Well, I turned down per se. Everyone has told me that eleven madison is the way to go. Any suggestions for just a good meal on thursday? I was thinking of going to Sorella.
No, I do get it. You had a tasting menu with an ingredient you don't love. Why did you do it then? You can't possibly draw tasting menu conclusions from two restaurants, especially when one of them put together a thematic meal with an ingredient you're not crazy about. (I don't like mushrooms, so wouldn't have enjoyed it either.) Well, yes, when things are simply cooked poorly, that's an issue, but I meant above that level.
i had no idea i wouldn't like truffles. i had never had them before. frankly, at that point in my life -- at least 25 years ago -- i wasn't aware that truffles were a fungus. i'm not faulting the kitchen. but La Toque didn't call the meal a tasting menu, and my recollection of the meal was that the portion size was what one would expect from a many course dinner. at Napa Rose, the food was good but i think the price was a little high. i've had better meals for considerably less money. Napa Rose is very highly regarded. i don't think anything we ate was poorly cooked. i've eaten at Valentino, Campanile, Chinois on Main, Via Veneto, Michael's on Naples, Ma Maison (years and years ago), Pascal, Spago ( when it was still great ) and several other top notch LA area restaurants. by no means am i an expert, but i've had plenty of extraordinary meals.
Funny you mention that place. A friend of mine recommended it, but I wasn't too into the menu on first glance. Add that to the fact that they don't take reservations, and I pretty much wrote it off. Have you been?
Ko was amazing. And they said no pork wouldn't be a problem. There was hardly any in the meal to begin with. I can see Ko not being for everyone (the casual atmospere, bar seating, 90s "cool person" music), but I loved the experience. Didn't mind at all being there by myself for 3 hours. It helped that I'm an extrovert. Eleven Madison Park was wonderful. So completely different than Ko. I don't want to eat for months.
Okay, I've gotten myself in a position where I need to go to a fairly fancy NYC restaurant. I visited the websites of most of the places suggested in this thread so far. The arrogance and pretentiousness just protruded from these webpages, but ..hey... that's New York. Next did appeal to me despite the lame name. On their website it mentions that their current menu is "Bocuse d'Or" . Okay, I give up. WTF does that mean? Even googling it didn't shed much light on what the dining experience and food would be like. Also if anyone has any further recommendations on places that provide a good value and maybe a notch or two below the ones listed here so far, it would be nice (Translation: I don't want to eat 4 Mondays from now at 10:00pm even if that means slightly lower quality of food ).
People I know love Gramercy Tavern - there is a more casual bar I believe with excellent food and maybe easier to get in? It won't be cheap though.
I'd suggest the NoMad - it's not particularly pretentious, you can get reservations, it's in a reasonably cool setting and, while their wine list is incredibly unimpressive (unless you have a few grand to burn), you can bring a few bottles of your own and they'll charge you reasonable corkage. Their chicken for two is absolutely fantastic. Gramercy does have a casual bar (though I haven't been in years), but it very much has the feel of a casual space rather than a dinner space. If you want to do a "dinner", I'm not sure it's the best option.
Ok, thanks. NoMad looks good. I love places that allow you to bring your own wine! Makes a huge difference. It doesn't make much sense having a great meal with a $14 bottle of wine, which is essentially what I'm forced into when there is a 300% mark-up on bottles sold in restaurants in New York.
You'd be surprised how many places let you bring your own (though not steakhouses) in NYC. In my opinion, if corkage is below $45, it makes sense to bring your own, which I do a lot. I think NoMad's corkage was @25 or so, which for a nice restaurant is eminently doable.