Tag: restaurants

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24×7 dinner for the locals crowd locks it’s doors

Restaurant Florent, a namesake in the Meat Packing Districts, late night dinning scene – if drunken pommes frites, mac and cheese, and roulade of chicken breast qualifies as even “late night” – is closing its doors for good.

Florent was not a huge money maker, a landmark of New York, nor did Florent open his establishment looking to become a celebrity hot spot or institution; in fact quite the opposite. Florent Morellet opened 23 years ago, a reliable French bistro for all hours, welcoming all the transsexual prostitutes, nightlife kids freaking on tabs and weird sex pervs; and then the DB heaven of Meat Packing District moved in and swept the fun out of the hood. Florent continued to be that familiar afterhours joint to refill after a full on night of glory, similar to my youthful hangouts of Lyons in San Ramon, CA, Denny’s in Emeryville, or Nations in Daily City (only not nearly as good).

My few personal exploits at Florent were typically at unrespectable hours for any last drops of entertainment, character watching and imbibing I could squeeze out of the hole that is MPD. The closure of Florent is not personally lugubrious, but represents another death in the soul of a city that continues to clear established local merchants that support local art, culture and causes, by raising rents to house the cookie cutter clubs, big box pushing/high end conglomerates and stylishless touist traps. Only one more reason I don’t venture to far to the west side.

NY Times has a review of the restaurant people and history.

UPDATE: NY Times talks about the final days

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Mid-town pretension

I don’t spend much time up town. Actually anything above 14th st or Union Sq for non-business reasons doesn’t get much time in for me unless it’s central park, a show, gallery or museum of my calling, or to see the woman. Tonight was one of those nights I was up for business to take some clients out; we met at the hotel bar that takes great care of us: Abboccato. George manages a great restaurant if you’re up for some unique and tasty Italian and Lana a non-drinker, knows her way around Italian wines and grappas.

On recommendation we took our guys up to. BLT Market on Central Park South, next to the Ritz. Already knowing the Ritz’s Star Lounge that connects the hotel and the restaurant, provides the cocktail service, I knew there’d be some pretense (and cost) for the evening heading here. As we walked in, I expected a wait, and greeted well by the hostess staff, they proclaiming we’d be eating in 20 min. Norman was the bartender this night and set us up nicely with some scotch whiskey.

20 minutes pass and then 30 then 40. Despite my own tardiness at times, I feel disrespected as a customer when restaurants don’t seat you at appropriate times. If the wait is 40 say Four-T, not 20 to appease the customer and apologize later.

Apparently it all got worse from there. Laurent Tourondel is New York’s famed French-born chef that is highly praised through out the city, however, this evening, the chefs and service were not executed to precision and made for one of my worst dining experiences in some time. The best part may have been the hot dog appetizers which were served free with the meal. I had a well cooked braised lamb but cod and duck were not cooked well. The service intermittent and being sat closest to the front door was the top irritant of the night.

I may be back but only on the recommendation and someone else’s dime. We spent the rest of the evening back at the hotel participating in grappa tastings and creating today’s hangover…

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I miss Mexicans

It might have started with this but when I say I miss Mexicans, I mean being in such close proximity to Mexico (iving in Cali) that we are flushed with traditional or variations of great Mexican food. Besides Boston and the rest of New England, New York is about as far away (in the US) you can get from Mexico. Cross culture tends to affect those neighborhoods and environments that are closer to the epicenter of it’s origin and NY gets a slow trickle of Mexican culture when compared to “Old Mexico” that was California.

Sure you have Rosa Mexicano or Hell’s Kitchen, serving the latest in haute Mexican food born out of the future of cuisine from Mexico City. Rosa and Hells’ are serving Mexican food much the same that you could call Peep serving Thai food, Tao serving Asian food, or Sushi Samba serving Brazilian cuisine. Manhattan doesn’t have a very good offering of traditional Mexican and I’m not talking Tex-Mex (ala Chevey’s) or Chipotle either. You really have to get to the outer boughs of Queens, Brooklyn etc. to get something more “home-made”, fresh and delish.

This all came up because this morning I made Chilaquiles . A dish taught to me in the restaurant kitchens I worked at earlier on. The Mexican line, grill our sous chefs used to make this for breakfast or lunch while we were working. When we didn’t have as much time, they’d put together Migas as well and very it up with the green salsa, chorizo or different types of peppers. Both start with fried tortillas and very from there.

While we were touring Napa this last weekend I passed a Mexican market on the out skirts of Sonoma. After a quick illegal u-turn, and freaking out E, I pulled up to front because I was eager to replace my stock of carne asada spice mix I had brought over from CA. Of course the brand El Mexicano is huge in CA, so I had no trouble getting two different variants (hot an regular) as well as stocking up on flan (a rich caramel custard), horchata (an aguas frescas made of rice, barley, vanilla and sugar) and some tamarindo candies.

NY certainly is diverse and if I wanted to, I’m sure I could find all the above in some hood of the city. For now, I’ll settle for my local favorites, Florencia 13 and my taco stand, Calexico. Until a restaurant can satisfy my cravings, I’ll make good Mexican food at home…