Mrs. Delicious

Le Michelin New-Yorkquoise

Thank goodness they have come out with a Michelin Guide to NYC restaurants. It is so nice to be able to consult something with a fresh, outside perspective, instead of having to rely solely on the loyalties and prejudices of New Yorkers themselves in the Zagat Guide (hello, Carmine's?). I have to admit to some small heart-sinking when I saw two things: That Le Bernardin got three stars, and that the Spotted Pig got one. I love the Spotted Pig so much and am now afraid I will never be able to get a seat there. And Le Bernardin is another example of my stupid and ridiculous reverse-snobbery -- I always felt like it was one of those restaurants that I would go to sometime, that was slightly off the radar because it had been going quietly about its perfect business for so long.... and now, BIG PUBLICITY! But oh well. I will still go there someday. And will toast Eric Ripert.

Jen has already seen this list, but here are the fancy restaurants in New York that I most want to go to next -- a list I have been keeping for a while, but now it seems timely that I should record it somewhere other than the post-it note on my computer:

Al Di La (Janine's favorite Italian in New York)
Public (for the interiors, not necessarily the food)
Le Bernardin (because I love fish)
Blue Hill at Stone Barns (because I like what they are doing)
Megu (for the spectacle)
Babbo (because Jen has recommended it so highly)
Annissa (because I have heard great things about it, and also she beat Mario Batali on Iron Chef America!)
Esca (also for the fish)
Norma's (for what is, according to Siobhan, the ultimate breakfast ever)
Wallse (because I love Cafe Sabarsky and Wallse sounds like it is even better)
The Odeon (because I have such intense never-lived-through-it nostalgia for the Bright Lights, Big City era of New York)
Jewel Bako (because Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar was so good)

This is not to mention all of the small ethnic places I want to go. Nor any of the places I have never heard of. Nor any wonderful places I want to go back to. Every time I look at Time Out New York, I am totally overwhelmed by all of the new restaurants that are in town. So overwhelmed that I just continue to go to places that I know of, that were in New York 10 years ago and are still there now. As Siobhan put it so well, it is exhausting being fabulous. It is true. It is exhausting to try to keep up with every new thing in NYC, and perhaps it is for that reason that Le Bernardin so deserves its three stars: they never tried to keep up, because they just knew all along that they were the best cooks.

posted by Mrs. Delicious @ 9:30 AM