE BOTH OF THEM HAPPY? Ask for a table veiled with white curtains …
Where can I take my 13-year-old to sample New York’s best food without breaking the bank?
Like his mother, my son loves to eat. I am trying to get him to appreciate my love of food …
A place to celebrate “just married” for two wine professionals who’ve eaten everywhere.
My fiancé and I are in the wine business so we get around the restaurant scene which makes it very …
Where should we eat before or after the theater?
Before I started working out at 8 AM, we used to eat after theater. Now we compete with the mob …
My vegetarian niece will be in town for a week. Help!
Familial love needn’t curb our carnivorean ways …
Tell me some good, not too expensive restaurants for after Broadway theater.
My friends are coming to NYC next month for a theater binge and want to know where to eat. Their …
My brother and sister-in-law are using my East Hampton cottage for a week. Where should they eat?
It’s their 20th anniversary and they are omnivores …
Best Italian New York Has to Offer
A client has a friend in from abroad who wants to eat at the best Italian New York has to …
Lunch between 5th and Park
Oceana has closed to relocate and I need a new spot for lunch …
Brunch near the 77th Street Greenmarket
Where shall we go for brunch – with good eggs benedict?! …
Chinese Moderne
Is there such a thing as “healthy” Chinese food that tastes great? …
We want somewhere special and Italian
Dear Gael, We will be coming to NYC with a very dear friend… We would love to take her somewhere …
I’m new in town, find me some spots to mingle and meet people
Dear Gael, I am moving from Los Angeles to New York for a few months starting in February. Even though …
My out-of-town friends seek lunchtime perfection.
Dear Gael, A longtime friend has asked me for lunch recommendations for herself and three of her friends who refer …
Flirting with Englishmen…
Dear Gael, I recently became involved in a long distance relationship with an Englishman who is now coming to NY …
Give me some good French restaurants…
Dear Gael, I’m meeting a friend from out-of-town for dinner. He is asking about good French restaurants in the city …
Send me to a lively French bistro
I felt a shiver of excitement at Café d’Alsace as I savored a gorgeous soup bowl of that almost abandoned …
Cocoa-flavored gnocchi? Do I dare?
I admit I had little hope for that gnocchi, or for fried cod over lemon marmalade, or fennel salad with …
Cocoa-flavored gnocchi? Do I dare?
I admit I had little hope for that gnocchi, or for fried cod over lemon marmalade, or fennel salad with …
Is it the real or discount David Burke at Bloomie’s?
Taste the mellow green apple lobster bisque and those fabulous Asiago truffle fries and you’ll believe the real David Burke …
We’re hungry for Comfort on the Upper East Side
The narrow storefront that was Butterfield 81 has always catered to the neighborhood, and that’s Francesco Antonucci’s mind-set here in …
Is it Gilt or just plain brass?
I have little tolerance for dinner as a cataclysmic life experience. But bad-boy chef Paul Liebrandt promised to soften his …
I wouldn’t mind a dose of vintage hotel classic
The city’s almost manic effervescence has invaded the once-staid Waldorf, unleashing a jangle of energy in the lounge of the …
And what’s a barbounia?
It’s a small, not all that remarkable Mediterranean fish, but the restaurant that has taken its name is making waves …
Can we trust the West Side renaissance?
Local grape nuts may cheerfully surrender to the provocative wine pairings in flights of two-ounce tastes at Pair of 8’s …
Stop the (food) world
If you hunger for constancy and dignity, it’s time for Cafe Boulud …
How can you tell it’s the new Harlem?
A smartly perfect mojito and deep-fried sage leaves in fried calamari signal the renaissance at Melba’s …
I need an old-world cocoon for Grandma’s lunch
Aging debs from the nabe, capitalists in bespoke suits, even Tony Blair hosting…at the Carlyle Restaurant …
Desk drudgery is getting me down
Nibble the life of leisure at the Garden Court Cafe …
Direct me to a seriously excessive pasta
Ride the lift to Piano Due…and immerse yourself …
Give me a new reason to go downtown
Aaron Sanchez pops out of the kitchen at Centrico with the same flirtatious sweetness… …
Am I awake? I see David Bouley cooking
Yes, the food is delicious. How could it be otherwise at Upstairs at Bouley Bakery with David himself cooking? …
I’m Bored With All Those Copycat Trattorias
It looks like just another unassuming storefront on a shabby stretch of Ninth, but you get a hint of the …
Why do I feel a sea breeze on Delancey?
I’d send you here for the touching romance of the venture …
How far will Jean-George’s empire stretch?
Hong Kong, Texas, and now the Village on Perry Street …
What’s new in nouvelle Chinese?
The very name, Mainland, hints of homage to the past, but chef-partner Brian Young isn’t bound to tradition …
What’s worth the Hamptons hassle?
Who cares how authentic it is when crispy flautas with avocado creme fraiche and chicken mole poblano are that good? …
Where are all the pretty people?
Once word gets out how good chef Chris Santos’s small sharing plates at Stanton Social can be… …
Omakase is my middle name
The parade of sensuous sushi at Sachiko’s on Clinton, each sliver of fish hiding a heady wasabi charge… …
Lead me to some homey Pugliese.
Mamma Dora Marzovilla is back in the kitchen every morning at I Trulli, leading a team that does nothing all …
Is there a new Las Vegas?
This, I’m told at Wynn Resort, is a new X-rated Las Vegas of strip joints, burlesque, topless …
Can’t you stay away from Clinton Street?
Falai is neither trendy nor defiantly eccentric, more charming than brilliant, and worth a trek …
Another new barbecue joint? Is it the real deal?
Out came jerk-rubbed and smoky chicken wings with a pineapple dip at Spanky’s BBQ that rocked …
I thought it was Tuscan. Now it’s English?
Some good grub here at English is Italian, but it’s more a feast for gluttons than gourmands… …
Where would you go to goof off a little?
Unlike the typical Chino-Latino hash on upper Broadway, Asia de Cuba mixes up a Tower of Babel in every dish …
Tell me a Thai place
If you’re not immutably fixated on the authentic, join me trundling down to the East Village to Ma*ya Hurapan Kitchen …
I’m in the mood for greens and crunch
Chef Larry Forgione’s An American Place is class act at Lord & Taylor …
The Windows on the World guys?…at Guastavino’s?
Windows veterans have signed on to elevate the pleasure quotient at the soaring, unfocused space under the Queensboro Bridge …
I’m dreaming of summer
Latch onto the glorified lobster shack launched as phase one of BLT Fish …
Compass yet again?
Chefs and patissiers come and go, soar and crash, at Compass, where desperate powers that be struggle to get it …
Do we really need yet another Italian restaurant?
If it’s Good, let’s Mangia…at Lo Scalco …
After Rocco, what?
Numbing and mysterious Brazilian tricks tumbling out of the kitchen at Caviar & Banana Brasserio …
Why on earth call your place porcupine?
The chef’s itch for invention can be as unpredictable as that spiky namesake …
I crave a taste of summer.
The stunning intensity of a mint-touched pea soup and the heady bouquet of the roasted lobster’s pistou puddle distilled from …
Should I break open the piggy bank?
Chanterelle is the same unique grand drama of fine dining it was in the desolate blackness of Soho 25 years …
You got into Café Gray early. And . . . ?
What a sweet conceit to call it Café Gray. It’s an ebullient fantasy, Lespinasse-at-a-discount (entrées $22 to $34) with Gray …
With Rocco out, why go?
Rocco fans’ loss is catnip for devotees of Laurent Tourondel …
Will Merry Prankster David Burke Ever Grow Up?
His fans hope not. They’ll be oohing and giggling over designer dollhouse touches on the plates at davidburke & donatella: …
Will $500 buy piscatory nirvana?
It is a moment of high drama as Masa Takayama, taut and precise as any star athlete, jiggles his cutting …
Why Zitoune?
It’s the Arabic word for olive, a beloved soccer star of the eighties, and Moroccan-born Alain Bennouna’s third effort to …
List
11 Favorites I Discovered in 2016
I’ve been going out for dinner six nights a week. On the seventh evening, I sloth out at home with …
It Isn’t Easy to Name the Best Dishes of 2015
After a longish mea culpa, I am now going to try to choose the other best dishes I’ve eaten this …
Where are you sending friends now?
Where do I eat when I’m not hustling to find something to review? That what all my friends ask. Here’s …
Feeding the Folks: Where to Go
HE’S KOSHER. SHE’S VEGETARIAN. WHERE CAN I MAKE BOTH OF THEM HAPPY? Ask for a table veiled with white curtains …
Where can I take my 13-year-old to sample New York’s best food without breaking the bank?
Like his mother, my son loves to eat. I am trying to get him to appreciate my love of food …
Recommended
11 Favorites I Discovered in 2016
I’ve been going out for dinner six nights a week. On the seventh evening, I sloth out at home with …
It Isn’t Easy to Name the Best Dishes of 2015
After a longish mea culpa, I am now going to try to choose the other best dishes I’ve eaten this …
Where are you sending friends now?
Where do I eat when I’m not hustling to find something to review? That what all my friends ask. Here’s …
Feeding the Folks: Where to Go
HE’S KOSHER. SHE’S VEGETARIAN. WHERE CAN I MAKE BOTH OF THEM HAPPY? Ask for a table veiled with white curtains …
Where can I take my 13-year-old to sample New York’s best food without breaking the bank?
Like his mother, my son loves to eat. I am trying to get him to appreciate my love of food …
A place to celebrate “just married” for two wine professionals who’ve eaten everywhere.
My fiancé and I are in the wine business so we get around the restaurant scene which makes it very …
