In 35 years, Gotham Bar and Grill has now been reviewed all of six times, or a review every just short of six years.
Does anyone else see the problem with this?
1
I guess not. Why is that a problem?
4
"No question, Gotham Bar and Grill is in the Blamey era now. Loyal customers are going to have to get out or strap in." We were "loyal customers" who had dinner at Blamey's Gotham last night. We will not be returning.
1
The pain perdu was a major disappointment. The pain was not in the least perdu - it was dry bread with a nicely caramelized thin crust. The brown butter ice cream was tasty, but in a tiny portion. The figs were good. Did those three ingredients mesh well? Not particularly. A maple ice cream might be a better idea, or a salted caramel ice cream. Something thematic.
I was not a major fan of the former Gotham, which I felt promised more than it delivered, so my criticism here and in the previous entry of the present Gotham is not due to a romanticized view of its earlier incarnation.
@Manhattan
The dal was completely successful: rich and delicious. Although the server had said it was a small dish, I found it copious and had some for breakfast the next day. Absolutely great.
The heritage pork cheek was the least successful of the three appetizers: the pork itself was overly dry and chewy, though full-flavored. The black beans (described as ceci neri, but were not black chickpeas but flatter black beans) with it had little flavor. The server, when asked how well the dal and the pork cheek would pair, said they would pair very well. But the dried peas in the dal and the black beans were too much in the same family, and the server should have known that and warned against that pairing.
I guess it helps to be a NYT reviewer at the new Gotham. While not a regular, I've eaten there several times over the years and always had memorable meals there - good food and attentive service. My wife made reservations for Thanksgiving dinner during a tip to the city. Despite some trepidation over a change in the chef and a very different menu, I was buoyed by the NYT review that the restaurant forwarded to their mailing list. While the food was ok (I did prefer the old menu), I was not prepared for the abysmal service and will not be back. When spending 250 dollars/person, mediocre food and poor service should not be the norm.
4
Should the Times be promoting foie gras in 2019? What more do you need to know about the cruelty behind it?
3
Of all the restaurants I've been to in NYC, Gotham is the one I have visited the most. This is my neighborhood haunt. I adore Alfred Portale's talent, and I've been enjoying his Gotham menus for more than 20 years. I will miss his architectural creations that always made me feel like getting naked and diving in. I have taken so many lovers to Gotham for lunch and dinner, I could write a romantic novel that never leaves the restaurant. Gotham is one of Manhattan's best restaurants to have a conversation with guests over dinner. Kisses to Alfred.
As a longtime patron on their "list," I studied Victoria Blamey's menu in advance of this review. I didn't find much that made my mouth water. Pete Wells peaked my interest with this review, but I'm not yet willing to tamper with my fond memories of Portale et al. I think I'll wait to see what I hear from others.
4
We’ve been coming to Gotham for years. We were very disappointed by the new menu. All the appetizers were raw fish and the entrees were so complicated it was hard tell what the taste was.
3
Ate at Gotham in late September. While I understand the rave review and will return in the future to try the lunch menu, I was ever so slightly underwhelmed. For example, the oyster and chocolate creation tasted nothing more than what it is, an odd mish mash of flavors. There is no unlocked secret to the combination that a diner might hope for. In this instance, as was the case with Peter Luger, it might have been best to call out the naked emperor.
6
We ate at the new Gotham 3 weeks ago; our taste is very sympathetic to the kind of dishes now on the menu, and we tried many of those cited in the review; they didn't fail to disappoint. Our take-away? Shallow, meager food, and out of sync service, all at a seriously hefty price, even for late 2019. We admire Mr. Wells' work (kudos, btw, on finally calling-out the sham that is Peter Luger), and when we compare notes we usually agree with his opinions, but this was really out of whack.
14
Will definitely try the new food, but regret never being able to eat the wonderful Miso Cod again. The best fish dish in town.
4
Please take a look at your slide show....in a couple of instances, the Food Network ads completely covered the text within seconds!!
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"If somebody tries to tell you it needs to be updated, just laugh and walk away." Ha!
The link is to the OLD menu, not the new one.
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Note to Chef Portale:
Over the last 25 years, I've introduced many, many friends and several Millennials to the Gotham. They were always raring to return. Great food and gracious dining is appreciated by all age groups. We will happily follow you. See you at Portale Restaurant very, very soon. Looking forward to your new(!) menu.
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@ Susan L New York City
A truly respectable restaurateur worth of his salt should have rewarded you with a free multi-meal certificate.
So Pete, just between you and me: did the stewed crab and peppers in puff pastry really remind you of a pithivier, or did you just want to drop the term 'pithivier'?
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@x
Gee - snark much? If Wells is educated, why should he hide his knowledge?
2
The Coach House, a four star rated restaurant, located in the Greenwich Village of New York City, which closed its doors 1993, lost something like 70% of its regular showing customers, the moment the New York Times removed some of it's stars – that much for foodies!
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The first couple of times I/we ate at the Gotham it was memorable. The last time really not so. The menu seems interesting.
BTW the Whitney Museum served marvelous and odd but deliciously flavoured food -- small portions when it first opened - at very reasonable prices... and now it's all the usual stuff... nothing of interest. What happened there??
So far as apple pie -- make your own -- forget about tarte apples just something that doesn't got to mush --Mutsu, Blondie/Gala -- and use a touch of coriander along with nutmeg and cinnamon, some touches of butter, cornstarch or bread crumbs to capture the juice (not much), and an interesting sweetener-- a touch of honey, maple syrup along with a bit of white sugar... slice thinnish - no chunks.
3
Agree with the commenter above regarding the new chef’s comments about Mr. Portale. Any chef would be fortunate indeed to have a deeply successful and long run at a restaurant like Gotham. My husband and I are in our late 40s (we get the “Ghostbusters” references), and dined at Gotham for years on special occasions. It never disappointed. Dining at a high-end restaurant is (for most humans) not meant to be a common day-to-day occurrence. We never went to Gotham because it was healthy, or hip. It was a decadent splurge...an event that put the work day and concerns about kids and family at bay for an hour or two. And at $32 for a cabbage dish today, Gotham under its new leadership is still a very decadent splurge. The trouble is, it doesn’t now feel decadent. The experience when we went in September felt a bit too health conscious, a bit too focused on foods of the moment - and a bit too light on the delicious starchy foods all of us crave, but many of us deprive ourselves of on a normal day. The new chef is seriously talented, to be sure. The complex, layered flavors are there. But I would love to see the chef rethink why someone might decide to spend $350 on dinner for two. Looking forward to trying it again.
17
According to the summary "With bottles as low as $29, there’s something for virtually all budgets." Actually, there's a bottle of barbera by Marenco Aldo from the Langhe selling for $19 on the voluminous list (with a comment: "yes, it's good.")
6
We have been there 4 times in the last year. Our first visit back under the new chef was a $500 complete disappointment . Striped Bass Carpaccio with mushrooms that I needed a microscope to see and it arrived swimming in a vinegarette that overwhelmed the fish. The Black Bass was just OK and not memorable. Friends had the lamb shoulder and the Porcelet which was tough and vein filled. Had to skip dessert to make a show. The cocktails were still up to the test. Leaving hungry after anticipating a great birthday meal is a complete disappointment however and we will not be back. I want to know where Portale went so I can have his Miso Cod again and a steak cooked to perfection
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@Big4alum
I work in a restaurant, and have heard every reason under the sun for someone not liking their dining experience. What I have never understood is the statement I will never return. I can't help but wonder that if the disappointment was in a meal a spouse prepared if one would flee the relationship, never to return. Are the stakes higher in dining out, or the bar set lower in relationships?
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@Peter
Spouses typically don't charge for meals and are not trained in the culinary arts.
So, yeah, the bar is lower.
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@Peter Glad you worked in a restaurant, but I'm not sure how that qualifies you on this topic.
One should have high expectations when paying $500 for a meal. If a home cooked meal is in the same ball park as one that costs $500, no one should go to the restaurant that charges $500!
18
The Gotham was one of our favorite restaurants. I began going there every restaurant week, and as time went by, for dinner as well, for celebrations and with European house guests. The experience, both the food and ambiance was consistently excellent. The back platforms were a favorite quiet spot with great views of room.
I await the new Portale restaurant, its menu and decor.
11
@Manhattanite You won't find a hint of Portale at the new Gotham. That's why I won't be back until something is done about the menu.
2
I'm not a New Yorker but every time I was there it was always the Gotham. One time, with a client joining me for dinner, there was a mix up and no reservation. Not a problem and with a good table to boot. However, on the current menu and tile fish they should know that it is considered a trash fish.
5
@johnc I will have to remind the boast captain's I know in Pt. Pleasant, Brielle and Barnegat Light, N.J., who annually carry hundreds of recreational anglers to the submerged canyons, like the Hudson, off the Mid-Atlantic that fish for tilefish are targeting "trash fish." Amazing too, anglers are will to fork over $200-$300 for overnight trips, 70-miles offshore, to bring home a trash fish. In this day and age of finding "sustainable" fisheries there is no such thing as a "trash=fish."
9
Well ... a century or so ago, Florida Stone Crab was considered bait. Now try getting into Joe’s in Miami Beach in season. Not sure what “trash fish” means.
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@Jay Amberg Tile fish IS delicious, and plentiful, but sadly, it's on the list of the top 5 mercury containing species, along with bluefin and yellowfin tunas, king mackeral (not the smaller Atlantic macks) swordfish and sharks. I applaud her decision to serve only sustainable species, but tilefish shouldn't be eaten by anyone concerned with their mercury intake.
9
Eaten at Gotham a number of times and always thought it was rather boring and over-rated. Will give the new iteration a try.
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@theresa
You couldn’t have eaten at Gotham at all making that comment
Gotham has been one of NYC finest most consistent restaurant ever hands down. You definitely have to a friend of the new chef!
If you want to call her that!!
1
Gotham Bar & Grill was a splurge of mine when I visit NYC. I do agree that the menu needed a freshening--but I think the new chef has gone too far in that direction by discarding everything and cutting the size of the menu. So many of the menu items feature trendy ingredients. Even the bread has black quinoa in it. She wants to make it her own--great. But she's going to have a hard time starting from scratch with a new crowd. These are not millennial friendly prices.
(For the record I am only a couple of years older than Ms. Blamey herself.)
23
So much of the food at Gotham through the years was never served hot. It looked good it tasted good but it wasn’t hot. Hopefully it gets better and the food is served hot. When debt back they were all confused . Almost threatened that customers may want hot good not like warm food. Good luck to change but make the food hot.
2
@Ralph Petrillo my elders always asked for
Temperature Hot - as opposed to Spicy Hot.
Hot food meant really real Cooked Food,
Real Food, as opposed to Product.
1
@AS
Funny for when I asked for my food to be hot the chef ran into the dining room almost very upset. Asking what was wrong . I just stated food is not hot. It was so silly. You either have hot foot or you don’t. Waiter came by and kicked my chair just for asking for hot food.
2
@Ralph Petrillo
When the ingredients on a plate are assembled with tweezers, you're going to have a warm, not hot, dinner. I also prefer that if the food is supposed to be served hot, it should be, even if a chia seed or micro-green is out of place.
1
“The animals she does cook, and there are quite a few, are ones she believes were sustainably raised or caught from healthy populations.” Really? The geese who are force fed to produce grossly fatty livers for the foie gras torchons were sustainably raised? Um...no.
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@Passion for Peaches
Delicious. And most certainly duck.
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@Passion for Peaches
I agree with you completely. Why, I wonder, do so many "top chefs" ignore the pain and suffering of these animals? Guess that's why they call them "protein," effectively reducing a sentient being to a mere ingredient.
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@Passion for Peaches
Well, in a monumental victory for the Foodie Police, the City Council just banned it.
3
An iconic restaurant. Good to see the new chef is doing her thing and the place is still busy. Change is good, especially when new ideas still jive with the history of the establishment. I look forward to trying her food.
5
Tilefish was very popular in the 70s and 80s until its high mercury content became public knowledge. Not recommended for children and pregnant women.
7
@Michael Hi Michael, according to FishWatch (NOAA) and SeafoodWatch (Monterey Bay Aquarium) health and environmental warnings have been eased on this fish when caught in the Mid-Atlantic fishery, and can be eaten in circumscribed quantities. There is little bycatch. Overall it is good choice.
10
Ms. Blamey's deeply ungracious remarks about her predecessor's food and style are enough to make me avoid the new iteration of a great NY restaurant. I am looking forward to Mr. Portale's new restaurant and hope to dine there soon.
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@Melpo
I agree!
3
Completely agree. She didn't have to take that attitude. It takes almost no effort to be kind. I will never eat anywhere that she's cooking.
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@Melpo
Ms. Blamey is only one facet (and dare I say a very talented one) of this restaurant. Punishing Gotham's other longtime employees because of a bad interview isn't fair. I'm a huge Portale fan but I dined at the new Gotham and it was excellent. Give the new Gotham a chance and consider that the organization has retained many of its longterm employees. It's their livelihood too.
Was the bar buzzing with people Victoria's own age? Were they eating oysters?
16
We had dinner at the Gotham Bar and Grill many years ago for a special occasion, and returned very recently with a group of close friends. Absolutely loved it both times. And who cares that the decor isn't up to millennial standards? Personally, the austere noise chambers that characterize most restaurants these days are unappetizing and off-putting to congenial dining anyway.
40
Slide 4: what is "New American cuisine"? I hope, from the bottom of the heart and the marrow of the bones, it does not mean some modification of hamburger or pizza -- the two pillars of the "US national cuisine" that I can think of. No offence meant to the lovers of steak Delmonico, lobster Newberg, and corn bread.
2
@Tuvw Xyz Please notice that the article states that Mr. Portale, who served what "used to be called New American Cuisine" has moved on to his own restaurant in NYC, and Ms. Blamey is cooking her own food now.
2
Your constant references to American cuisine as being mainly constituted of hamburgers and pizza is outdated, tiresome, and ignorant. Please take some time to educate yourself on the extraordinarily variety of regional and national cuisines in the United States - or at least come up with another canard every time the subject is brought up here.
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@Tuvw Xyz Glad to see you got your iPad to work, and can now see the photographs.
3
That is a beautifully presented dish, at the top of the article.
I have a vague memory of eating at Gotham a couple times back in the 1990s, before I stopped eating meat. I remember enjoying it a great deal. In looking over their current dinner menu, though, I’m puzzled. Can a restaurant these days survive without vegetarian entree options? Do vegetarian diners there just cobble together a couple vegetable-based small plates? My husband likes eating meat, and when we dine out while traveling I’ll go to meat-centric restaurants with him. But it makes things difficult for me when a restaurant has so little to offer people like me.
14
BTW, I see the cabbage dish. That is not an entree.
3
@Passion for Peaches I second you on that!!!
@Passion for Peaches I ate there and they have the most delicious dhal and also an eggplant that would fit the bill. The chef used to be a vegetarian and you can tell by how good all the veg options are
6
While I am happy that the new order has apparently struck a responsive cord, I did not see anything described on Ms. Blamey's menu that I actually want to eat. 25 years of dining there seems to have come to an abrupt end. In contrast, Chef Portale's new menu bodes well. But then again, I confess to being sufficiently old-fashioned that I like the dining room, thinking it one of the quintessential grand NYC spaces.
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@ Fernleigh New York
Yes, "the quintessential grand NYC spaces" deserve to "be preserved in amber", to borrow the words of Suzanne F, of
Upper Upper Manhattan, in her comment below.
New York is unquestionably the US capital of global cuisines, not to be confused with "the capital of (non-existing) US national cuisine".
Pray call me not Unamerican for my dislike of hamburgers and commercially-made pizzas.
1
@Tuvw Xyz NYC as the US capital of any kind of cuisine has been up for serious debate for at least 15 years.
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@ Ian Oregon
Good to know that nothing is carved in stone.
What are the other candidates?
Ugh. Another institution tries to modernize rather than age gracefully. In the meantime, we lose gems like The Cornelia Street Cafe, La Luncheonette, and anyplace else with real age, character, and a solid roster of classic dishes done right without pretense. I'm all for the Avant Garde, but in this case it looks like a new earring and a bad tattoo on a middle aged newly divorced used car salesman.
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@Jen in Astoria
Change or die. Why should a restaurant be preserved in amber any more than any other organization?
I daresay my 102+ year-old aunt, whom I brought here when she was in her 90s and who enjoyed it very much, might not like it now. But I think I would.
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@Jen in Astoria
La Luncheonette was good back when it was on the LES, Allen St? Essex?, can't recall. But that's going back 30+ years. The Chelsea iteration was so-so.
2
This is much better and more nuanced review of Gotham than Eater's, which was also published today. They essentially spent the whole review attacking the restaurant for incorporating foie gras on the menu. Regardless of what Ryan Sutton wants people to believe, foie gras is still loved by many people and chefs throughout the city, and it isn't illegal yet (and hopefully never actually will be)!
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@Doug - Ryan Sutton hates everything unless it's like octopus tamales made in a garage in a neighborhood in Queens that may or may not exist. I look to Eater only for their maps which can be pretty good.
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@Doug, not loved by the geese. You like food produced through torture?
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@Passion for Peaches
It's actually near impossible to find geese foie gras, sadly. It seems ducks must have some advantage in terms of production. I'm going to give it another search. Thanks for the reminder!
8
We were quite disappointed with our meal. The previous chef could make wonderful and generous accommodations for a guest with Celiac. The current menu and kitchen is inflexible with few items that could be modified for such a diet.
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@Stacey L. In the future, you might try calling ahead to see if there are options for a guest with Celiac. I don't think it's unreasonable for a chef to not change a dish for someone's allergy. Simply order something else.
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@Ryan There wasn't much else to order. Celiac isn't an allergy; it's an immune disorder. We've been to many high-end restaurants in NYC and have never had a problem. I always call ahead or visit during off hours. We were mislead. Portale's crew was always willing to accommodate us.
21
@Stacey L. Thanks for the this feedback. I'm not Celiac but have a gluten allergy and been to the old GB&G many times for lunch and dinner and they have always accommodated.
I may still give them a try for lunch or brunch. I hope they still have the Gotham Chocolate Cake. Love that cake.
3