[Bux]

jogoode, on Mar 10 2004, 02:49 PM, said:

Wow, eGulleteers are running Spice Market! Great to have you with us, rslee. I hope you'll let slip how much you love this site to JG and Kunz .

First step is to run the restaurants in NY. Soon we'll be taking over the world. While few chefs have the time to log on and post regularly, it's not a big secret that most NY chefs know all about us and many chefs, owner, managers and other staff read here regularly.

[SobaAddict70]

Quote

For years Mr. Vongerichten has toyed with Asian flavors and clublike restaurants. Mercer Kitchen serves good food with nods to Asia, but it is dark and unforgivingly loud. A little more than a year ago, Mr. Vongerichten made a breakthrough with Chinese cooking at 66: rather than giving French food an Asian flair, he gave Chinese dishes a dose of his exquisite minimalism. But the dining room at 66 is like a hip morgue, and it has failed to woo serious diners.

Since then, Mr. Vongerichten seems to have had an epiphany. He is not a club owner, but a sensualist. And at Spice Market, he has hit on something new: casual, exotic luxury and food that people want to eat.

Spice Market (Amanda Hesser) (from this week's NYTimes DIGEST update. You may have to scroll down for the appropriate link.)

Finally! A review worthy of its subject.

Way to go, Amanda.

Soba

[kurl]

Whoa... 3 stars... Another restaurant to add to my list -- wasn't expecting this one to be all that well received.

And yeah, extremely well-written review.

Quote

SERVICE A flutter of skilled servers, some scantily clad.

... How cutely written!

This post has been edited by kurl: 24 March 2004 - 01:07 AM

[Fat Guy]

The review was so sycophantic I shifted into skimming mode rather quickly (Cuozzo's review in today's Post strikes me as substantially more credible), but I didn't notice a single mention of Kunz. What's up with that? And three stars for upscale street food? It's going to take the next critic years to undo the mess Hesser is creating.

[tan319]

I think I'm with Fat Guy on this one.
To not mention Kunz is pretty wack.
I thought the Post review read a bit better too.
Having said that, this place is where I'm heading 1st when I get back to NYC.

[slkinsey]

Fat Guy, on Mar 24 2004, 07:05 AM, said:

The review was so sycophantic I shifted into skimming mode rather quickly (Cuozzo's review in today's Post strikes me as substantially more credible), but I didn't notice a single mention of Kunz. What's up with that? And three stars for upscale street food? It's going to take the next critic years to undo the mess Hesser is creating.

Not to mention... Spice Market: three stars. Asiate: one star.

[alanamoana]

Fat Guy, on Mar 24 2004, 07:05 AM, said:

The review was so sycophantic I shifted into skimming mode rather quickly (Cuozzo's review in today's Post strikes me as substantially more credible), but I didn't notice a single mention of Kunz. What's up with that? And three stars for upscale street food? It's going to take the next critic years to undo the mess Hesser is creating.

agreed...i always check the number of stars first and then read the review to see how it matches up. seems rather exaggerated, imo.

this is also another case of no information regarding who is running the kitchen on a day-to-day basis...chef de cuisine, pastry chef, etc. with all the raving you'd think she'd give credit. it isn't as if chef gray, chef jean-georges are there 24/7.

[slkinsey]

It is not standard practice -- at the NYT anyway -- to include such information in a review unless the chef de cuisine, pastry chef, etc. are somehow noteworthy due to the exceptional excellence of their work, the depth of their participation in creating the cuisine, etc. (e.g., Psaltis at Mix, Pasternack at Esca). This makes it an unusual and critical omission that Kunz' contribution was not mentioned, but not so for the other players. Restaurant reviews aren't like movie credits that list everyone involved.

[twodogs]

strange things are a foot at the circle k.

cats and dogs living together under one roof.

oh come on guys, its so simple, its all ball bearings nowadays.

cheers

[LJC]

Three stars is a bit crazy. For what it is, I enjoyed Spice Market very much but how can three stars be justified?

[tan319]

slkinsey, on Mar 24 2004, 07:43 AM, said:

It is not standard practice -- at the NYT anyway -- to include such information in a review unless the chef de cuisine, pastry chef, etc. are somehow noteworthy due to the exceptional excellence of their work, the depth of their participation in creating the cuisine, etc. (e.g., Psaltis at Mix, Pasternack at Esca). This makes it an unusual and critical omission that Kunz' contribution was not mentioned, but not so for the other players. Restaurant reviews aren't like movie credits that list everyone involved.

Sorry, but I think Pichet Ong is worthy of a mention.
He's a rising star pastry chef who's being linked to a lot of fellow pastry chefs operating in the same universe (Sam Mason of WD-50, Jehinger Metha of AIX, etc.) who get a lot of ink all of the time.
The Post guy got it right.
If desserts are worthy of a mention, the person who is creating them does too.

[Daniel]

It comes as no surprise that her review of Spice Market or any Jean-Georges restaurant for that matter will be skewed. It must have been a pleasure for her to write a whole review about a Jean-Georges restaurant instead of having to throw references in while reviewing a less important place.

[Bond Girl]

I'm with FG on this one, the review was not readable. I thought I would never say this but the Post actually have more credibility this time around than the Times. The pastry chef is worth mentioning and so is Kunz.

[kurl]

Given that I haven't eaten there, nor do I know too much about the cuisine there (other than seeing some (vaguely negative?) buzz about it on eGullet), I think the review gave me (and will give many others) a completely mistaken impression of what the restaurant is all about. From the review, Spice Market seems like an "upscale-casual" fusion-type place (like Nobu?) with great food that riffs off of a street food theme -- the comments here make that perception out to be (wildly?) inaccurate, painting it as more of a 1-or-2-star restaurant that with a tame menu that has several misfires -- rarely has a recent NYT review clashed so blatantly with what was being said on this forum (Atelier and Mix also come to mind, perhaps).

I'll have to go myself just to settle it, but it's disappointing to me that the NYT can seemingly be so off-target.

... And Hesser does seem to be quite a J-G V fanatic.

[jogoode]

kurl, on Mar 24 2004, 04:54 PM, said:

... And Hesser does seem to be quite a J-G V fanatic.

Right, I just remembered her out-of-nowhere praise of JG in her review of Asiate.

[Bond Girl]

JG wrote the forward in Hesser's book on her husband.

[Jinmyo]

Daniel, on Mar 24 2004, 10:20 AM, said:

It comes as no surprise that her review of Spice Market or any Jean-Georges restaurant for that matter will be skewed. It must have been a pleasure for her to write a whole review about a Jean-Georges restaurant instead of having to throw references in while reviewing a less important place.

O-ho-ho-ho.

[Jason Perlow]

Today's entry on the Upsaid Eurotrash Blog has some uh, colorful things to say about Amanda's Spice Market review.

[Lesley C]

I also had a tough time getting through the review because it was bogged down with adjectives. And I read the description of the restaurant three times and still couldn't picture it.
Also, notice there wasn't a single negative comment in the entire text. I never trust a review that reads like a PR document. One, just one little negative in there would have added some much needed balance to all the praise.

[bloviatrix]

Jason Perlow, on Mar 24 2004, 06:21 PM, said:

Today's entry on the Upsaid Eurotrash Blog has some uh, colorful things to say about Amanda's Spice Market review.

Codswallop. I've got to add that word to my vocabulary.

[kinichiwa]

I am amazed at the 3 star review... I personally feel that Ms. Hesser should have recused herself from reviewing a restaurant that is owned by a friend. If not that, then she could a least have spared a sentence to let the public know that Jean George has written either a blurb or the forward to her book "about her husband". (as Marion Burros did about her "friendship" w/Mario Battali and Joe Batianich in the infamous Casa Monos review)
We are all aware that the star system is not just about the food. The ambiance, service and the all around comfort level will factor into the equation. In this instance it could have garnered the restaurant 2 stars. If the food I have eaten there is any example 2 stars would have been pushing it.

[Fat Guy]

kinichiwa, on Mar 24 2004, 07:16 PM, said:

I personally feel that Ms. Hesser should have recused herself from reviewing a restaurant that is owned by a friend. If not that, then she could a least have spared a sentence to let the public know that Jean George has written either a blurb or the forward to her book "about her husband".

Or she could have just written a fair, independent, objective review.

[tan319]

Jason Perlow, on Mar 24 2004, 04:21 PM, said:

Today's entry on the Upsaid Eurotrash Blog has some uh, colorful things to say about Amanda's Spice Market review.

OK, this eurotrash site is funny as hell, thank you, Jason!!!
I liked this one, from Hesser's review.
Talk about a thesuraus(sic?)

"A tangy herbal galangal sauce is whipped into a celadon foam."
Greyish yellow green didn't sound as appetizing, I guess.
But, that's cool.
Didn't Gael Greene used to write stuff like this?
I want to go to this place as soon as I get back east.
This sounds like a really good 2 star place, though.
BTW, did Mix get 2 or 3 stars?

[Fat Guy]

Two stars for Mix (from Grimes, not Hesser).

[kinichiwa]

Well, I guess the Fat Guy is right, after today's review I will always wonder if Ms. Hesser really is being objective or just "waxing poetic" about another friend's restaurant.
It wouldn't be so tough to bear if we all didn't realize how much reviews mean to business and just as much to the customer hoping to get their monies worth!

[Bond Girl]

That Euro trash blog was laugh out loud funny! In all fairness, I think the Spice Market is a good two stars, by giving it three, Amanda Hesser is driving her credibility to the ground.

[tan319]

Fat Guy, on Mar 24 2004, 06:17 PM, said:

Two stars for Mix (from Grimes, not Hesser).

And you didn't feel like it was a 3 star, correct?
For the kind of restaurant they are?

[Fat Guy]

I think Mix should be a three-star, no question. I'm sure that's the sentiment of quite a few well-dined eGulleters who've had great meals there. But I don't want to diverge onto a Mix tangent -- we've got a few Mix threads we can use for that.

[Jason Perlow]

And don't get me started on Hearth...

[Bux]

Lesley C, on Mar 24 2004, 06:23 PM, said:

I also had a tough time getting through the review because it was bogged down with adjectives. And I read the description of the restaurant three times and still couldn't picture it.

I also had a bit of trouble with feedback between the three stars I noticed on my way into the restaurant and the "Late Night with David Letterman" T-shirt on the maître d'hôtel. Then I got hung up on the the multcolored description of a set out of blade runner, but was she saying J-G was like a club owner at 66 before he realized he was a sensualist? It was good to have seen the three star rating first, because softened mushrooms, sauce clinging in a light loose layer and "fried stiff" are not the terms that make me salivate the way three stars does. Unlike the eurotrash blogger, I wondered who determined that the soup is eaten with a spoon. I mean who determines that the dish is not from a part of the world where the soup bowl is lifted to the lips? I wondered if Martha Stewart designed the ginger ale with a "perfect" zip. Blood orange mojitos are what I want when I'm dreaming of eating food in Asian streets. A Pattaya "screams with passion fruit but is delicately bubbly." Is that a surprise, is that a place for a "but?" Knowing the food goes better with cocktails than beer or wine is a clincher and I'm convinced it's anything but a three star restaurant. I'm waiting for the correction to appear next Wednesday.