Music: Critics Search for Street Cred

Dara writes:

I am sorry for the lapse in posting, readers. As you know James's father has been sick. We will soon post an update and photos about that!

In the meantime, when I had some time on my hands recently, I filled it by surfing the iTunes store. I listened to every singer recommended recently either in The New York Times or The New Yorker, two of my most regular reads. Did I say "every singer"? I meant every singer whose CD I was too embarrassed to buy: you know, Mariah, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake.

I have a weakness for Mariah's melisma. But I have to say I did not enjoy the tracks from her latest, "The Emancipation of Mimi," even though "We Belong Together" is fun. I kind of can't stack El Timberlake, but gave him the benefit of the doubt because, in a recent sidebar, New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones called him a "superhero," and exulted:

With neither the frequent traffic infractions nor the rehab antics of his young pop peers, Timberlake is ably sustaining the old-fashioned tradition of physical, real-time entertainment.

In such columns, critics for high-brow publications try to prove their street cred, that they are NOT out of touch with the 18-29-year-old demographic. I say this because I can think of no other reason to laud Timberlake. Frere-Jones's column, and others like it, promote the youthfulness and vernacular of the writer, not the talent or timelessness of the singer.

Bruni throws another hand grenade Meyer's way

Dara writes:

Bring it on, Bruni!

And bring it, he did. Oh yes, the fight continues between NYC restaurateur and NY Times chief restaurant critic Frank Bruni in this week's "Dining" section.

As I have written here and here, there is a war going on between Danny Meyer and Frank Bruni. In his book on the restaurant business, "Setting the Table," Danny Meyer laments how Frank Bruni awarded Meyer's most ambitious restaurants, Eleven Madison Park and The Modern, only two stars. Mr. Meyer felt Mr. Bruni did not give them a chance to evolve before (relatively) slamming them.

Alas, two weeks ago in The New York Times, Mr. Bruni awarded these two restaurants three stars. Hooray! Except Bruni took the opportunity to demote Meyer's most famous restaurants, Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe--a back-handed compliment if ever I have seen one.

In last week's "Dining" section, Mr. Meyer's friends came to his aid by trumpeting, in an ad, the first "six star" review ever in the history of The Times: three stars each for Eleven and Modern. And now, in today's "Dining" section, Bruni lobs a grenade.

In his article today entitled "You May Kiss the Chef's Napkin Ring," Bruni excoriates the latest trend of chefs to conduct their restaurants as temples to themselves. By promoting ten-course tasting menus and blasting their iPod playlists, chefs are preoccupied with their own predilections and desires, not those of their accolytes--I mean, customers. Somehow, although Mr. Meyer is not a chef, Mr. Bruni makes him a prime target of his article, even including a picture of Tabla as Exhibit A in the hubris of restaurant people.

Mr. Bruni whines:

After the restaurateur Danny Meyer’s “Setting the Table” was published last fall, he propped up copies right inside the front doors of Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park and Tabla, where the book was also displayed above the bar, just to be safe.

Mr. Meyer isn’t a chef. He’s essentially a host, renowned for his humility and hospitality, for rounding out your meal with a prettily wrapped coffeecake for breakfast the next morning.

And yet he set things up so that when you walked into one of his restaurants, your first encounter wasn’t necessarily with a host or a hostess saying hello or taking your coat. It was with a photograph of him on a self-flattering book (“America’s most innovative restaurateur,” trumpets the cover) about how he always puts you, the customer, first.

For one thing, Mr. Meyer is an excellent, skilled writer, and I would put him to test with Bruni any day. For another, how does Meyer's promotion of his book oppose or even exclude his concern for his customers? I'm sure many of them over the years have wondered about how he has done such an amazing job in such a tough city, and many would be interested in learning his philosophy.

Bruni's direct challenge of Meyer's "humility" is ad hominem. I am interested to see where Meyer takes this mano a mano next.

Food: Bon Appetit

Dara writes:

I enjoy reading food magazines, and have regularly bought Gourmet and Food & Wine in the past. I treat these a little as I do Vogue or Bazaar, as voyeurism. Though I do actually cook, and while I am inclined to go to the market and purchase Italian olive oil, buying Dolce and Gabbana is not a habit.

Recently I picked up Bon Appetit. The magazine is bright and lively, but a bit less interesting to someone who has spent a lot of time in the kitchen. In the January issue of Bon Appetit, "taste combinations" were trumpeted as the new thing, but caramel and fleur de sel is so two years ago! In the February issue, one of the first pages featured a recipe for "beef and dark beer chili." Maybe it's because I don't like chili, period, but that version sounds particularly repellent, not to mention expell-ent.

Expanding from food, BA mentioned that if you want to head to the "hippest perfumer in New York," head to Bond Street. Actually, there are now shops in NYC where one can have perfume created in the shop especially for oneself and these custom-design shops, such as the Christopher Brosius Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are definitely the next big thing.

The out-of-date advice and outre food photographs make me question the magazine--as have others before me, such as this blogger who assails BA for completely fouling up on their advice about sushi in Los Angeles.