Fight! Fight! Fight!
It's a rare occasion when I can motivate my very own lazy bum to post twice in a day, but this is so, well, fun, that I just had to.
This morning Steve Cuozzo at the New York Post published a seriously scathing review of Del Posto and Morimoto, by Iron Chefs™ Mario Battali and Matsaharu Morimoto, respectively. It appears -to the good M.Cuozzo at least- that these Iron Emperors are flashing their bare naked arse to the whole wide world. Complaints range from 'indifferent cut of sushi' served of hot plates, to signature dishes 'short enough on seasoning for convalescent fare', to ice cold zabaglione from Del Posto, where diners were given '[p]illows for purses but bistro plates for pasta'.
Ouch.
But the fun didn't end there. No, no, it really hadn't even begun really. Not until I popped over this morning to the popular food forum eGullet and found this little -shall we say- rant.
'Those of you who do not live in New York and those of you who do but are'nt in the biz I want to share some feelings that my colleagues and I have shared for a long time. Well several feelings and if I come across angry or bitter I'm not at all. These are simply opinions. The buzz behind the scenes has been that Del Posto and Morimoto are phenomeal disasters steered into iceburgs by arrogance and disregard for human life.'
…and there is more where that came from.
Double ouch.
As in other not-so-public public spitting wars, I am sure there's far more behind the scene than meet the eyes. I mean, it's got to take more than sushi served on a petri dish to get someone publicly yelling 'Welcome to the neighborhood Stephen! Good to have you here, Now get the f**k out of my restaurant'.
Especially since 'Cru' is such a cunningly conceived username that no one would ever guess who the actual personality behind –one might even say in front of- it is. Um, 'Cru', you might want to put down that glass of wine you're drinking in your avatar there dahling. I think you've had just a tad much.
Oh don't look at me. I'm so far behind on the Manhattan dining scene that my favorite new restaurant is Mas. So, go on then Snack, you are going tell us what's really going down, yes?
Bonjour Pim!
You know, I love the pre-opening. Once the press/review machine cranks into high gear...things loose a bit of flavor for me.
Top of my list right now? A Voce from Andrew Carmellini. Not yet...soon.
Of course Buddakan any minute now - Starr part two. When that opens, my guess is the big winner will be 202 (my sleeper favorite) just next-door.
A bientot...
Posted by: snack | Feb 15, 2006 2:57:57 PM
eGullet seems to have taken that post down or you got the link wrong.
Posted by: ExtraMSG | Feb 15, 2006 4:50:43 PM
Cru's egullet post apparently got yanked, as I saw it this morning. Like some of those who responded to Cru's post, I'm bewildered by what he said, and it would've been interesting to see clarifications. Though he referenced the NY Post review, was it NY or Vegas that he was referring to? Was he actually disappointed at the two restaurants (as he expressed admiration for them) or mainly exposing disgruntlement in the staff?
Posted by: alb | Feb 15, 2006 7:17:52 PM
Must've been a pretty heated debate since eGullet removed the post...
Posted by: Sweetnicks | Feb 15, 2006 9:02:34 PM
Hello Pim,
FYI, Frank Bruni reviewed Del Posto on 1-March 06. http://events.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/dining/reviews/01rest.html . It was not as scathing as the NY Post, but I am not sure I will run to the phone and make a reservation for mid-April. I live 30 minutes from Manhattan, but find myself in Bangkok several times per year. I work through out SE Asia mainly in very rural areas of Laos. I have become a lover of breakfast Pho and wonder if you or any other of your Blog readers has a favorite NYC establishment for this wonderfully simple, but sublime dish.
Cheers,
Peter
Posted by: Peter | Mar 7, 2006 6:32:30 AM