PrintIs Bar Boulud Special Enough?
New York magazine food critic Adam Platt all but called Bar Boulud strikingly ordinary. Time Out New York's Randall Lane and the New York Daily News' Restaurant Girl concurred. They all seemed to come to the same conclusion: The food at Bar Boulud, other than the charcuterie, isn't special enough. Is all this criticism justified? Is it fair? Where's the beef? Let me try to answer all of the above questions.
The charcuterie, as I have previously noted, is world-class, certainly the finest charcuterie we have seen in this country to date. The charcuterie itself, a major and very gutsy achievement, is reason enough to go to Bar Boulud. The boudin blanc, the creamiest pork custard you've ever tasted, is also worth a journey all by itself. But it's the rest of the food that has disappointed the critics to date.
I have eaten at Bar Boulud at a private party, when the kitchen turned out tasting-size portions of the entire menu. I have also had lunch and brunch there. The rest of the food ranges from the well-crafted but slightly boring chicken with roasted potatoes to the delicious if obviously not groundbreaking croque monsieur. These are plates of food that people would be very happy eating at their neighborhood bistro. But because überchef Daniel Boulud has his name on the door, that is clearly not enough.
That's where the beef is. Boulud has set the bar so high for himself that nothing less than extremely elevated food (no matter what kind) will satisfy the critics. Think about it: When Boulud set out to make a burger for DB Bistro Moderne, he didn't merely craft a perfectly realized classic burger. Instead, he created a supremely delicious beefy meal on a bun that was a burger in name only. So the expectation is that when Daniel serves steak frites, it better be an elevated version of that French classic. Is this fair?
Doesn't matter. Michael Jordan couldn't bear to be seen as a struggling professional baseball player after defining what the modern basketball player is all about. So he retired, at least from baseball (we think). Daniel ain't about to retire, so my guess is he'll figure out a way to bestow his imprimateur on the rest of the food at Daniel.
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5 Comments:
We had lunch there yesterday, and I thought the charcuterie sampling (which we were comped) was terrific. So did Mr. Meat 'n' Potatoes - I actually had to fight him for my share of headcheese, even after I made sure he knew why it's called that.
The other dishes we ordered were very good bistro food, including a perfectly made omelet and excellent fries. I'll go back for the charcuterie alone.
Cathy at 12:14PM on 02/25/08
Speaking of DB Bistro Moderne. After reading lots about it, I insisted that we try it on a visit to NYC some years ago. It was a spectacularly unpleasant evening. The noise level was painful, the patrons were obnoxious, the staff was supercilious, and the food was decidedly flavorless (I could have ignored everything else if the food had been what the reviews promised). I decided then and there to be much more careful about going to bandwagon restaurants.
islandexile at 1:45PM on 02/25/08
Bar Boulud, and all the other permutations, here, there, and everywhere, is a case study in branding - once a brand is defined for it's inventiveness, high quality, and superb products nothing short of that will ever suffice.
Maybe Monsieur Boulud would be better advised to reject the Trump-like egotism of self-named projects, and just build great, profitable restaurants that do not bear his initials or name - thus staving off the ready-made criticism that high expectation breeds.
Livetotravel at 3:04PM on 02/25/08
Actually, the charcuterie is not particularly exciting. And perhaps, compared to the high-level Spanish and Italian charcuterie we've all been eating, the restrained world of terrines, pates and galantines is fairly tame, but really - who wouldn't rather have a slice of Babbo's testa than Bar Boulud's pallid head cheese, which is not even best of breed in New York; who wouldn't prefer a bit of Iberico, not even the bellota, to Bar Boulud's wet, underflavored ham? The boudin blanc is pretty extraordinary - Boulud would get his Lyonnaise stret cred yanked if it weren't - but the bar for meats is much higher than it was even a couple of years ago.
condiment at 3:12AM on 02/26/08
I don't live in NYC, so I haven't been yet, but I think a point that may be missed regarding Bar Boulud is the idea of traditional dishes done exactly right. IMHO, a great chef is defined less by his creativity than by his absolute mastery of technique. The food may be "ordinary" bistro food, but is it executed perfectly? Do you get precisely what you remember? In my experience, this occurs far too rarely.
There's a great article by Francis Lam called "Chasing Perfection" in the current issue of Gourmet. It addresses just this point, and I found it laugh-aloud amusing because I can relate. He discusses mastery of the humble yet sublime omelet. Coincidentally, he met with Daniel Boulud on this subject.
Personally, if I could go to Bar Boulud and get a perfectly prepared French omelet -- like the ones you can get just about anywhere in Paris, but seemingly nowhere in the USA -- I'd be there on a regular basis.
LoCo at 11:43AM on 02/26/08