Vintage Insatiable Critic: 1991-1999
February 18, 1991
Big Apple-born, Bobby Flay had never even been to the Southwest when he began improvising his own lively riff on its cooking. And now he is wowing us at the whimsical Mesa Grill on a fiercely gentrified stretch of lower Fifth… more
March 18, 1991
Plush, tranquil, as sedate as your banker’s boardroom, with discreet corners where a kiss could not possibly offend. The welcome is warm, the service almost top-notch (except when waiters collide), and with Thomas Colicchio at the stove, Mondrian is the ideal classroom to show your most pampered French chauvinist what American chefs are up to… more
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MARCH: BRIO, FAITH AND OPTIMISM
March 19, 1991
A rebirth in the narrow townhouse where once Brive thrilled and, before that, Bobby and Karen Pritsker played out scenes from a marriage at their brilliant Dodin-Bouffant. In the end, Brive faded. But March is crowded, playing to a full house. That proves that genius isn’t enough. In fact, that proves that genius may not even be necessary… more
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HAPPINESS IS A THING CALLED JOJO
May 20, 1991
Just a few days into Jean-Georges’s reanimation, savvy East Siders have already slid into reconnaissance positions, vying with food-world adepts for tables. Tonight’s chipper muddle would never dream of dining at Lafayette… more
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June 17, 1991
Oh, how one longed to love the Dove. It was so beautiful, so unabashedly sentimental and romantic. I remember discreet light bulbs inside colored bunches of glass grapes dangling from on high as we shifted garden chairs to avoid a steady drip in a heavy rain…more
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July 7, 1991
Hear the bravos at Lincoln Center. Not tonight for Baryshnikov or Beethoven. No. Tonight we salute dim sum, tangy hot-and-sour soup, eggplant as voluptuous as an overripe peach. Shun Lee West, a serious great restaurant has finally come to the Upper West Side…Stalking offal at Home Village… more
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October 28, 1991
I forgive the yawn of the room for the exhilaration of Kunz at his uniquely obsessed best…up to all his old tricks, the minimalist cooking that speaks of the Girardet training, the Asian exotica of his Hong Kong years fused in a glorious alchemy… more
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QUILTED GIRAFFE: JAPAN NOSHING
February 17, 1992
The Quilted Giraffe may be the most exciting restaurant in town. And if you’re Japanese it looks like a bargain… more
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February 17, 1992
The old, much-loved Japonica, abandoned now a few doors down on University Place, had the charm of intimacy and clutter. With lanterns and autumn leaves or spring’s cherry blossoms, tables pressed together, and no reservations taken, fans huddled on the street…more
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May 4, 1992
It must have seemed like a brilliant idea at the time: in the age of specialization and simplicity to create a menu with just two options – Steak Frites and the fish of the day… Longtime customers of Rocco were aghast. For more than 50 years they’d come to count on this dwdy little storefront for all the southern Italian familiars… more
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October 9, 1992
What delicious shock to wander, by whimsy, into Arizona 206, a once-favorite haunt, unprepared for the roller-coaster thrills of a gifted new chef in the kitchen… more
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January 25, 1993
“I don’t want it to be too Thai,” says Vongerichten. “I just want people to leave with a mouth full of spices and pleasure.”…more
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May 17, 1993
After two decades roving and whisking, here and in France, gathering strength and certification in the wings while others danced, Erik Blauberg has created a spotlight for himself and already transformed a workaday canteen hidden inside a glass fortress… more
June 14, 1993
June is a month for Lohengrin and linen. That school’s-out feeling strikes even chronic workaholics, and Friday shrinks to a three-hour day as all of us long to escape. It’s not the month… more
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September 27, 1993
He is the John Wayne of beurre blanc, defending the fort long after the rebels have hoisted the flag of radicchio. The one pure chef, fearless in his conviction, with a certain naïveté. André Soltner, ruler of a tiny world on 50th Street…more
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October 11, 1993
I can’t quite believe they’re Martians. I suspect they’re simply geographically repressed. They want to know my favorite restaurant, and when I say, "the Gotham," they stare blankly. "The Gotham Bar and Grill," I say… more
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October 25, 1993
Imagine shaking down in the vortex of a tornado. Mad, indeed. And it’s not seasoned yet. But we’re all here anyway. All of us sharing classic pizzas at boutique prices as Pino Luongo fine-tunes the asylum…more
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MORTON’S OF CHICAGO/EASTERN SEAFOOD CO.
November 8, 1993
"New York is our kind of town,” trumpets Morton’s of Chicago, “the steakhouse every city wants.” But is Morton’s New York’s kind of cattle station? Are we too snooty, too myopic, too chauvinistic?…more
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November 15, 1993
We are a gaggle of tickled tastebuds gathered around a table at Picholine, not quite daring to be bearish about life on the Upper West Side now that Terrance Brennan has settled here. We are your cliché citizens of Zabar’s country…more
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CELEBRATING FATBOY AT HARLEY DAVIDSON
November 15, 1993
In these not exactly carefree times, what could be sexier than a legendary hawg- our very own all-American Harley Davidson? Is it just me, or can you see the heat in a sleek Sportster or a hulking Fatboy?…more
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MATTHEW’S GOSPEL-DEMI IN CARNEGIE HILL
November 22, 1993
Blink your eyes and it’s Ricks in Casablanca: billowing white veils overhead, ceiling fans revolving lazily, the ghosts of Bogey and Ingrid…That’s the brand new Matthew’s, with its potted palms struggling… Folks who live up in Carnegie Hill couldn’t wait until Demi opened. Paul Newman stopped by to check on its progress…more
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December 13, 1993
At Fresco, pals and curious neighbors are dropping in– and loving the food. A killer gratin, macaroni baked for a king… more
January 3, 1994
Why? Why now? Why, after a decade of fussing over our arteries, red meat cast as the enemy, are steakhouses jumping?… more
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LES CÉLÈBRITÉS: THE SWEET SMELL OF EXCESS
January 31, 1994
Not everyone was humbled in the nineties. Don’t you feel the frisson? Déjà moola. Grown men throwing billions at each other for Paramount and a building where the windows pop out. Wall Street still cashing in on our primal optimism. So forget about feeling indigent. Come join us at Les Célèbrités… more
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February 14, 1994
Folks who live below the Maginot Line (for some, it’s 14th Street, for others 23rd) like to think they have everything just a speed-walk away. Now there’s a new treat to nurture the delusion. Baluchis, the pungent taste of India with its voluptuous heat and exotic perfumes, smack dab on Spring Street’s restaurant row… more
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April 11, 1994
At Cascabel, the amazing lamb marches out of the kitchen in triumph. At Alison on Dominick, it’s good and juicy…” more
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April 18, 1994
There he is, Richard Krause, tall, with a long flip of braid flying as he conducts the kitchen chorus, his crew in blowsy white hats, halfway between an artist’s beret and a toque. Original and slightly eccentric, like asking you to sign your wine cork for the permanent collection… more
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RIVER CAFE: OF THYME AND WATER
April 25, 1994
New Yorkers may take it for granted. Our sentimental nook under the crooning Brooklyn Bridge, reserved for ritual celebrations, an ardent hideaway for romance and seduction. But for the casually reckless traveler, it’s a must…and not the usual Eurotwits we find flipping their ashes into the palms at Le Colonial…more
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May 2, 1994
’Pig Out,’ says the menu. No arm-twisting needed. All of us are snatching from the Brobdingnagian smorgasbord at Virgil’s… more
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May 30, 1994
The instant overnight lunacy never ceases to amaze. As if a skittish flock of flutter-bys were poised in midair just waiting to swoop in. Suddenly the word is Match. The place isn’t open, not officially, or so the voice at the other end of the phone warns…more
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July 11, 1994
In no time at all, Coco Pazzo’s coddled darlings have dropped by, along with the usual nighthawks and avant-garde fashion freaks, not to mention the Flatiron business folk Strausman’s counting on to keep Campagna humming at lunch…more
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October 4, 1994
Summer’s restaurant seedlings may still need weeding. But very quickly, Cafe Centro has become exactly what it promised to be — a luxurious brasserie, somewhat French with Moroccan flourishes and a New York mentality…more
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October 5, 1994
Immersed In the ritual of Andre Soltner’s monastic cellar kitchen Henry Meer had waited for the perfect deal and dreamed of restaurant greatness. This isn’t what he had in mind at al…more
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October 17, 1994
Like their simian cousins at Le Cirque, these monkeys, lovingly restored on the barroom walls, ape human games: Damon Runyon chimps to Sirio’s Louis XIV troupe. In the crush of the crowd, you can barely see the banana-leaf linoleum underfoot…more
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October 31, 1994
The chef’s taste and bravado, honed on a path from Japan to Alaska to Peru and Argentina, had lured the crème de la crème as well as the skim milk of Hollywood… more
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December 12, 1994
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March 20, 1995
Fancy American food – already aggressively muscular – seems to be growing ever taller. I do appreciate a sprightly salad, but must it leap up and tap dance? Do we need a demolition permit to tackle dessert?…more
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May 6, 1996
Mario, Marco and Mauro Maccioni do the Sirio at Osteria del Circo. A second-generations Cipriani takes the act Downtown… more
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July 8, 1996
The soaring duplex dining room has been dressed up with asymmetrical mirrors, quirky angles of wall, subtle almost Aboriginal-like swirls on the rugs, and globes of light suspended on whimsical brass branches and leaves by sculptor J.J. Veronis…more
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BALTHAZAR: KISS KISS BEFORE DYING
May 5, 1997
It’s bread and circuses as the Entire Eastern Seaboard piles into Keith McNally’s faux French brasserie and bakery on the frumpy heel of Spring Street…more
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June 16, 1997
Le Cirque 2000 struts into new quarters in a vintage palazzo and strains to live up to its vaunted reputation for state-of-the-art indulgence…more
THE PRIDE OF GASCONY: THE DAGUINS
April 1, 1998
Like André Daguin, all three of his children – Ariane, Arnaud and Anne – tried to escape their heritage. But as Arnaud observes with mixed pleasure and regret, “There are things you cannot fight against. We are all made one part of heritage and one part of choice. I don’t know why but at a certain point in our life we just fall down in the kitchen again.”…more
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LESPINASSE: BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN
November 9, 1998
We are tête à tête at a table for two at Lespinasse in the St. Regis. "Isn’t this sort of place passé?" my guest asks. "Why are we here?"…more
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November 30, 1998
For a moment, I feel I am stepping back in time. The warped pavement, the whitewashed façade of the turn-of-the-century warehouse, crates of apples wafting their cider scent, hostesses in mournful black. True, all of it is today’s New York…more
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December 7, 1998
This is not just another laid-back Saturday-night excursion because we’ve been too lazy to get invited out of town. This is Saturday night at Rage…more
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PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: ELEVEN MADISON PARK AND GRAMERCY TAVERN
December 21, 1998
If you see Danny Meyer lurking in the bushes, he’s probably scouting a restaurant. The man is a fool for history-in-the-greenery, a true city parkophile…more
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April 9, 1999
Did you know there’s a West 60th Street? It runs the unexpected way, west from Broadway. How perverse. But then, perversity – the contrariness of Manhattan heat – has always been our town’s most endearing charm. Why the Canal Bar? Why 150 Wooster Street? Why Punsch, for goodness’ sake?…more
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