NYC's Grid System Survives EMP's

Diner's Journal confirms the news today regarding yesterday's tweet from Ryan Sutton. Sutton, NYC food critic for Bloomberg News who keeps tabs on dining deals via the Price Hike and the Bad Deal, revealed via Twitter yesterday that "Eleven Madison Park dropped its grid format." The 16-item grid was introduced in September 2010 and invited diners to choose ingredients from each of four sections and have their meal built around those choices. It was one of many changes to take place at the restaurant that year and was designed to strike up a dialogue between guests and service staff. Two years later, the grid falls victim to the constant evolution that has come to define the four star restaurant.

On their website, the restaurant still invites guests "to share any allergies, dietary restrictions, and ingredient preferences with us so that we can tailor our menu to each individual," but the grid is gone. A meal at Eleven Madison Park remains 16 courses, $195, and epic. [DJ] [Twitter]

Pete Wells Hangs with the Governor

Remember that scene in Scent of a Woman when Al Pacino's (blind) character Colonel Slade tears it up behind the wheel of a red Ferrari?  That was all shot in DUMBO in '92.  Twenty years later, chef Brad McDonald and the trio behind Colonie and Gran Electrica opened Governor in the same Brooklyn neighborhood.  Today, Pete Wells gives their efforts two stars.

Tamer Hamawi, Elise Rosenberg, and Emelie Kihlstrom have opened three restaurants since February 2011, when they introduced their vision to the world via Colonie on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.  The restaurant received a star from Sam Sifton three months after it opened.  In March this year, the trio got their hands messy with masa and opened Gran Electrica on Front Street in DUMBO, serving their take on the cuisine of Mexico.  Governor opened in July four months later and two blocks east.

Wells finds the DUMBO neighborhood similar to Tribeca, "With its axle-shattering cobblestones leading to a river, its expensive lofts, its S.U.V.’s and au pairs and its acronym."  There was a heavy on the food this go round, as will likely be the case when you're talking about a chef who has Noma and Per Se on their resume, a fact McDonald is guilty of.  The celery root "pasta" was "cool, smart and unexpectedly seductive."  The flavors in McDonald's version of beef tartare "hit you right where they should," and McDonald's desserts are equally appealing, "A disc of chocolate ganache, outfitted with bits of cocoa Rice Krispies Treats, was dark and intensely brooding, and a flat macaron topped with cajeta was an ideal partner for macerated strawberries.

Restaurants in Brooklyn like Saul and Franny's are key players in the Brooklyn dining scene.  Newcomers like Governor, Battersby, and Gwynnett St share an ambition to elevate the borough's cuisine.  A growing presence of like-minded restaurants reflects a shift in the borough's dining trends.  While Governor may not be a fine dining restaurant, the fare is fine and the room is elegant.  These things come at a price and add to the fact that a meal in Brooklyn is becoming more likely to reflect the price of dinner across the river in Manhattan.  In his review of Gwynnett Street today, Ryan Sutton explains "Brooklyn fine-dining has become as expensive as Manhattan dining."  He encourages New Yorkers to, "Get used to it."

For more on Governor, check out our First Bite.

Danny Bowien Is On a Mission

Mission Chinese started as a pop-up in San Francisco in April of 2010.  Just over a month ago, on May 22nd, 154 Orchard Street became the East Coast home for what the restaurant's website calls chef Danny Bowien's "Americanized Oriental" food.  In just two years, Danny Bowien's unique approach and generosity have his name being thrown around with the likes of David Chang and Andy Ricker.

In his two and a half star review of Mission Chinese Food today, Ryan Sutton refers to Danny as "a philanthropic kind of guy."  Bowien was born in South Korea and rasied by adopted parents in Oklahoma.  He's humble, reluctant to take credit for his mission.  He gives it to "fucking awesome cooks around me to make me look good."  He donates 75 cents from every dish he sells to the Food Bank of New York and his San Fran location has "raised almost $150,000 for the Food Bank, [which makes] you feel like you can mess up a little bit and still be okay. I’m not taking a salary here [in New York], so that I can just put everything back into the restaurant and our cooks."

Bowien is already miles down the road less traveled and his is a name added to the growing list of "high-profile ambassadors for a cuisine in which he has no family roots."  His take on authenticity?  "Who cares anymore?  What's the point?  Authentic isn't even good sometimes.  It's just, do you like the taste or not?  If I stay closed-minded and say I'm not making it if it's not authentic, I can only get so far.  To become great, you can't box yourself in.  I won't allow that."