Food Porn: Lincoln

[goldn3]

Link below takes you to some some super close-ups of this evening’s offerings at Lincoln, Jonathan Benno’s highly anticipated new restaurant that opened this very evening. The food was, as you’ll see, beautiful, and pricing was comparable to other high end spots throughout the city (the previous approximations of $120/pp are about right). I will say though that the menu is much more versatile than the Italian category can sometimes permit – and the thought that this spot is meant to compete directly with Marea is, in my opinion, askew.

http://tinyurl.com/39g6uwy

[Jane A.]

I don't see $120 of enjoyment in those pics. Time will tell.

[goldn3]

a) boring meaning food or environs or both?

b) you're right, it's always going to be hard to justify $120/pp for Italian (I guess) BUT you can easily escape Lincoln having spent (if, say, you went with just an antipasti and a secondi) $50-$65/pp (that's without booze).

[sgordon]

Such anti-Italian bias! What is it, inherently, about Italian food that means it should cost less than French or New American food?

[Pan]

My take on it: It has to do with the prices people are accustomed to. If you are used to getting what you consider quality Italian food for $60/person, you will take some convincing to double that.

[Cpalms]

New Yorkers have been paying double the $60 per person at Il Mulino for years......regardless of how weak the pictures looked, Italian with a Thomas Keller liniage, in that beautiful space will keep that place packed no matter what they charge...

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Il Mulino
86 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012

[sgordon]

Hm. Price-wise, it's really no different than Marea. Maybe since there's no prix fixe option (yet - I'm sure there will be...)

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Marea
240 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019

[workintheater]

I enjoyed LINCOLN. Certainly portions ARE small (my snapper was a half -size of what you would get anywhere else) and at an average of $30 per entree, almost unacceptable---except everything is extremely flavorful. But what really GALLS is the sheer condescension of the place. Here we are in New York City and at Lincoln Center, the middle of the universe, for God's sake, and the server has been instructed to tell you what antipasti, primi, secondi, carne, pesce, etc. actually MEAN ("Antipasti are small dishes; primi are pasta dishes," ad nauseam). Has it really come to this in our culture---the dumbing down of cuisine, along with everything else? I came THIS close to bailing the joint but, fortunately, decided to stick it out. So my advice is to tell the server you understand Italian menus and have a good time.

Fair warning---If you're seated in the secondary room parallel to the side street and happen to stroll into the main dining room to check out the glass-enclosed
kitchen, be prepared to be trailed by one of the 'greeters' who will stalk you like Javert did Jean Valjean. Really, it's unbelievable---first they treat you like an idiot and then like a criminal!!! But just tell Missy to back off and she'll flee like a bunny (and hover in the background, lol!)

[squid kun]

Just adding place details: hours, URL & menu links, media mentions, etc. ...

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Lincoln
142 W 65th St, New York, NY 10023

[Cpalms]

I know it was just a preview and it is FAR to early to judge but it looks pretty boring....

[onejap]

just got back from dinner at Lincoln. there is no there THERE. boring food. i call it cafeteria luxe. paid $500 for two people. when i pay that kind of money, it better be food that i can't make at home.

fortunate to live in berkeley, ca where his ingredients are pretty much available just about all year round. nothing that was served wowed me.

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Lincoln
142 W 65th St, New York, NY 10023

[IrnScrabbleChf52]

portions look exceptionally small, is this just a photographic effect (hopefully)? I mean, that looks like two or three forkfuls of pasta there...

[onejap]

no, they're small, but i really don't mind paying for small portions if the flavors and textures wow me. but this was just like upscale institutional cuisine. who knows, maybe it will attract a following. my personal prediction is that it will lose its current direction and revert to a standard art center/museum restaurant. and we were told by staff that they've been controlling seating. my take is, why not bring it on and see how the concept scales with the size of the restaurant?

[sgordon]

Assuming you did four courses each (antipasti, pasta, secondi, dolci) at least half of that $500 must have been wine.

[onejap]

I was at Benu tonight (the other spawn of Keller). Hands-down winner. Glorious tasting menu. Flavor-driven joyride. If you had been to French Laundry before it became a cliche and gave the menu a Northeast Asian sensibility, that's Benu. Also, there was just so much more confidence in the execution of the food that I found lacking in Lincoln.