Chefs Don't Earn Impressive Salaries

With fewer Americans eating out at fine-dining establishments these days, it's not easy for people to find jobs as restaurant chefs. And even those who already have those jobs may not be doing all that well financially.

The website Chow produced this bar graph listing the average salaries of three workers -- a school bus driver, a trash collector and a chef de cuisine. The chef's estimated salary ($56,868) looks pretty decent. Until, that is, you divide that salary by the total number of hours that a chef de cuisine works.

Yikes! This has me feeling more sympathy for the executive kitchen staff at such restaurants.

Cashion's Set to Reopen

I noticed that Cashion's Eat Place will reopen this week after some interior renovations. I haven't eaten there in almost two years, and until I saw this article, I had almost forgotten about Cashion's. I used to have excellent meals there, but my last several visits to the restaurant were disappointing.

Chief among my complaints were bottles of red wine being stored near a heat source that made them unpleasant to drink. If Cashion's wants to be considered a top-flight restaurant, that's the kind of thing that shouldn't happen.

But Does Kagan Prefer Her Dumplings Fried or Steamed?

We've already learned where U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan "probably" ate dinner last Christmas. And the answer was no big surprise. So why not wade in a little deeper and find out what she ordered? Or find out which Chinese restaurant is her favorite?

I'm sure a few of us foodies are curious. Besides, asking questions like those would make these Senate confirmation hearings much less boring than they are.

A Very Loyal Customer

There are plenty of "regulars" -- people who dine at the same restaurant on a regular basis. But this story from the New York Times takes the notion of regular to a whole new level. Referring to Sardi's, a restaurant in the city's Theater District, the Times' Manny Fernandez writes:

Eating lunch at Sardi's last Tuesday, William Herz did not have to order coffee. It was brought to him, right when he wanted it (in the middle of his meal, not after) by a waiter who served it in a white mug that no one but Mr. Herz drinks from.

Mr. Herz is the only patron of one of the best-known restaurants in the world who gets his own cup: He is 93 years old, and he prefers using a mug with an easy-to-hold handle. After lunch on Tuesday, the mug was washed and returned to its usual place, on the shelf of a cabinet in the coat room because the management and staff at Sardi's know Mr. Herz will be back.

He always comes back.

For 77 of his 93 years, Mr. Herz has eaten at Sardi's.

Herz, who has a show-biz past, apparently started dining there in 1933. The whole article is worth reading.

Yelp, But Do So Constructively

I saved an old issue of Wired (November 2009) because it has several good articles, including a column by Brendan I. Koerner, who ponders whether the same rule about work-related emails -- when you're angry, observe a cooling-off period before sending an email -- applies to online restaurant reviews.

Koerner offers an amusing example. He writes:

Are you trying to alert the restaurant to a legitimate flaw -- or do you just want to rant about some gustatory affront? . . . As entertaining as those thermonuclear reviews on Yelp can be, you're morally obligated to be constructive.

Stating that a joint's baked halibut "tasted like rancid crud stewed in toilet water" is just a slam; stating that it "tasted like rancid crud due to severe oversalting," on the other hand, lets the chefs know they need to lay off the sel gris.

The Fangs of a Restaurant Critic

This is the kind of writing that makes The New Yorker such a pleasure to read. In the magazine's April 5 issue, there is a review of Le Caprice, a restaurant in the Pierre Hotel. The magazine's critic, Lila Byock, calls Le Caprice "a stuffy take on a sceney London institution." She continues:

As on "Made Men," however, meticulous appearances mask trouble; Lutece this is not.

While you're waiting to be seated, you may be tempted by one of those nostalgic cocktails. Don't be: they're as cloying as the Disney ballads tinkling out of the piano.

... On recent visits, [service] ranged from hostile to bumbling to non-existent. After checking in with the host, a diner was chased down by a suspicious employee who seemed to feel she didn't belong. A bartender recited, unmprompted, the ingredients of every cocktail on the menu, as if to prove he knew them.

A waiter, preoccupied with a former "Saved by the Bell" star at a nearby table, briefly materialized only to sweep away a third-full bottle of wine. When asked to leave it, he froze. "It's not a scam!" he protested. At these prices, one might beg to disagree.

Colicchio's Newest Eatery Shines

Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio hasn't been completely distracted by his prime role in the hit series "Top Chef." In fact, he has converted one of his former New York City restaurants (Craftsteak) into Colicchio & Sons. And this New York Times reviewer generally raves about it.

First, some of the raves:

• "For the moment, anyway, Mr. Colicchio's (restaurant) is the must-try New York menu ... the food is terrifically good."


• The restaurant's pastry chef is "fearsomely talented."


• "... it's hard to go wrong with an appetizer of butter-poached oysters, off the menu."


• A chicken pot-au-feu "maintains the Escoffier standard while stepping into the modern age ..."

Now, the reviewer's caveats:

About the only misses are a perfectly cooked and defiantly under-seasoned fist of sirloin that is no match for the salsify, bacon and black garlic that come with it, and, for the same reason, a braised loup de mer with pork trotter and shallots cooked sweet and sour.

I find this mild criticism of Colicchio's restaurant ironic because a standard gripe of Colicchio's on "Top Chef" episodes is that one of the contestants hasn't "properly seasoned" a dish. (When he says that, Colicchio seems to be talking about salt and pepper.) So reading that prompted this snarky thought: "Physician, heal thyself."

Crabcakes at G&M Restaurant

On Friday night, I met a friend from West Virginia for dinner. He happened to be in the Baltimore area. So I suggested we go to G&M Restaurant in Linthicum Heights, Md.

G&M is known for its crabcakes. Some people swear they're the best in all of Maryland. I had been to G&M a few times before, but it had been a year and a half since I had eaten there last.

G&M has upgraded its look since I last ate there. A renovation has extended the space considerably and created a section dedicated to carry-out orders. Dark-wood mouldings and trim have been placed around doorways. The prices have risen a little. Would the crabcakes be as good as I remembered them?

The answer was yes -- wonderful lump crabmeat. The soups are excellent at G&M too. Yet the salads they serve there are just okay. I have a pet peeve: why serve tomatoes with salad in mid-January when tomatoes are the variety that gets picked too early and shipped halfway across the country? But maybe that's just me.

The desserts looked good, but I didn't order one.

Anyway, it was a very pleasant evening -- good food and good company.

Adios to Tavern on the Green

Or should I say good riddance? New York City's Tavern on the Green is hosting diners tonight for its final evening of operation. But I'm not going to shed any tears. My one and only experience there confirmed what I'd always suspected: TG was an overpriced tourist trap.

At its peak, TG plated more than 700,000 meals per year. A new restaurateur is expected to operate in the existing space, but legal issues appear to preclude the new owner from reopening under the TG name.

No More Nathans

Strolling through D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood this weekend, something just didn't look right to me. I finally realized what it was. Even though I'd heard that Nathans had closed this July, this was the first time I saw the tavern-restaurant with the light brown butcher paper covering up all of the windows.

I only ate a meal once at Nathans, and it was not a memorable one. Still, the restaurant at the corner of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue was situated right at the heart of Georgetown. It was a landmark that every longtime Washington, D.C. resident knew of.

It seems that Nathans was always operating in the red. This shaky economy probably didn't make things any easier.

Visiting an Old Haunt

I recently spent a few days in New York City and thought I'd share some food experiences with you.

First, in the category of "visiting an old haunt," I booked a table for me and my significant-other at Il Cantinori, an Italian restaurant in the Village. The restaurant caught some free publicity years ago from an episode of "Sex and the City" when Carrie celebrates her 35th birthday by dining there.

It had been 12 years since I'd eaten there. I had fond memories of taking a friend out to dinner there. It's noteworthy when any restaurant in NYC has the staying power to last 10-plus years, and I was curious about whether Il Cantinori was still preparing solid meals.

The food was still good. Not great, but definitely good. The wine list was very reasonably priced, and I give them big points for that.

If anything had changed in those 12 years, it was the whole vibe of the place. Instead of the Il Cantinori that was fairly quiet and slightly formal in the mid-1990s, the present-day restaurant is loud and hip (at least during dinner). Recorded rock and hip-hop music cascaded throughout the restaurant.

Il Cantinori is also rather dark at night with lighting so soft that you have a hard time reading the menu.

It's always interesting to see how owners try to redefine a restaurant to appeal to new crowds or to reintroduce the place to the dining public.

Is Galileo Soon to Reopen?

I hope so. Rumor has it that there's a sign in the window of what used to be the restaurant Butterfield 9 stating that Galileo will soon reopen in that space. Butterfield 9 has been closed for over a year.

Most foodies in the Washington, D.C.-metro area have fond memories of at least one meal they ate in Galileo, a restaurant on 21st Street that was overseen by chef Roberto Donna (above right).

I haven't strolled past the window of Butterfield 9 lately so I can only hope that the rumor I've heard is true.

Take Me to Your Server

Have you been to one these restaurants lately? One person takes your order, a different person fills and refills water glasses, and yet a different person brings food to your table.

I was eating at the Arlington, Va., location of Jaleo yesterday, and although I had a nice meal, it was annoying that whenever I wanted to order an additional food item, I seemed to hear: "You need to tell your server" or "I'll go find your server and send him over."

Every restaurant should train all of its staff to take or handle basic requests -- a glass of wine, coffee, etc. It's silly that one should have to wait for one's server to make those requests. Don't present customers with hurdles for ordering food or drinks.

A Worthy Choice?

Esquire magazine has named Barton Seaver as its 2009 chef of the year. Seaver is the chef at Blue Ridge, a restaurant in the Glover Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. After eating two meals at Blue Ridge, this decision makes me shrug my shoulders.

Did Esquire's critic ever eat at Seaver's Blue Ridge? Don't get me wrong. I had good meals there, but they were far from exceptional. Far from what you'd expect from the chef of the year.

Although I think Tom Sietsema's 1.5 star rating (out of 4 stars) for Blue Ridge may be a little low, I share some of his observations about Blue Ridge.

The housemade potato chips with charred onion dip were excellent. My trout was good, but the burger I ordered the next time was totally blah. The sweet potato fritters were okay, but they were misnamed. They were more like dumplings than fritters. And the apple pie turned out to be more of a crumble and was mediocre -- especially considering how much our server praised that dessert.

I will probably dine at Blue Ridge again at some point, but it won't be a "destination restaurant" for me. And if Seaver is as talented as they say he is, then he must not be a regular presence in Blue Ridge's kitchen. Anyway, I'm not the only one who's raining on Seaver's parade.

RIP: Restauranteur Ben Ali

Washington, D.C.'s mayor calls it "one of the greatest treasures in the District of Columbia." And it's where ABC's Ted Koppel held his farewell-from-TV party. What is this place?

It's Ben's Chili Bowl, an atmospheric greasy-spoon diner that's located in Washington, D.C.'s diverse U Street neighborhood. It has been in business since 1958. I mention all of this in the context of noting that its owner-founder Ben Ali passed away last week at the age of 82.

This obituary appeared in the Washington Post. Read it all -- you'll enjoy it. The factoid in the last couple of paragraphs was pretty interesting to me.

Artie's: A Worthy Destination

Artie's is a restaurant tucked in a strip mall on Old Lee Highway, about a mile of Interstate 66 in northern Virginia. For those of us from the city, it's an off-putting location. Not a place where one expects to get a good meal. But my concerns were soon put to rest when we ate there Sunday night.

The food at Artie's was excellent. The baby back ribs, the crab cakes and everything else was very tasty. If you happen to be in the area, it's worth a dining stop.

If you like nautical themes, boat models and murals, then you have an extra reason to go to Artie's -- see the photo -- as these items are prominently displayed among the booths and tables.

Cutting Calories Without Cutting Customers

From today's Wall Street Journal:

At Romano's Macaroni Grill, Chief Executive Brad Blum is attempting to pull off a delicate balancing act: reinvigorate a struggling Italian-food restaurant chain by shrinking its fare.

Since taking the helm at the Dallas-based restaurant chain nine months ago, Mr. Blum has tried to reverse a steady sales decline by changing a menu heavy with calorie-rich foods such as fettuccini Alfredo and fried mozzarella while keeping loyal customers happy.

This may be tough because these changes are complicated by the competition that Macaroni Grill faces in this part of the restaurant market. Chains like Olive Garden and Bucca di Beppo are also vying for consumers who want Italian food at moderate prices.

An Unusual Cookbook

According to the Freakonomics page of the N.Y. Times' website:

Shopsin's (120 Essex Street) is a New York institution, a restaurant that began as a grocery store; its owner, Kenny Shopsin, is colorful, irascible, and talented. Shopsin's is famous for breakfast but also for its vast, unusual, common-sense menu.

Shopsin has just written a book that is half cookbook and half memoir, entirely fascinating. I had never sat down and read a cookbook from cover to cover but that is what happened with Shopsin's book (co-written with Carolynn Carreno). It is called Eat Me.

. . . If you do go to the restaurant, do pay attention to Shopsin's idiosyncrasies, because he allegedly has a Soup-Nazi-like intolerance that may earn you permanent exile from his restaurant.

A Diner-Unfriendly Menu

Komi is one of those restaurants that turns me off. I have a few friends that have had good meals at this Washington, D.C. eatery, but I find the restaurant's dinner menu annoying for a few reasons.

1. A menu should be easy to read. We all lead busy lives; give us an online menu that we can skim at a glance. That's why this menu flunks. As thrilled as I am to know that the owners of Komi can use a scanner, some words can be tough to read even when they are written in pretty good handwriting. Use Helvetica, not your hand.

2. Don't handcuff your diners. Take Komi's current dinner menu, for example. Five entrees are not much of a selection, but five wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that 4 of the 5 entrees are designated "for two." The only entree that isn't designated for two is a veggie item. Different people have different tastes. Don't handcuff us into begging one of our fellow diners to have the same entree we want to have.

A restaurant as expensive as Komi should be more diner-friendly by offering better menu choices.

The NYC Restaurant Scene

Glitzy and high-priced is out. Relaxed and economically priced is in.

That sums up the direction of the restaurant scene in New York. The Times' Florence Fabricant has more right here.

In this article, she also previews several new restaurants that are opening this fall in NYC.