woah-awesome-i expected to hate this guy but he sounds straight-up legit. how many people make the rounds of 1000$ a couple dinners every 2-6 months? it's funny because obviously the staff would ask around if they couldn't figure it out. full disclosure-i worked for Rich Melman at taste of Chicago at Navy Pier in the summer of 1979 and half-way thru the week after exchanging burgers for beers with my friend who ran the beer stands I let him fire me/and/or I quit. IT WAS HOT ON THOSE GRILLS-he was a p....
Interesting timing. We actually have reservations to dine at Zarella tomorrow night. Part of me wonders if Boka’s decision to put their new restaurant almost directly across the street from our favorite neighborhood pizzeria, the late Pistories, was the nail in Pistories coffin. Having perused Zarella’s menu online it doesn’t appear as ambitious or as interesting as Pistories. Guess I’ll find out tomorrow night. However, banning someone from all your restaurants because of criticism seems harsh and a little thin-skinned.
As Chisel says, it's a tough location, they didn't have the reputation or juice of a Boka or Lettuce etc....Andrea and Joel worked super hard and made incredible pizza but sometimes that's not enough right now in this competitive landscape. As for banning, normally I'd agree with you, but I think in this case where you have a person writing continual negativity about your place and you know that they have an affiliation that might make them not entirely above board or in this case a genuine conflict it's ok. It's not like Steve Dolinsky banning me from his IG or Twitter because he's worried that I might discover something else that's he done in his long and illustrious career taking advantage of his position to leverage restaurants to his own advantage.
I won’t share my deeper views of Grimod’s overwrought style, other than to say I’m amazed anyone is influenced by his writing. Perhaps it’s my stage in life, but I want nothing but authentic food, and equally personal and genuine narratives about it. It’s why I subscribe to you. Keep up your good work.
woah-awesome-i expected to hate this guy but he sounds straight-up legit. how many people make the rounds of 1000$ a couple dinners every 2-6 months? it's funny because obviously the staff would ask around if they couldn't figure it out. full disclosure-i worked for Rich Melman at taste of Chicago at Navy Pier in the summer of 1979 and half-way thru the week after exchanging burgers for beers with my friend who ran the beer stands I let him fire me/and/or I quit. IT WAS HOT ON THOSE GRILLS-he was a p....
Interesting timing. We actually have reservations to dine at Zarella tomorrow night. Part of me wonders if Boka’s decision to put their new restaurant almost directly across the street from our favorite neighborhood pizzeria, the late Pistories, was the nail in Pistories coffin. Having perused Zarella’s menu online it doesn’t appear as ambitious or as interesting as Pistories. Guess I’ll find out tomorrow night. However, banning someone from all your restaurants because of criticism seems harsh and a little thin-skinned.
As Chisel says, it's a tough location, they didn't have the reputation or juice of a Boka or Lettuce etc....Andrea and Joel worked super hard and made incredible pizza but sometimes that's not enough right now in this competitive landscape. As for banning, normally I'd agree with you, but I think in this case where you have a person writing continual negativity about your place and you know that they have an affiliation that might make them not entirely above board or in this case a genuine conflict it's ok. It's not like Steve Dolinsky banning me from his IG or Twitter because he's worried that I might discover something else that's he done in his long and illustrious career taking advantage of his position to leverage restaurants to his own advantage.
I liked Pistores and the people running it seemed very nice but it didn't feel like that restaurant was going to make it from the jump.
Sometimes a quenelle is just a quenelle.
I won’t share my deeper views of Grimod’s overwrought style, other than to say I’m amazed anyone is influenced by his writing. Perhaps it’s my stage in life, but I want nothing but authentic food, and equally personal and genuine narratives about it. It’s why I subscribe to you. Keep up your good work.
Grimod has shown great restraint and professionalism in his response. Good work from both sides.
Thank you for this quick and thorough update.
caused me whiplash