It's a rare thing for a new restaurant to capture the imagination of food lovers and critics far and wide this early.
I was tickled to note the observations of the New York Times critic were so similar to mine. From the music selection to the strength of the husband and wife team, he a chef, she a sake sommelier.
Bruni used a set of criteria that included overall enjoyment, the experience, and of course, the food. Today's unveiling of Bruni's top two picks reminded me to revise my image of vegetarian. It's hard to do. Ubuntu, the restaurant coming in second to O Ya is about as glamourous as you could imagine and is vegetarian. Of course, the chef is not and neither is he averse to ingredients like butter and cream.
As nutritionists will tell you, it's not about deprivation, but moderation. Choosing when and where in your diet you will have the tasty things that are really good for you and the ones that are just tasty.
Take a look at the write up here where Bruni does his New Yorker's view of the world thing and explains his adventure. The standard by which all other places are compared, of course. Perhaps only Tokyo can argue the point (they have more stars). At least if you're counting Michelin stars. But that's a story for another day. It seems clear that fine food is not solely the provence of New York City, which must now acknowledge that Paris and Tokyo both are on the same map.
To learn more about O Ya and omakase meals check my earlier posts. Here, And, learn about Omakase,here. Interesting to note that Tim Cushman trained under top Japanese chefs.
