Sadly since real attention was paid to regular entries there were many meals eaten, many miles traveled and many glasses lifted by us but much of it seems to have passed in a fog, or like juice from a raisin. Of course it had nothing to do with the wine we degusted for you, Dear Reader, that was research! Ah the sacrifices of an aging blogger.
Maybe age is part of the problem as there was a birthday hurdle to pass over. The when’s of this are not important but it was well enjoyed for all its fun. A friend once remarked that she celebrated her birthday all week, we liked that idea and that is rather the way this one went along. With warnings to the faint of heart among you, Loyal Audience, we cannot remember enough of the week’s festivities to comment intelligently on details at this late date!
There was dinner at Corton where Paul Liebrandt, the wonder chef, has landed after his two years of wondering in the wilderness thanks to Drew Nieporent of Myriad Group. Corton is housed in the old and hallowed site of Montrachet (smell a trend here, Avid Reader?) which has been completely and totally redone. The ‘80s minimalism’ of Montrachet has been renovated into an elegantly stark (‘naught’s minimalism’?) riff on the ‘90s open room-open kitchen theme except here the kitchen is viewed through a long rectangular window in which one could see Paul’s head bobbing all night long.
Unfortunately, his “bad boy cuisine” has been tamed, either by his wondering or by the hand-slap at Gilt that sent him on that trek because while the dinner was exquisite the dishes did not challenge as they had when we first stumbled upon him in Papillion on Hudson Street. As Alan Richman said in his GQ review on October 21, 2008, "Everybody has theories as to why … state-of-the-art cooking has failed to catch on in New York, the most fascinating one being that New Yorkers eat out so often that they don’t want to be surprised at dinner, just fed.” We can assume that Paul is answering this cry, tant pis. However, we only whimpered silently as there was one of his signature chicken dishes on the 3-course tasting menu.
Regardless of our selfish need to be challenged and entertained when eating out, we cannot recommend Corton highly enough. It is beautiful, formal without being suffocating, expensive but not too, and there are some of Paul’s evil twists if you know where to look, and that is all without mentioning Pasty Chef Robert Truitt, formerly of the ground-breaking (for NYC) Room 4 Dessert and the internationally groundbreaking elBulli. Now you begin to comprehend the connection between Paul and Robert!
One recommendation prior to your visit, if we may in our role as your humble tester, take some time to review the menus and the wine lists on line before the dinner. Not that they are obtuse or need to be memorized and the servers are lovely about explaining each ingredient included in every dish, but the wine list is a period piece, a list that offers a glimpse into dining in another time. What time? Avant-Crise (AC), before the crisis.
There is a gorgeous panoply of Burgundian wines with a focus, naturally, on Côte-de-Beaune, and Corton in particular but with a reasonably strong sampling of other regions in Burgundy and a broad flank of what the restaurant is calling “French Country” wines. Hmm, go figure. What will be most noticeable on this list to you, Attentive Audience, is the price for wines not yet of age, not drinkable. It’s wine pedophilia, we say!
Don’t misinterpret our critique here. They are not flogging only les enfants, there is a perfectly drinkable Nuits-St-Georges ‘Les Boudots’ Premier Cru, Domaine Leroy, 1996 for $625 and a probably slightly tired Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Domaine Leroy, 1978 for $375… Wait, what is that again? Now we love 1996, it’s one of our favorite years for red Burgundy – thin, elegant, raffiné – and never having tasted a ’78 we’d jump at the chance. But for $625 and $375 respectively?
That is what we mean by the AC period piece. Additionally, there is a Reserve Wine List, where the “wines are housed offsite in a temperature controlled facility and are available with 24 hours notice” according to the website. This list contains one of the most comprehensive lists of fine California wines we have ever perused in NYC; as a novice we’d label it exhaustive. And the prices, for recent vintages, would make that 96 Nuits-St-George blush.
In all fairness, the economics of running a restaurant in a major city like NY or Paris dictate certain realities, and the archaic liquor laws in the US layer on additional costs like so many fine couches de ganache. Additional insights into wine pricing can be seen at another of our blog sites - http://insiderswineclub.blogspot.com/ (Loyal Readers will also recall our earlier columns concerning this outrageous scenario in this blog as well.)
We all have heard of the various levels of mark-ups on wine in our fair city, anywhere from 300 – 500%. And it is correct to assume that if a restaurateur is lucky enough to have his or her own cave à vin, aging a bottle should add 10% annually to the original purchase price. In NYC, there are several locations where wine can be stored in excellent conditions for reasonable prices so we could 'guess-timate' a 20% increase on purchase price annually if storage is in these sites. We wonder, however, if Myriad group does not have its own cellar; if one owned six well reviewed restaurants in NYC, including Nobu and Corton, as well as a wine and spirits shop, Crush, wouldn’t you, Clever Reader, invest in your own wine cellar?
That said, let us take a small pop quiz:
If Drew sells a bottle of Marcassin 'zio tony ranch,' Sonoma Coast, 2004 (a California Chardonnay) for $250 a bottle, how much did he pay for it? (as you sharpen you pencils, Loyal Audience, make the charming musical ticking clock sound here to add suspense…)
Okay, time’s up; put down your pencils and let us check if you were indeed paying attention. If ‘ x ‘ represents the original purchase price upon release from the vineyard in 2006 (yes, yes, that was a tricky part), then ‘ x + 10%x ‘ equals the value of the investment one year later, and ‘ x + 10%x + 10%(x +10%x) ‘ equals the value of the investment at the end of year two when we’ll assume the wine was priced. Further assuming that the sommelier wishes to sell this wine, we can say that the menu price equals (x + 10%x + 10%(x + 10%x)) * 300% , correct? As we know the menu price is $250 working out the value of the algebraic expression gives an original purchase price of about $72 per bottle.
Are you as shocked as I am? Let us try it another way; assume the high end of each range – 20% appreciation and 500% mark-up. That gives us an original purchase price of around $35 per bottle.
We are still a little ‘bottle shocked.’ Maybe we’ll go sit in the cool cellar for a while. ‘Til later…
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Does it Merit that Wine, that Menu, that Price?
We are finally getting around to an entry that we started ages ago in an attempt to keep a promise to a talented chef we met recently in a restaurant in the South Street Seaport. However, before delving into that allow us, Dear Reader, to open, hopefully, a constructive discussion concerning a problem we have been experiencing with wine in New York City.
When we are invited to dinners in the houses of Intimes, we are pleased to drink the beverage they have chosen to serve with dinner, not because our Intimes are as snobby as we concerning wine, but because the host or hostess has given thought to the dinner, the diners and chosen his or her best idea to serve with the meal. Others at table may disagree with the choice, but we always respect the time, effort and money invested in creating the evening, including the liquid accompaniment.
Why are New York restaurateurs, seemingly often, incapable of making the same investment of time, effort and money when we dine at their tables? I am flabbergasted by the attitude toward wine and fine food in this town. Wine does not always need to be old, expensive or wildly popular. Instead it needs to be good, it needs to be fairly priced, and, most of all, it needs to work with the food. If a host or hostess can do the latter at home why can’t a professional.
That redirects us to our original idea, a South Street Seaport restaurant. Make an effort, Loyal Followers, to stay on point here and do not dwell on the whys of our being in the South Street Seaport, just know that it was worth the trip, no small part thanks to Eddy, the chef at Fish Market Restaurant, 111 South Street, http://www.fishmarketnyc.com/
Despite facing an elevated portion of the East Side Highway and the parking lot under that, there is a small view of the East River, but not enough to make the outside tables alluring. No matter, the inside of the restaurant was decently laid out with a long bar in front and a dining room in back. On the night we visited, it was rather unpopulated, especially compared to its neighbors around the corner which seem to be a magnet for young beer drinking professionals straight from work looking to score on a Friday evening, but crowded we imagine it could be noisy with its exposed brick walls and bare table tops.
The menu was sadly printed on disposable paper, legal size, folded in 3’s, but hidden here were small joys. Less joyful was the wine list, equally disposably printed and of little interest. In Fish Market’s defense, the restaurant has only been open 3 months but it has been cited in Andrea Strong’s http://www.thestrongbuzz.com/, and the chef has worked his way up through a variety of positions in excellent NYC restaurants.
We began with Calamari, fried, in a lemon emulsion with capers, olives, cilantro, and pepperacino, and a bottle of a South African Sauvignon Blanc. The Calamari was amazing – lightly battered and fried but not the least bit oily. The sauce was perfectly tart and the capers, olives (large green pitted ones sliced thinly), and cilantro brought a ‘green’ seasoning that balanced the slight burn from the pepperacinos.
Sadly the Sauvignon Blanc, although recommended by the waiter, not the least bit interesting, and for the price of $42 per bottle, it was disgraceful. Normally I would find Sauvignon Blanc to be very mineral with light tart fruit behind and little tannin. This one was overly sweet in the first taste and unpleasantly tartly tannic to the point of mouth-drying at the end. When we complained, one of the owners said that most people appreciated it but why not try something else. He spoke to the other owner, working the bar, who suggested a Spanish white, an Albarino, that it turned out was not on the menu. Nevertheless, they found it, opened it and I found it better than the first.
On the wine list were several decent wines including a Sancerre and a white Burgundy, but at $70 and $75 respectively, both were too expensive for the evening and their vintages. The restaurant bills its cuisine as Mediterranean seafood, but the wine list contained nothing that reflected that bent. Despite that problem and now happier with the white wine, the Supreme Travel Advisor raved to the waiter about the Calamari and demanded to meet the chef (that one is always husband-hunting!).
We are going to stop here because a point is made without our making it. We were there in the late summer and the restaurant is now closed. The food was exciting and challenging, and sadly for us Eddy-the-Chef is gone but then so is that despicable wine list. When will NYC restaurants learn that they cannot be the last to recognize that good wine goes with good food and boring Sauvignon Blanc does not merit $42 a bottle? In an age when the average consumer in a typical Manhattan restaurant easily knows as much or more than the server, it makes sense to price wine accordingly.
Expect more of these columns in the future! Until then eat, drink and write about it…
When we are invited to dinners in the houses of Intimes, we are pleased to drink the beverage they have chosen to serve with dinner, not because our Intimes are as snobby as we concerning wine, but because the host or hostess has given thought to the dinner, the diners and chosen his or her best idea to serve with the meal. Others at table may disagree with the choice, but we always respect the time, effort and money invested in creating the evening, including the liquid accompaniment.
Why are New York restaurateurs, seemingly often, incapable of making the same investment of time, effort and money when we dine at their tables? I am flabbergasted by the attitude toward wine and fine food in this town. Wine does not always need to be old, expensive or wildly popular. Instead it needs to be good, it needs to be fairly priced, and, most of all, it needs to work with the food. If a host or hostess can do the latter at home why can’t a professional.
That redirects us to our original idea, a South Street Seaport restaurant. Make an effort, Loyal Followers, to stay on point here and do not dwell on the whys of our being in the South Street Seaport, just know that it was worth the trip, no small part thanks to Eddy, the chef at Fish Market Restaurant, 111 South Street, http://www.fishmarketnyc.com/
Despite facing an elevated portion of the East Side Highway and the parking lot under that, there is a small view of the East River, but not enough to make the outside tables alluring. No matter, the inside of the restaurant was decently laid out with a long bar in front and a dining room in back. On the night we visited, it was rather unpopulated, especially compared to its neighbors around the corner which seem to be a magnet for young beer drinking professionals straight from work looking to score on a Friday evening, but crowded we imagine it could be noisy with its exposed brick walls and bare table tops.
The menu was sadly printed on disposable paper, legal size, folded in 3’s, but hidden here were small joys. Less joyful was the wine list, equally disposably printed and of little interest. In Fish Market’s defense, the restaurant has only been open 3 months but it has been cited in Andrea Strong’s http://www.thestrongbuzz.com/, and the chef has worked his way up through a variety of positions in excellent NYC restaurants.
We began with Calamari, fried, in a lemon emulsion with capers, olives, cilantro, and pepperacino, and a bottle of a South African Sauvignon Blanc. The Calamari was amazing – lightly battered and fried but not the least bit oily. The sauce was perfectly tart and the capers, olives (large green pitted ones sliced thinly), and cilantro brought a ‘green’ seasoning that balanced the slight burn from the pepperacinos.
Sadly the Sauvignon Blanc, although recommended by the waiter, not the least bit interesting, and for the price of $42 per bottle, it was disgraceful. Normally I would find Sauvignon Blanc to be very mineral with light tart fruit behind and little tannin. This one was overly sweet in the first taste and unpleasantly tartly tannic to the point of mouth-drying at the end. When we complained, one of the owners said that most people appreciated it but why not try something else. He spoke to the other owner, working the bar, who suggested a Spanish white, an Albarino, that it turned out was not on the menu. Nevertheless, they found it, opened it and I found it better than the first.
On the wine list were several decent wines including a Sancerre and a white Burgundy, but at $70 and $75 respectively, both were too expensive for the evening and their vintages. The restaurant bills its cuisine as Mediterranean seafood, but the wine list contained nothing that reflected that bent. Despite that problem and now happier with the white wine, the Supreme Travel Advisor raved to the waiter about the Calamari and demanded to meet the chef (that one is always husband-hunting!).
We are going to stop here because a point is made without our making it. We were there in the late summer and the restaurant is now closed. The food was exciting and challenging, and sadly for us Eddy-the-Chef is gone but then so is that despicable wine list. When will NYC restaurants learn that they cannot be the last to recognize that good wine goes with good food and boring Sauvignon Blanc does not merit $42 a bottle? In an age when the average consumer in a typical Manhattan restaurant easily knows as much or more than the server, it makes sense to price wine accordingly.
Expect more of these columns in the future! Until then eat, drink and write about it…
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