Give me back the shoe stores...
5
If one of the first things a reviewer memtions is that a restaurant's surfaces "amplify noise," I am going to presume the place has the aural ambiance of an airport runway. No thanks!
3
The column encourages me to try the restaurant but how much will it cost me? As I see it, a review is 905 of the column. The last 10% would be a cost analysis.
Why should a critic do that, why not just go to the restaurant's website yourself and look at the menu?
best aspect of loring place goes unmentioned by pete wells.
each time i have gone there i have seen kluger in the kitchen running things.
why go to a star-chef-owned resty if the chef is not on the case? kluger is a nice guy, approachable and, most importantly, there. i know how to make the samll curd scrambled eggs that he makes so well because i asked him, and he told me. cant do that at ABC, per se etc
each time i have gone there i have seen kluger in the kitchen running things.
why go to a star-chef-owned resty if the chef is not on the case? kluger is a nice guy, approachable and, most importantly, there. i know how to make the samll curd scrambled eggs that he makes so well because i asked him, and he told me. cant do that at ABC, per se etc
2
Sorry, but as much as i applaud the sentiment, and i agree with you Kluger is approachable and genial - the fact is he or any other chef waiting for the nyt review would be suicidal not to be in the kitchen for every service. Please wait another 6 months and see if he is still there every night, then pay the compliment.
I just had dinner at Loring Place tonight and he was there! He was chatting to the couple at the table next to us.
I have actually eaten at this restaurant and it's a lot better than Pete Wells makes it sound. It more than earns its 2-star rating. The bar room is busy, but the dining room (not on the platform) is cleanly designed and pleasant. Service was friendly and efficient but never rushed for a such a busy place. We ordered no burgers or pizza, but had a delicious meal featuring many vegetable dishes and entrees. And our bread was indeed crusty on the outside but chewy and elastic on the inside--we took home the part we didn't finish. So maybe the review is lackluster but the restaurant isn't!
4
Aside from salad greens and asparagus little else is in season locally. New Yorkers are immune to the physical world especially when building sugar plum fairies in their heads.
Not deserving of two stars. Pizza and a burger? Cmon. This section needs a new perspective. Boring menu.
1
Two stars???? Okay. If you say so.
5
Sounds pretentious, overpriced and unappetizing, like so many "seen and be seen" joints opening up at the speed of light in NYC. I prefer the 8th St. Shoe Stores...far more interesting!
10
I was very surprised when I looked at the menu to expect very expensive prices.
These are average prices. Very reasonable prices for thoughtfully prepared dishes.
These are average prices. Very reasonable prices for thoughtfully prepared dishes.
5
This is a two star review?
6
Two stars for a restaurant in which you found so much fault?
7
Are you kidding me? This reads like a 1 star review at best. Two Point Pete strikes again. Wow.
8
Perhaps the photos do not do the restaurant justice, but there is nothing particularly pretty about the dining room, the chairs do not look comfortable, the white brick wall is stark and uninviting, and the sound level is "rough" - - which I am guessing falls somewhere on the spectrum between annoyingly loud and painful. It would take some pretty spectacular food to convince me to give this restaurant a try, something more compelling than just a sly take on a Hostess cupcake.
7
It's rare to read a good review of a restaurant that doesn't pique interest. This sounds safe and rather dull as opposed to what you'd expect as a debut from a burgeoning New York chef.
3
Wonder what ABCV will get now. I do love that thick grandma crust...
5
Mr. Wells, I like the writing very much. I like the sensibility too, especially after spending time on some British food pages where the criticism is like have pieces of food thrown at you, (and the commenters gaily repeat the gaudiest lines like the audience at a “Rocky Horror” showing.)
But may I suggest that it’s time we admit that a two star restaurant which is considered ‘very expensive’, is not very expensive anymore? It’s closer to the new average. Restaurant dining in New York, thanks mainly to landlords, has become so stratified that the moguls can dine here and toss away a grand without thinking, while the ordinary folks looking for a celebratory meal may scrape together the funds, but they can’t judge it reasonably. How many of us can afford to say “It cost me a week’s pay, but the food was just OK”?
The result is a skewed culture, and the loss of perspective in what is the most common, and essential, cultural experience there is, a meal. I’m not sure where the solution lies, except to promote the awareness that this kind of restaurant food is to true cuisine what Versailles is to a summer cottage.
But may I suggest that it’s time we admit that a two star restaurant which is considered ‘very expensive’, is not very expensive anymore? It’s closer to the new average. Restaurant dining in New York, thanks mainly to landlords, has become so stratified that the moguls can dine here and toss away a grand without thinking, while the ordinary folks looking for a celebratory meal may scrape together the funds, but they can’t judge it reasonably. How many of us can afford to say “It cost me a week’s pay, but the food was just OK”?
The result is a skewed culture, and the loss of perspective in what is the most common, and essential, cultural experience there is, a meal. I’m not sure where the solution lies, except to promote the awareness that this kind of restaurant food is to true cuisine what Versailles is to a summer cottage.
59
Hey NYT can you get Sera Stephen a column, please?
17
I concur with Brett's comment. NYTimes are you paying attention? In many respects, Sera's comments were better than Pete's review.
8
I agree