All stories about "Adour"
Adour Gives Official Confirm on Dennis/Esnault Switchover
Midtown East: As reported yesterday, chef Joel Dennis will be replacing Tony Esnault at Alain Ducasse's Adour. Our sources told us that the powers that be at Adour and the St. Regis were simply waiting to make an official statement. The time for waiting is up. The official word:
Tony OUTSKI, Joel INSKI.>>
BREAKING: Joel Dennis Replacing Tony Esnault at Adour
MIDTOWN— Chicago chef Joel Dennis—a former chef de cuisine at Tru, a one time chef at Alain Ducasse, and most recently the executive chef at Blue Water Grill Chicago—is now working in the kitchen at Adour. We're waiting on the confirm from the people at St. Regis that he is officially replacing rumored-to-be-departing Tony Esnault, but it is definitely looking that way. The biggest sign is that he can easily be reached in the kitchen right this very moment. But inside sources also tell us that Esnault has been gone for days and that Ducasse is simply waiting to make the official announcement. Dennis, like Esnault, spent over four years working with Ducasse before the Chicago move, so it could be that the master is just replacing one protege with another. Perhaps the BRGuest training (along with the recession) means he'll be removing some of the shmance from the menu.
· Revolving Door Rumormongering: Esnault Out at Adour? [~E~]
· Is Adour Chef Tony Esnault Out? [GS]
—photo credit
Revolving Door Rumormongering: Esnault Out at Adour?
Some serious rumormongering over on Cutlets. According to his two "industry sources," Tony Esnault the executive chef at Adour is out, fired by his employer of three years Alain Ducasse:
"'The problems with Tony were personal ones,' says one source. 'The restaurant wasn’t doing well and people aren’t happy there. Part of what happened at Benoit had to do with management, including Tony.' No word yet on who Esnault’s replacement will be."While Adour may not have received the mass critical acclaim Ducasse was hoping for, it still won three stars from the Times and was declared a "qualified victory" by the Brunz. Benoit's debut, on the other hand, was an utter flop. You had to know Ducasse would shake things up, but dropping the head chef at Adour, and formerly Essex House, isn't the predictable move.
· Is Adour Chef Tony Esnault Out? [Cutlets]
· All Adour Coverage [~E~]
EaterWire: Eleven Mad's Free Umbrellas, Ducasse's Discounted Wine, Seasonal Food Maps and More!!
MADISON SQ PARK—Echoing a sentiment expressed on a Zagat thread almost two months ago, the Times' The Moment blog professes their love for Danny Meyer and Eleven Madison Park's free umbrellas: "You know how New York is in the pouring rain: impossible to hail a cab in and messy to walk through. The day was beautiful prior to our arrival, so we were unprepared. Just as we were getting comfortable in the entryway’s leather chairs to wait for the rain to subside, the coat attendant handed us giant maroon and white golf umbrellas with Eleven Madison Park printed on one panel. 'Wow,' I thought. Genius." [The Moment]
MIDTOWN— The Feed blog has some intel on some rare and discounted wines at Ducasse's properties: "According to our tipster, Benoit has added the shuttered Essex House’s unsold collection to its wine list, and Adour is selling some of former occupant L’Espinasse’s leftover wines. While these bottles—described as "serious, high-end stuff" by our informant—are by no means inexpensive, they are being sold based on their pre-euro purchase prices." [The Feed]
The best regional foods in NYC and what's in season ahead.>>Clearly, 'tis the season for list-making, and this month's Conde Nast Traveler taps the best new restaurants in the. entire. world. The Conde Nast folks decided on the round number of 105 total eateries, and New York City represents with some obvi and some suspect choices. Dell'Anima, Allen & Delancey, Bar Boulud, Anthos, Insieme, Merkato 55 (?!), Market Table, Adour, and Dovetail make the cut. [Conde Nast via Eater SF]
Week in Reviews: Commerce Gets a One
Krieger, 2/19/08
Bruni heads to the West Village's newest shiny object, Commerce this week and gives it one star. Unlike Platt—who thought the good food mitigated the 'exhausting' atmosphere—the Brunz calls the out place (and the food) as fussy, overwrought:
"...he creates a rankling dissonance, his dishes beseeching a closeness of attention that the frenzied atmosphere doesn’t easily permit...Oh but wait. There is one good thing: "...if all else fails there’s the bread basket...a throwback to the days when carb wasn’t a four-letter word....I always vowed not to polish it all off, and I always ended up staring at crumbs." [NYT]And he errs. While there’s some wonderful food that reflects the talent he showed and the experience he received at Montrachet and then March, there’s also some food that’s not cooked or seasoned as it should be, and there’s food that’s too fussy, not just for the ambience but also for its own good...
...It’s more pretty than comfortable, and its menu is more interesting than trustworthy, though no evening is likely to be a bust."
Benoit, Adour, the Elsewhere, next.>>
Week in Reviews: Adour Gets the Tres
This week Bruni files his highly anticipated assessment of Adour, Alain Ducasse's second attempt to woo New York. And while Ducasse's restaurant at Essex House provided just the kind of fussiness that Franktastic is known to loathe, this toned down version earns three stars:
"Now Mr. Ducasse is taking a new chance. He’s also possibly making amends, or at least that was my thought when, during my first dinner at Adour Alain Ducasse in the St. Regis New York, I spotted the little bagel. It came with and sat beside a sublime cauliflower velouté, having nothing, really, to do with it. So why was it there? Maybe as a peace offering, half genuine and half winking.And what of the fancy wine bar that got so much buzz when Adour opened? "I never found a spot at that altar. With just four seats, it has limited utility. It’s all about flash, proving that some of the old Ducasse still lives in the new." [NYT]...Some diners have responded with yawns...If Adour is dull, it’s dull mainly in the context of what Mr. Ducasse previously attempted and what New Yorkers previously resisted. Can the man win? I think so, and I consider Adour a qualified victory. It’s not through-and-through rapturous, but it’s first-rate..."
Richman and Sietsema get Cheeky, and the Elsewhere, ahead.>>
The Bruni files way early on Adour and issues it a three-pack: "I consider Adour a qualified victory. It’s not through-and-through rapturous, but it’s first-rate: polished service, a knockout wine list, beautiful oil-poached cod, gorgeous roasted lamb and exquisite desserts..." [NYT]
Week in Reviews: Bruni Lays a Deuce on Mia Dona
This week Bruni hits Michael Psilakis and Donatella Arpaia's new Midtown East joint Mia Dona and grants it two stars. The food is on the mark, the setup, awkward, but you just know that no matter what, offering high end food at mid range prices (with low end beer pitchers no less) is what really hits Frank's sweet spot:
"And if you step back to survey all of what you’re eating and all of what it’s costing — which, in the context of the restaurant’s East Side neighborhood, isn’t very much — you’ll find something else: a portrait of a rising young chef with more practicality than vanity, even though the acclaim that’s rushed his way over the last few years has given him ample reason to preen.There's nothing Brunz loves more than a celebrated yet accessible chef: "Mr. Psilakis even wants to start offering take-out and delivery. A lauded up-and-comer doing pappardelle to go? Good for him, and good for us." [NYT] Merkato 55, Commerce, and the Elsewhere, one click away.>>...While much of the food does justice to Mr. Psilakis’s talents, there’s nothing high-flown about it or the prices...In terms of pleasure per dollar, Mia Dona is as successful as any place he and Ms. Arpaia have worked on with or without each other."
Week in Reviews: La Sirène One-Starred
Frank takes a break from reviewing high profile restaurants, hits up Soho's small and BYOB La Sirène, and gives it a huge one star. The food is pretty much an afterthought in this review, as it sounds like the real romance is with the small restaurant itself and and the personality of the frantic chef:
"It was the riddle and spectacle of Mr. Pawlicki himself, a scolding, coddling, hyperactive presence who ricochets so rapidly through the restaurant’s cramped quarters — from the kitchen to the dining room and even into the basement, where he keeps diners’ coats...In the end, it sounds like Franktastic is straight up tired of schmancey chefs and their stuffy service: "It deserves a moment of notice, and so does Mr. Pawlicki, 49, a transplanted Frenchman as proud and dedicated as his more celebrated peers, which means just about all of them." [NYT] Merkato 55, Adour, South Gate, and the Elsewhere, up next.>>...I don’t want to oversell La Sirène, which opened last spring. It operates on a shoestring, doesn’t have a liquor license and doesn’t ace many of the dishes on its relatively short French menu...But this scrappy restaurant...will charm many people turned off by the vacuous polish and higher prices elsewhere."
After a month-long hiatus, Platt visits Alain Ducasse's new venture, Adour. And while not much time is spent praising the food, the place still earns three stars: "...you can’t help feeling that this time around, the grand culinary maestro has scaled everything down several keys, that he’s engaged in a willful, somewhat studied attempt not to be Ducasse...Whether New Yorkers will embrace this new version of Ducasse Lite is anyone’s guess. With recession looming, the maestro’s timing, again, couldn’t be worse. But this is a more settled, less histrionic performance than the last one, and ultimately more satisfying." [NYM]
Week in Reviews: Bar Boulud Gets the Deuce
Kalina, 1/4/07
"Bar Boulud is a terrine machine, a pâté-a-palooza, dedicated to the proposition that discerning New Yorkers aren't getting nearly enough concentrated, sculptured, gelatinous animal fat, at least not of a superior caliber...Franktastic doesn't share in the other critics' disappointment—with the price point and the ambiance, this place was never meant to be a temple of haute French cuisine: "Daniel Boulud finding more glory in lunchtime sandwiches than in dinnertime lamb stew? It's a new era, and Bar Boulud belongs to it." [NYT] Olana, Elettaria, Adour, and the Elsewhere, up next.>>From all of these you can assemble an oversize snack or undersize meal, to be rounded out with wine from a list that's a knockout in terms of its tight focus, its enterprising selections, its elegant organization and its price range...
...all but one of the entrees on a recent menu were under $30. That’s a clue to the limited ambitions that Mr. Boulud and his executive chef, Damian Sansonetti, have for the dishes beyond the charcuterie, and that’s the context in which their efforts and output should be evaluated. Sure, there's little wow from the kitchen, which turns out treatments of salmon, sea bass and roasted chicken that, while not quite losers, are definitely snoozers."
The RG hits up Adour this week and graces it with two and a half stars. The design is outstanding, the service, impeccable, but the food doesn't wow Freeman the way it should: "...no dish surpassed a breathtaking entree of creamy diver scallops embellished with tender slivers of black truffles...It was an exemplary composition that achieved more succulent depth than a relentlessly tough pork tenderloin...which tasted like a holiday ham gone terribly awry. For every dish that dazzled, there was another that utterly disappointed." [NYDN]
We've all heard the early reports from Alain Ducasse's new spot in the St. Regis Hotel, Adour. But Grocery Trekker has the first pictures we've seen of the high tech wine bar, where the interactive menu is projected in front of customers. Food and the service don't win points in the review, but the bar gets a nod: "The highlight of the evening? Playing at the interactive wine bar. Sort of like playing iPhone on the bar table." [Grocery Trekker; previously]
Good News/Bad News: Adour by Alain Ducasse
[Some sort of countdown clock counts on at Adour's official site]
Adour, the new restaurant from an obscure French chef by the name Alain Ducasse, officially opened last night at the St. Regis Hotel on 55th Street. With an opening like this, it's little surprise that The People were champing at the bit to get in and have their say. And so, another installment of Good News/Bad News:
1) Good News: Taking pride of place at the front of the line was this eGulleteer: "I had a very enjoyable experience at Adour last night. I was the first dinner: First, I was given a tour of the restaurant. It has a main room and two or three smaller rooms. Large wine fridges line the walls, showcasing the best from the restaurants wine collection. My dinner started with a small comte in pastry. Very nice. My first course was the hamachi sashimi with geoduck and a green apple mustard. My second course was complimentary: a slow cooked halibut with vegetables. My main course was colorado rack of lamb which was one of the few holdovers from ADNY. A cheese course followed, No cheese trolley as at ADNY. A selection of four pieces which included a vermont cheddar, an italian goat cheese and an italian sheeps milk cheese, and a tommoe de savoie. My desert was the chocolate sorbet. My wines were a rose champagne nv, a half bottle of 95 Cos, and a 1985 Graham's Port. A note on the wine list. THey present two different lists. One is more of a seasonal list. The second is the reserve list. Adour has much less pomp and circumstance as compared to ADNY. More americanized in service. The food is also not nearly as complex as at ADNY." [eGullet]
Ahead: more good news, and, alas, a little of the bad. >>
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