December will be a make-or-break month for many Midtown restaurants hobbled by slow lunch business, but they’re not sweating it at Le Bernardin.
The West 50th Street seafood palace, where Michelin recently reaffirmed a precious three-star rating, was just named the world’s No. 1 restaurant for 2023 by La Liste, the increasingly influential rankings based in Paris. The findings are based on analysis of thousands of guidebooks, media stories and online reviews worldwide, while Michelin relies on anonymous inspector visits.
Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin’s chef and co-owner with Maguy Le Coze, celebrated the second time Le Bernardin has been so honored (it was also No. 1 on La Liste in 2019) as “excellent news for us. La Liste, which is only seven years old, is starting to impose itself,” and is widely followed by visitors to the Big Apple from Asian countries including Japan and Korea.
Le Bernardin hardly needs another boost. It shares the no. 1 billing with Guy Savoy in France and Frantzen in Sweden.
Ripert said Le Bernardin, which was also named No. 1 by La Liste in 2019, has “never been so busy.”Not all Midtown restaurants are experiencing the same kind of lunch success as Le Bernardin.Robert Miller
“We have never been so busy,” Ripert said — at lunch as well as at dinner.
But although tables are hard to come by before the end of the year, the one-two punch of Michelin and La Liste “are much more important to us in January and February.”
However, not everybody in Midtown, the heart of Manhattan’s restaurant industry, is ready to break out the Champagne. Holiday party bookings have been unexpectedly robust, but weak lunch traffic continues to be a lump of coal for places still recovering from the pandemic.
Although fine places have opened such as Fasano, Le Rock and Simon Oren’s buzzing new Monterey, and old favorites like Fresco by Scotto and Polo Bar seem like non-stop parties, the pandemic felled the fabled ’21’ Club and more are on the brink .
Times Square Alliance president Tom Harris said he’s “watching December closely.” He said the restaurant business area is down 9% overall from 2019 levels. Reduced lunch demand kept places such as Jasmine’s on Restaurant Row dark before 4 pm
The turbulent scene keeps savvy owners on their toes. Jeff Bank, CEO of Alicart Restaurant Group, which owns Carmine’s and Virgil’s, said operators must “acknowledge the huge shifts in demographics and timing.”
Before COVID, “You pretty much knew what was going to happen at lunch and dinner,” he said. But now, “We have to be flexible. It’s easier for [better-established places] that have multi-legs to stand on. We know Friday is dead due to empty offices, but we can pick up tourism on the weekend.”
Alicart Restaurant Group CEO Jeff Bank said restaurant operators must “recognize the huge shifts in demographics and timing.”Freelancers
Owners or landlords of Gallagher’s, Bryant Park Grill and Nobu 57 all claim their revenues are running 20-25% higher than in 2019. But New York Hospitality Alliance’s Andrew Rigie said, “For restaurants that relied heavily on office workers, it’s tough when the building upstairs is less than 50% occupied.”
The new Avra on Sixth Avenue always looks full, but partner Nick Tsoulos says his three restaurants are only “about 60% to 70% back” compared to pre-COVID levels.
“I’m waiting to see [what happens] this Christmas season,” he said. the “power lunch” where prime-movers did business over their meals, “has faded,” he added.
Ben Grossman, CEO of Fireman Hospitality Group, said that the company’s overall business is “close to pre-COVID.” But lunch is a little softer at Italian spots Bond 45 and Trattoria Dell’ Arte.
Dinner still rocks, especially at Trattoria across Seventh Avenue from Carnegie Hall.
“What’s missing in the area is lunch,” Grossman said. “Friday which used to be our best lunch day is now the worst.”
Some lunch traffic is location-specific, based on office occupancy in the same buildings as the restaurants. Porter House Bar & Grill at Columbus Circle had less of a lunch crowd because Deutsche Bank staff, who replaced Time Warner upstairs, seemed to take more meals in their cafeteria than their media predecessors did.
Trattoria Dell’ Arte, like many restaurants in Midtown, is suffering from a softer lunch during the week.Helayne Seidman
However, chef/owner Michael Lomonaco said, “Our private events have never been stronger since the summer” and his 260 seats are filled almost every night.
The private events frenzy is making up for a slower lunch trade — half as in 2019 — at Dino Arpaia’s Cellini on East 54th Street. The popular spot has hosted recent parties for Santander Bank, Jefferies, KPMG, Blackstone and Black Rock.
But, “They’re all condensed into Tuesday through Thursday because they don’t come in
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth have found picky eaters perceive food eaten out of red bowls to be saltier and less desirable than the same food served in white bowls. The findings add to understandings of how taste perception can be influenced by plates and cutlery.
We all may know someone we consider to be a picky eater, prone to disliking some common ingredients and causing social havoc when ordering at restaurants. But for some people picky eating can actually become a serious disorder, and clinical definitions of picky eating behaviors often include people who only consume around 20 different kinds of foods.
“Having restricted diets can lead to nutritional deficiencies as well as health problems such as heart disease, poor bone health and dental issues,” explained Lorenzo Stafford, one of the authors on the latest study. “There is also a social cost because normally enjoyable moments between family members can easily turn into stressful, anxious, and conflict-causing situations when picky eaters feel ashamed or pressured to eat food.”
A 2018 study estimated nearly one in five American adults could be clinically categorized as picky eaters. So exploring ways to help these people better engage with more types of food could result in valuable health outcomes.
The new research homed in on the effect of plate color on food desirability for picky eaters. The experiment was based on a foundational study from 2011 which looked at the way different colored food bowls affected a person’s perception of taste.
Using a design similar to the 2011 research, the new experiments had participants rate the sweetness, saltiness and overall desirability of a snack food eaten from different-colored bowls. In this example the snack was salt and vinegar potato crisps consumed from either a red, blue or white bowl. Around 50 participants were recruited, classified as either picky or non-picky eaters based on a standard questionnaire.
The results revealed picky eaters perceived the snack to be saltier when it was eaten from a red or blue bowl compared to the white bowl. And overall, picky eaters found the snack generally less desirable when eaten from a red bowl.
Interestingly, the study found the effects of bowl color on food taste and desirability were only apparent in the picky eater group. The non-picky eaters were relatively uninfluenced by bowl color.
This finding suggests the influence of plate colors on food taste may be most relevant for picky eaters. This result does track with other studies suggesting the influence of plate shape and color on food is, “anything but straightforward.”
A 2013 study that looked at black or white and square or round plates found white round plates tended to enhance “basic judgments” around food, such as sweetness or taste intensity. However, more complex judgments, such as perceptions of quality or liking, could be enhanced by black square plates.
According to Stafford, the findings from this latest study could be useful in helping picky eaters learn to accept a wider variety of foods.
“This knowledge could be useful for those trying to expand their repertoire of foods,” said Stafford. “For example, if you wanted to encourage a picky eater to try more vegetables that are known to be viewed as bitter, you could try to serve them on a plate or bowl that is known to increase sweetness.”
The new study was published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
Source: University of Portsmouth
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Saturday’s game against LSU ended Texas A&M football’s season on a high note. Although the Aggies didn’t make a bowl game after beginning the year ranked in the preseason Top 10, they did upset the Tigers to close out the regular season and kept their SEC West foes out of College Football Playoff contention.
That is something, I guess?
As soon as the clock hit zero, Texas A&M fans stormed the field to celebrate the monumental win (I say that flippantly) for the program. Actually, they rushed the field before the game ended and had to go back and try again. Whether the win deserved such a large on-field celebration was certainly questionable, but storming is fun and fun should always be encouraged.
Speaking of fun, one fan in particular was having a lot of it. However, his — and the state’s — beer-drinking practices came into question.
Late in the second quarter, the ESPN broadcast zoomed in on the crowd. Specifically, the camera focused on two blonde co-eds who were spinning their towels in support of their team.
While the zoom was certainly a choice, it wasn’t about the women.
Behind the two female Aggies was a bearded man with a brewski in hand. It appeared to be a Dos Equis tall boy.
Before he took a sip of his beer, the Texas A&M fan pulled out some sort of tiny bottle and dumped something on the rim of his can. Here is the entire sequence:
Although the bonk-worthy camerawork was one point of emphasis, so was the beer-drinker’s bottle. Was he pouring hot sauce in his Dos Equis? Was it a liquor shooter? Why did he have that in hand?
As it would turn out, the Texas A&M fan was spicing up his cerveza with some Mexican blend seasoning.
The exact condiment was unclear. However, he was either putting beer salt or Tajin chili pepper blend in the mouth of his can.
Basically, he seasoned his own rim. While it may have looked strange on TV, the Aggie beer-drinker was putting the rest of his suds-sucking classmates to shame. What a legend!
