Restaurant-Dining Critiques

La Goulue
746 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10021
at 65th St.
212-988-8169
Opening Hours: Open every day
Lunch: Monday to Saturday 12 noon to 4:00 p.m.
Dinner: Monday to Saturday 6:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Sunday Brunch: 12 noon to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday: 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Expensive

I really enjoy many dishes from this venerable restaurant, regardless of the few negative comments I have heard, and most fondly remembered is the foie gras terrine among many other favorites. The location on Madison Avenue is ideal and the place generally has a “Parisian feel” to it.
It has a busy lunch crowd and gets the upper east side neighborhood crowd filling up the bar area while waiting for one of the banquets, especially one in the front to open up. They offer a Cafe Menu between 4p.m. - 6p.m. with items such as duck foie gras, steak tartare and an excellent profiteroles for dessert.

Footnote: For those who may not be aware. . .  Louise Weber, nicknamed La Goulou (The Glutton), was born to a Jewish family from Alsace. Her mother worked in a laundry where Louise borrowed customer’s outfits to perform in local dance halls.
She began dancing in small clubs around Paris and became popular because of her dexterity as a dancer and especially for her routine, which included hiking up her dress to show her panties with an embroidered red heart and kicking off men’s hats with her toe. She received the affectionate nickname “La Goulue” because of her frequent habit of grabbing customer’s drinks and downing the contents while dancing past their tables. She eventually danced an early version of the Cancan at the Moulin Rouge and became a highly paid star.
She decided to leave the Moulin Rouge and invested in a traveling show that toured the country as part of a large fair. Her fans did not have the same interest to see her in this type of setting and the venture turned out to be a failure. She took to drinking heavily and wound up destitute, toothless, unrecognized and reduced to selling cigarettes and peanuts on the street close to where she once had been a star at the Moulin Rouge. She died shortly after and is now buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre.

I think the way in which she was ousted was an appalling display on the part of New York Magazine, especially after 40 years! Ms Greene will still be reporting via her blog on things culinary in New York City http://www.insatiable-critic.com/ One good note: she can now devote more time to her charity Citymeals-on-Wheels, which she founded 27 years ago. It supplies food to the elderly who are unable to find means to do so otherwise.

Elaine’s Restaurant
1703 Second Ave., New York, NY 10128 near 88th St.
Tel.+1 212-534-8103
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat, 6pm-2am; Sun, 5pm-1am
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate-Expensive

The food at Elaine’s has always been barely passable, however that is not the point of the excursion to eighty-eighth Street, players from stage and screen, writers, power-brokers, intellectual types hang there. Bobby Short took my girl friend and I around the corner to smoke a joint—I am a drinker not a smoker but I took a drag anyway! This is a fun place where a lot of people mingle and the buzz is high. I used to drop by whenever I was in the city just for the hell of it.
In the low-lighting of the bar people look good, even at elbow to elbow distance, and the dining rooms are lively especially later in the evening. Elaine Kaufman, the owner, can be snarly, though she is not afraid to pick up a glass and make a drink if necessary, and will usually greet customers if she is not too engaged in conversation with other guests. You can become drunk, get unruly—no one will notice—it’s that type of place.
Elaine’s is an American-Italian joint, but there is only one of them like this in NYC; or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

La Maison du Chocolat is based in Paris, and its chocolates are consistantly recognized as some of the best in the world. Most chocolates are dipped rather than molded, producing a very thin chocolate cover that melts perfectly with the filling in the mouth. The most popular filling at La Maison du Chocolat is the ganache (a mix of dairy cream and chocolate), here it is elevated to a rare perfection of taste and texture. Ganaches are subtly flavored with the use of scented ingredients (almond, cinnamon, ginger, lemon, coffee, fennel…) that blend perfectly well with the taste of the chocolate. The chocolate base used is from the famous French producer Valrhona. As often, quality has its price about US$60 per pound.

The pastries offered at La Maison are also exceptionally well made, on a par with those made in the best patisseries in Paris. All have of course a powerful chocolate taste. Try for example the Bacchus (layers of chocolate cake and chocolate ganache), or the Andalousie (chocolate cake, with lemon zest cream and truffle mousse). For U.S. residents La Maison du Chocolat has a store at 30 Rockefeller Center (tel. 212 265-9404) as well as stores in Paris, London and Tokyo.

Bruno Jamais Restaurant & Club
24 East 81st Street
New York, NY 10028
Tel. 212-396-3444
http://www.brunojamais.com

On November 6th the 5th year anniversary party of Bruno Jamais Restaurant & Club at 24 East 81st Street was given in conjunction with Katherine M. Rothman, CEO of KMR Communications.  The event was attended by hundreds of media, dignitaries, socialites, and event planners. The restaurant was transformed into an art gallery for the evening featuring the works of famed French Artist Cyrille Margarit.

Recently Bruno Jamais Restaurant Club in New York and PR firm KMR Communications, Inc hosted the launch of Lokah Music’s “The Ivy Ceiling” CD featuring the talented artists Michael and Uma.
Celebrities at the event included:
Sting, who arrived with his wife Trudie Styler. . .

legendary recording bis producer Russell Simmons . . . cast members of Bravo TV’s “The Real Housewives of New York”: Countess Lu Ann De Lesseps, Jill and Bobby Zarin, Ramona and Mario Singer, Alex Mc Cord and Simon Van Kempen, and the newest addition to the show, Kelly Killoren Bensimon. . .

Cruiserweight boxing Champion BJ Flores was also in attendance.

Over 500 members of the media enjoyed the event and per Sting’s request, guests were served only vegetarian canapés and the champagne flowed endlessly. Upon Sting’s arrival, a usual blasé media crowd went wild, and three security guards had to be called in to shield him from the throng of paparazzi. This evening was a precursor to a special night for Sting.

The following evening was his last public performance ever with the Police. Proceeds from a raffle benefited PETA, one of Sting’s favorite charities. Sample tracks of “The Ivy Ceiling” can be heard at www.lokahmusic.com  Information on Bruno Jamais Restaurant Club can be found at www.brunojamais.com

Nobu Matsuhisa has built an empire of Japanese restaurants beginning in the United States and branching out over three continents along with his current partners Robert De Niro, Meir Teper and Richard Notar.
His training included working at a well-known sushi bar in Tokyo before traveling to Peru where he opened a sushi bar and found that his classic training in sushi was put to the test by his discovery of entirely new ingredients, and he responded with originating some very innovative new styles of serving raw fish. He opened his first sushi restaurant in the United States in Beverly Hills in 1987 and in 1994 opened Nobu in New York City with actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent. Presently, he is expanding his global-network of Japanese sushi restaurants internationally with his current partners.

I dined many times at his first restaurant in Beverly Hills on La Cienega Boulevard and quite often when it first opened, as I was living in the area. When I moved to the West Side of Los Angeles I did not go as frequently, although I recall the time that we brought a Japanese monk to dine there with a couple of Japanese friends, he was dressed in a pure silk robe the size of a horse-blanket and he weighed almost 400 lbs., we sat at the sushi bar and as the meal drew to a close the monk told the sushi man, “make four tuna hand rolls”. The sushi man politely asked, “who are these for sir”? “For me”, he said firmly. The sushi man watched in amazement as the monk ate the large cone shaped hand-rolls one by one, and this, after consuming a great quantity of food just previously. Although, he was a huge man after all!

Following are locations and information on branches as of 2008:

USA

Beverly Hills
129 N. La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Tel: 310-659-9639
Fax: 310-659-0492
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 11:45 – 2:15
Monday – Sunday (Dinner) 5:45 – 10:15

Los Angeles
903 North La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. 310-657-5711
Fax. 310-657-4299
Hours:
Dinner: Monday-Thursday 6 - 11:15
Friday - Saturday 6 - Midnight
Bar: Monday - Thursday 5:30 - 11:15
Bar: Friday - Saturday 5:30 - Midnight
Bar: Sunday 5:30 - 10:15

Malibu
3835 Cross Creek Road #18A
Malibu, CA 90265
Tel: 310-317-9140
Fax: 310-317-9136
Hours:
Sunday – Thursday 5:45 – 10:00
Friday – Saturday 5:45 – 11:00

Aspen
303 East Main St.
Aspen, CO 81611
Tel: 970-544-6628
Fax: 970-544-6630
Opening hours changes seasonally

Las Vegas
Hard Rock Hotel
4455 Paradise Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Tel : 702-693-5090
Fax: 702-693-5091
Hours: Daily 6 - 11:15

Miami Beach
Shore Club
1901 Collins Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel : 305-695-3232
Fax: 305-695-3246
Hours:
Monday – Thursday 7:00 – 12:00am
Friday & Saturday 7:00 – 1:00am
Sunday 7:00 – 11:00

New York City

Nobu New York City
105 Hudson
New York, NY 10013
Tel : 212-219-0500
Fax: 212-219-1441
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 11:45 – 2:15
Monday – Sunday (Dinner) 5:45 – 10:15

Nobu Next Door
105 Hudson
New York, NY 10013
Tel : 212-334-4445
Fax: 212-334-0044
Hours:
Monday – Thursday (Dinner) 5:45 – 12:00am
Friday & Saturday (Dinner) 5:45 – 1:00am
Sunday (Dinner) 5:45 – 11:00

Nobu Fifty Seven
40 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Tel : 212-757-3000
Fax: 212-757-6330
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 11:45 – 2:15
Monday – Sunday (Dinner) 5:45 – 11:15

HAWAII

Nobu Waikiki
Waikiki Parc Hotel
2233 Helumoa Road
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel : 808-237-6999
Fax : 808-237-6990
Hours:
Daily 5:30 – 11:00

DALLAS
Hotel Crescent Court
400 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201
Tel : 214-252-7000
Fax: 214-252-7001
Hours:
Sunday 6:00 – 10:00
Monday Friday 6:00 – 11:00
Saturday 5:30 – 11:00

INTERNATIONAL

NOBU LONDON
The Metropolitan Hotel
19 Old Park Lane
London, W1Y 4LB, U.K.
Tel : +44-20-7447-4747
Fax: +44-20-7447-4749
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 12:00 2:15
Saturday – Sunday (Lunch) 12:30 – 2:30
Monday – Friday (Dinner) 6:00 – 10:15
Saturday (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:15
Sunday (Dinner) 6:00 – 9:45

NOBU BERKELEY ST.
15 Berkeley St.
London, W1J 8DY, U.K.
Tel : 011-44-20-7290-9222
Fax: 011-44-20-7290-9223
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 12:00 – 2:15
Monday – Wednesday (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:00
Thursday – Saturday (Dinner) 6:00 – 12:00
Sunday (Dinner) 6:00 – 9:15

UBON by NOBU (CLOSED)
34 Westferry Circus
Canary Wharf
London, E14 8RR, U.K.
Tel : 011-44-20-7719-7800
Fax: 011-44-20-7719-7801
TBA

NOBU TOKYO
4-1-28 Toranomon, Minato-ku,
Toranomon Towers 1st  Fl.
Tokyo, 105-0001 Japan
Tel : +81-(0)3-5733-0070
Fax: +81-(0)3-5733-0065
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 11:30 – 3:00
Monday – Saturday (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:30
Sunday & Holiday (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:00
Hours:
Monday – Friday (Lunch) 12:00 2:15
Saturday – Sunday (Lunch) 12:30 – 2:30
Monday – Friday (Dinner) 6:00 – 10:15
Saturday (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:15
Sunday (Dinner) 6:00 – 9:45

NOBU MILANO
20121 Milano, ITALY
Tel : 011-44-20-7719-7800
Fax: 011-44-20-7719-7801
Hours:
Monday – Saturday (Lunch) 12:00 – 2:30
Monday – Sunday (Dinner) 7:00 – 11:30

MATSUHISA MYKONOS
Belvederc Hotel
School of Fine Arts District,
84600 Mykonos, GREECE
Tel : +30-22890-27362
Fax: +30-22890-25126
Hours:
Daily 8:00pm – 1:30am
Open Seasonally

NOBU INTERCONTINENTAL
NOBU HONG KONG
18 Salisbury Road.
Kowloon Hong Kong
Tel : 011-44-20-7719-7800
Fax: 011-44-20-7719-7801
Hours:
Daily (Lunch) 12:00 – 2:30
Daily (Dinner) 6:00 – 11:00

NOBU MELBOURNE
Crown Melbourne Australia
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank Vic 3006
Australia

60 W. 55th St., near Sixth Ave.
Tel. 646-943-7373
Opening Hours: Lunch: 11:30am - 2:30pm daily.
Dinner: Sunday through Wednesday 5:30 to 10:30pm, Thursday through Saturday to 11pm
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate to Expensive

UPDATE: Alain Ducasse finally hired a new chef for his ailing West 55th Street bistro Benoit: Pierre Schaedelin, who will take over as top tocque next month.

I think we have to face the fact that Monsieur Ducasse these days prefers being a businessman rather than a dedicated chef and as he has said himself, “The role of the chef is to train people to take care of clients . . . that he develops over the years”. With two restaurant closures in New York he is even more determined to win over New Yorkers and expects to do so with Adour Alain Ducasse, the name of his new restaurant. It opened at the beginning of 2008 in the St. Regis Hotel and is a much more elaborate version than the one in the Essex House that closed last year. His New York edition of Benoit, founded in 1912 in Paris, and now owned by Ducasse and a partner, opened its New York version in April 2008.
With his plethora of restaurants, cookbooks, endorsements and line of cooking supplies, Mr. Ducasse had three restaurants with three Michelin stars each—at the Essex House in Manhattan, the Plaza Athénée restaurant in Paris and the Louis XV restaurant in the Monte Carlo. In the 1990s, Mr. Ducasse became the first chef in 60 years to win six Michelin stars at once, for his restaurants in Paris and Monaco. And in 1990, at 34, he was the youngest chef in France to be awarded three Michelin stars, for his Monte Carlo restaurant.
“It is an honor to open in the former La Côte Basque space—it holds a sense of history very much in line with my vision to create a true bistro”, said Alain Ducasse. Executive Chef Sébastien Rondier presents dishes from Benoit’s 50-100 years old recipes.
I am personally delighted, as a diner and reviewer, that Benoit will offer some of my favorite old bistro dishes as; pâté en croûte, poached green asparagus with mousseline sauce (it is so seldom you can find this sauce), Sirloin steak, gratin Dauphinois, sauce aux poivres, Quenelle de brochet, sauce Nantua, garlic-roasted chicken with pommes frites L’ami Louis-style, steak au poivre with pommes soufflė. Individual wheels of cheese from Camembert to Cervelle de Canuts. For dessert classical bistro desserts as profiteroles, Baba au rhum and traditional tarte tatin. Prices are quite reasonable at Appetizers, $1 (for a single boiled “egg with mayonnaise”) to $19; entrées, $19 to $48.
Adam Platt, writing in New York Magazine, panned Benoit and said, “. . .one more cookie-cutter French brasserie in this brasserie-addled town.” While in the same publication veteran restaurant critic Gael Green said of it, . . “(we) have to be grateful he (Alain Ducasse) has resurrected La Côte Basque’s former space. . . and now offers bistro nostalgia to stand in for all the oldies that have disappeared.”
I personally believe that Alain Ducasse’s intention was to re-create a bistro, not a brasserie and this restaurant is certainly not a brasserie, although it is not in the strict sense a bistro either, but rather a restaurant serving old-fashioned bistro dishes.
From my experience, a French Brasserie is a large space originally based on a brewery, specializing in food from Alsace-Lorraine such as sauerkraut, beer on draught and the like, usually offering shellfish with a person committed to shucking them in their own station, and is open throughout the day and night. On the other hand, a French Bistro traditionally is a small place serving a limited menu sometimes using a blackboard or handwritten menu.

21 West 52nd Street
New York City, N.Y., 10019
Tel. (212) 582-7200
Opening Hours: Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner Mon.-Sat.
www.21club.com
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Expensive

“Jack & Charlie’s 21” was once a speakeasy, today it is one of the most celebrated destinations in New York City. The legendary Bar Room that includes a dining room and lounge, is the center point and spirit of the “21 Club” in addition, it has two other restaurants, and the new upstairs dining room, and the famous Prohibition-era Wine Cellar, which are all located in a four-story townhouse.
A little publicized fact is that my friend, the late, Ricky di Portanova, almost bought the “21 Club” the baron offered $13 million for a share in the famous club, which he intended as a birthday present for his wife. The deal was called off when it was announced that the baroness planned to open a boutique on the second floor above the dining room, a plan not in keeping with what the owners had in mind for the club.
Now it is owned by Orient-Express Hotels, Trains and Cruises, a company that has been busy gobbling up
hotels such as the: Hotel Cipriani, Venice; Hotel Splendido, Portofino; Villa San Michele, Florence;
Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro.
Every president with the exception of George W Bush has dined at 21 since the time of FDR.
The legendary Bar Room is and has been the watering hole of celebrities, captains of industry, and world
leaders. The food is not the bright star here, it is the memories and the famous bar that shines.