If you were dying tomorrow and had a choice of going to Daniel, Cafe Boulud, db Bistro Moderne, etc... which of Chef Boulud's restaurants would you go to.
I ask this becuase almost unilaterally I would assume Daniel is the best, however, Frank Bruni made me question this assumption with his rave review of Cafe Boulud this week.
Love to hear your thoughts....
By foodieforthought
on Aug 17, 2007 11:08 AM
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For a very long time, Cafe Boulud has been the best of the restaurants. Daniel is too large-scale to achieve the level it aims at (except for friends of the house), although of course you can get lucky.
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Cafe Boulud is one of our favorite NYC restaurants. Every meal we have had there -- dinner and lunch -- has been superb!
With regard to dbBistro, we've had dinner there twice, and while the food is very good, it doesn't hold the proverbial candle to C.B.
As for Daniel, we had one super-spectacular tasting dinner when it was still located in what is now C.B.'s location. And we had dinner once in Daniel's current location at the Mayfair, shortly after they first opened. While the food was fine (regular prix-fixe), it was nowhere near as delicious as that other dinner. If you read posts on this board, you will find mixed views, i.e., some love it, while others are lukewarm. We are intending to give it another try during the next few months.
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I think I might have to give Cafe Boulud a shot then!
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Daniel
60 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065
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I had dinner at Daniel last friday. The food was wonderful and the service was sincerely helpful but incredibly inept which was surprising for a restaurant of this caliber and reputation
Examples? We were asked if we prefered sparkling or still water, we asked for sparkling...............no more than 3-4 sips later, the same man appeared and attentively proceeded to refil our 1/2 full glasses with regular ice water. When we pointed this out to him, he apologized, removed our glasses and came back with new ones which he filled with Pelegrino. Less than 1/2 hour later, the same man appeared again, and once again without being asked or summonded, proceeded to refil our 1/2 full glasses of Pelegrino with regular ice water. At this point we just shook our heads and let it go. We were too full to drink anymore water but still.......this is just unnacceptable in a restaurant like this.
Another example? Our waiter, who was very nice and wonderfully knowledgible, gave us his suggestions and took our entire order along with the sommilier's reccomendation for wines and then dissappeared. 20 minutes later, he and another wait staff presented us with 2 lovely appetizers with full professional explanations as to what they were and how they were cooked etc etc. Problem was..............these were not the appetizers we had ordered. When we explained that they must have the wrong table, our waiter admitted that he had put our order in wrong and asked if we would like to eat these while we waited for the correct order. We were tempted but declined (self deprevation is rewarded at some point isnt it? please say yes) And so we had to wait another 20 minutes for our first course to appear.
I would say that this was an anomoly.........a bad night.............our poor fortune to be there at this moment in time...........but it was so hard to over look when we had eaten all week in michelin star rated places that were less expensive, easier to get a table at, and offered flawless service. We were bummed. Id looked forward to it all week and the food was great but not spectacular and of course like I said, the service was less than perfect. We forgive them, the staff was so likable that I hate to even complain...they were really trying but just had a bad night.............and because of that bad first impression, I doubt I will be back. Just too many other places to explore so I probably wont live long enough to go back to anything less than memorable (in a good way). We have a cafe boulud in palm beach.......has anyone tried that location? im game for one more try in a new locale.......
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Although we had excellent service the first two times we dined at Daniel (the very first being in the original location where Cafe Boulud is now situated), when we were there in the fall of '07, there were several serious service problems during the second half of our meal. Because we know they are capable of flawless service, we will go back. However, the kind of glitches you described should never happen in a restaurant of Daniel's caliber, so I can totally understand how you feel.
We have not been to Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach, but C.B. here in NYC is one of our favorites. We've been there many times and have always had problem-free, polished service.
P.S. With regard to those appetizers, I think you should have taken the waiter up on his suggestion. In fact, one of the problems we encountered involved a dessert mistakenly served to one of the people in our party which he couldn't eat because of dietary restrictions. Instead of returning the offending dessert to the kitchen, the wait staff left it on our table, and you can bet the rest of us didn't let it go to waste.
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Yeah I know....I was very tempted with the apetizers because one of them was my second choice (the abalone) but I was still kinda full from the last night dinner at Felidia (feast of the 7 fishes where we could have easily stopped at 3) so I behaved myself reluctantly. I will most definitely try CB next time, I am very encouraged to see everyone praising it even while posting not-so-glowing reviews of Daniel. I think I will try the CB in Manhattan though, as the menu at the one in PB does not excite me. Look at this and compare it to NY menu http://www.danielnyc.com/cafeboulud_p...
Florida is depressing when it comes to food. The produce especially. A "7-11" on any corner in California has better produce than even a Whole Foods in Florida. My very first stop in Manhattan is Fairway Market. I have to restrain myself there, and remind myself that we have reservations every night so there will be no cooking for me........ I cant decide if that makes me happy or sad!
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Re: db Bistro Moderne
This is a wonderful alternative to the usual pre-theater options. It’s extremely convenient to almost any theater in the district, open after the show, and even has a pre-theater prix fixe option for the budget conscious.
Instead of a bar, they have several high tables on a raised level between the front and back dining rooms for walk ins, and this was an extremely comfortable place to have dinner as I suddenly found myself on my own instead of with my mom as we had planned.
The wine list is extensive, and I was happy with several options for the cheese plate desert. This is not on the level of Daniel, but it’s far above what we’ve come to expect for theater district dining.
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Had lunch there in Feb. and while it was good, it was not as good as I was expecting from these folks. Very good service and nice surroundings, but I have had better food at french bistros in Seattle owned by Jim Droman - Cafe Presse and Le Pichet.
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I've only been to Cafe Boulud and Daniel...we much preferred Daniel to Cafe Boulud. We've only been to each one once (there are too many fantastic restaurants in this city to try and we don't have unlimited funds). We had wonderful service at Daniel. Even our water boy spoke French and was quite competent. Plus the food we ordered (all suggested by the waiter) was excellent. Cafe Boulud was fine, too...some dishes were eh, the service was good. I was a little surprised b/c I didn't have high expectations for Cafe Boulud and was still slightly disappointed, but on the other hand, I had very high expectations from Daniel and they were exceeded.
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