Good afternoon, everyone.
Today’s newsletter includes: LA residents aren’t happy about Ballerina Farm ice cream coming to town, EMILY DAWN LONG shares more about her new West Coast store, a 15-year-old is running for governor, nightclubs are banning Meta Glasses and those who wear them, Granola (the AI company) made granola (the crunchy yogurt topping), and J Lee on The Grill.
“There is a misconception that The Grill is absurdly expensive.” By J Lee.
Expense Account is a series on Feed Me by semi-anonymous restaurant critic J Lee. He hosts a podcast with the same name, which is back next month! This week, he wrote about The Grill, and while the headline might sound like rage bait, he’s formed a solid case.
No one talks about The Grill. No one writes about The Grill. The Grill does not get the respect it deserves. It rarely makes a list. Somehow The Grill has become underrated, underappreciated, underrepresented. I won’t say that The Grill is the best restaurant in New York City (but it’s certainly up there), the coolest restaurant in New York City, or even the most glamorous restaurant in New York City, but in my opinion The Grill is the most fabulous restaurant in New York City. It’s a restaurant that feels as if it’s made of air, and sterling silver. It’s shiny and it’s essential.
The Four Seasons is the bygone New York restaurant I most wish I could have eaten at. It opened on East 52nd Street in 1959, with a space designed as a collaboration between Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. Watch The Throne for lovers of midcentury modern architecture. The space lives up to any and all expectations. Time magazine reported that when it opened, it employed “5 chefs and bakers and a battalion of 125 cummerbunded captains, waiters, wine stewards, barmen and busboys.” New York had never known glamour like this. It was said that the “power lunch” was invented at the Four Seasons restaurant. Powerful people eating, networking, closing deals, and drinking multiple martinis in the middle of the work day. For years it was the peak of design, luxury, and fine dining, in a city full of design, luxury, and fine dining. If Don Draper were real, I’m sure he’d have found himself at The Four Seasons regularly. I’m sure he’d have blacked out there on occasion. But times change, the world changed. Money, power, and the power lunch moved downtown. After years of struggling, and a few changes-of-hand, The Four Seasons closed for good in 2016. Then in came Major Food Group, and hot off their success opening Carbone, they took on the iconic space, as a challenge, and their biggest project to date. They restored the space to its former glory, tweaking things just enough, giving it their patented Major Food Group flair, and $30 million later, they opened The Grill in 2017, with a revamped menu inspired by the classic American chophouse, with a little bit of Southern and Creole flair. Pete Wells gave The Grill three stars, and called it “Confident, Theatrical, Sharp and New Yorky.” (The Pool, a twin restaurant they opened simultaneously, in the Pool Room, did not fare as well; MFG now uses The Pool exclusively for private events, almost every day of the week.) It’s been nine years now, and you can get an early or late reservation at The Grill almost any night of the week.
“The Grill is about the same price as Bridges (I love Bridges), but the portions are bigger and you get to see your omelet flipped tableside. It’s cheaper than Marcel, where a batched martini can cost $50, and their “brutal martini” costs $30. The martinis at The Grill are $26, and strong to the point where I’ve made a rule that I’m only allowed one. The cold poached chicken at one of my favorite restaurants, Bistrot Ha, will run you $42 a portion, while you can get whole grilled young chicken (it’s little but it’s tasty and it’s a whole chicken) at The Grill for $45.
That’s all to say that New York is expensive, labor is expensive, good ingredients are expensive, we know what time it is, we reap what we sow.”
