NYT Restaurant Review

[Mark Stryker]

So, let me go out on a limb and say I don't think Pete Wells liked Guy Fieri's new Times Square restaurant.

http://www.nytimes.c...gewanted=1&_r=3&

Edited November 14, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[paul secor]

I never read restaurant reviews, but I can't imagine a bigger pan than this place got. Hilarious.

[Mark Stryker]

In a class, perhaps, with John Simon's now legendary theater review of "Moose Murders" in 1983. Download PDF http://nymag.com/art.../reviews/46358/ and perhaps the most brutal critical review to appear in the Times since Frank Rich bludgeoned the same play: http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9400E3DF133BF930A15751C0A965948260&_r=1&

Edited November 14, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Michael Weiss]

Why waste column space to review a tourist trap like that? I would think there would be at least one new serious restaurant more worthy. But I guess some things just need to be said!

[Matthew]

Why waste column space to review a tourist trap like that? I would think there would be at least one new serious restaurant more worthy. But I guess some things just need to be said!

Really. The restaurant is geared toward the fans of his Food Network show, not for "fine dinning." Just a way for Pete Wells to show he's above it all, and pure, and doesn't fall into the category of a Food Network lemming, etc., and knows what real food is all about. Sort of like a jazz critic reviewing a Boney James concert.

[Mark Stryker]

Why waste column space to review a tourist trap like that? I would think there would be at least one new serious restaurant more worthy. But I guess some things just need to be said!

Really. The restaurant is geared toward the fans of his Food Network show, not for "fine dinning." Just a way for Pete Wells to show he's above it all, and pure, and doesn't fall into the category of a Food Network lemming, etc., and knows what real food is all about. Sort of like a jazz critic reviewing a Boney James concert.

Disagree. There's news value in the fact that Fieri is a celebrity and that the restaurant's size and location make it a new marker in the city's busiest neighborhood. Also, tourists read the Times too and deserve to know whether a spot is worth the surely outrageous prices its charges, and locals deserve to know whether a spot that has all the signs of a tourist trap does or does not have any culinary value. Also, I do think in this era of celebrity food personalities it's worth monitoring the fault line separating chefs with something of value to say and the lower class of food celebrities. As a one-off, a more than reasonable decision to devote space.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Dave James]

Fieri will make tons of money from this new restaurant regardless of the quality of the menu. It's not about the food, it's about buddying up to the faux celebrity of guys like...well...Guy. And while you're there, be sure to pick up a T-shirt you can wear back home so all your runnin' buds will know that you've rubbed shoulders and kinda, sorta hung with the owner.

[T.D.]

^{Nothing new under the sun...in the realm of Times Square tourist trap eateries, the truly infamous (and not mourned) Mamma Leone's was universally panned in even harsher terms for decades, including by the Times iirc (I'm too lazy to search for citations, though)...}

^{This new spot seems to add an extra level of pretentiousness, so kudos to the reviewer.}

Edited November 14, 2012 by T.D.

[JSngry]

fwiw, we've tried a few of Fieri's recipies fro the Food Network website and have had good results, espcially on some kind of pork with cherry-habanero(?) sauce, really good, that one.

but of course, having some good recipies and having a good restaurant ain't the same thing, so hey, we'll just fix it ourselves, thanks!