"When people walk in and just order an appetizer and entree and then leave, they're not getting what we really set out to offer. They're not getting the whole experience," says [Marc] Vetri....As you'll see from the current menu, Vetri is a high-end, rustic Italian restaurant that's not afraid to go game-y, and features unique, exceptional pasta dishes. I've had fantastic meals there for a decade, including, yes, one whirl at the tasting menu that traveled through an array of pastas and other specialties before winding up with roast goat which was, indeed, out of this world succulent. (Some of their tasting menus are collected here; you can also get some sense of his style from his Iron Chef appearance.)
"This isn't the place you brought your in-laws to 12 years ago for rib-eye and broccoli rabe and spinach gnocchi," Vetri says. "You can still get that" on the tasting menu dedicated to Vetri classics. "But it's something more than that now. We're allowing evolution to happen."
Aside from the classics-menu option and the more inventive "degustazione," there will also be a pasta tasting and a vegetarian menu to choose from. And with the entire dining room tuned to the rhythm of the multicourse meals, the service, Benjamin says, should flow.
Tasting menus are about trust -- both trust in the restaurant to please you, and trust in your own palate to appreciate whatever's offered. It is weird to spend that much money for a meal yet surrender control over it. A few years ago, we went with the Cosmopolitans to Masa for my birthday, and it was, literally, a once in a lifetime experience. Extraordinary and oddly solemn, yes, but I don't appreciate the intricacies of sushi enough to make that worth it again.
Vetri, I trust. I don't mind being surprised or challenged when I'm in the restaurant's hands; I welcome it. Yes, I'm going to miss having control, but it's not going to stop me from returning.
"<span>When people walk in and just order an appetizer and entree and then leave, they're not getting what we really set out to offer. "</span>
ReplyDeleteDinner?
Based on that menu, if you're ever up in Boston you *have* to go to Erbaluce (near the theater district and the Common). Very similar take on high-end Italian with some challenging ingredients and a willingness to use more game meat than most. They're also really flexible with just about everything, like getting smaller pasta orders as appetizers (or upping an app a colleague fell in love with up to entree size, etc).
ReplyDeleteGraham Elliot here in Chicago just announced a similar change--although it is only a few years old without the history of Vetri. It is my fiancee and my favorite 'fancy' occasion restaurant because it is a little more laid back on the fancy with servers in signature t-shirts and brown chuck t's, but they will be losing that in the transition. They will also be losing the ability to piece together a menu from just their small plates which was often where they were most inventive and I had the most fun eating. In fact, those plates were what I usually remembered as being amazing (see any bisque ever-corn, potato, and pea-and lobster corndog and something scallop heavenly). So I am not entirely sure I trust in this. We have only ever once had the tasting menu (although on our most recent visit, so I guess that might be promising), and I am not sure the trust is there for me.
ReplyDeleteWe have reservations for Valentine's Day which is a Hair Metal Rock themed dinner, so we haven't given up yet.
My experience as a waiter taught me that if you order what sounds good to you, you probably are missing out on what's great about the menu. As a waiter, you have to eat everything on the menu in order to describe it to diners, and inevitably, my favorites were the things that I never would have ordered if I walked in there off the street.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet I hardly ever order a tasting menu. Trust is definitely it--I fear that tasting menus are sometimes chosen based on what's most popular (almost always the most boring dishes) or what's easiest for the kitchen to make in many small portions.
I'd like to think I'm a good orderer, and I probably am a lot better than I would have been if I'd never waited tables. But I still pretty much go for what sounds good to me. It's just that what sounds good to me has been expanded based on my experience having to eat things that don't sound good to me.
The best though is when I am a VIP somewhere (usually based, again, on having worked in the industry and the people my husband and I met during those years) and they bring us out little extras. That's when I get to try things that I wouldn't have ordered myself. And they're usually awesome. Maybe I should just start ordering what sounds least good.
that is an excellent point, and I know that I tend to stay in my comfort zone and have always appreciated being forced to expand my taste buds.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't love Masa -- I never went to Ginza Sushiko when it was in Beverly Hills, so I can't comment on the experience. I will say that you don't need to pay $350 for incredibly high-end sushi. You have to pay a certain amount for the best and freshest fish, of course (the kind of cuts that just melt in your mouth), and you have to pay for the skills of the chefs, and you have to pay for the location. Other than the fugu, though, I have a hard time seeing what would move something from $100/person traditional sushi (exclusive of tax, tip, and drinks) to $350/person sushi.
ReplyDeleteA $500 check?
ReplyDeleteI go to one restaurant out here in particular that does that for me, and it's usually something that I wouldn't have ordered but end up loving. As a result, I'm pretty sure I've eaten through that restaurant's entire menu -- and I go back every Sunday for a prix fixe they do where they experiment with new dishes. Good times.
ReplyDeleteLottery winnings.
ReplyDeleteIt was a really special experience; my palate's just not developed enough for sushi to appreciate it at the level at which it was intended. A Cosmo may want to weigh in here.
ReplyDeleteI have been to Vetri exactly once and got the tasting menu, which was great but so expensive that I can't see myself going back in the foreseeable future, where I might have gone back for ala carte if opportunity offerred. Not that the opportunity comes along much since I live and work in the burbs and have a small child. But I'd love to have the sweet onion crepe again.
ReplyDeleteBut with Osteria and Amis there are now cheaper venues for Marc Vetri's food so it's not the loss it would have been back when Vetri was his only restaurant.
It's a really good crepe though.
I have liked tasting menus at various places. That said, there are certain things that I simply do not like---such as organ meats---and other things that seem to bother me---pork, corn, etc. That sort of thing makes it a bit more difficult. My favorite way to handle a tasting menu is one where there are at least a couple of choices for each course.
ReplyDeleteThat's a detail I thought about but neglected to mention -- the availability of two newer Marc Vetri restaurants which are a la carte and somewhat more affordable, esp. Amis.
ReplyDeleteMy partner and I have set a goal to work through the list of 50 best Philadelphia restaurants as listed in this month's Philadelphia magazine. We had been to nearly 20 before seeing the list so we're off to a strong start. We're also not pushing ourselves to get to the suburban ones. We live in Center City and don't own a car so...we may try to get to the #1 but other than that, we'll probably skip them. We are planning to go to one restaurant every alternate Thursday, plus whatever special events we have coming up this year. Vetri is high on the list. Now, I'm wondering if we should try to get in when they do a la carte or wait and go after they go "tasting" only.We were underwhelmed by Amis, although that was during Restaurant Week and I realize that it's not the best time to judge a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteMy best dining experience ever was at Le Bernardin in December. They have two levels of tasting menus. We did the less expensive (although it was still more than I've ever spent on a meal). Trust was key and everything was delicious. We did a tasting menu at Morimoto a few years ago and up until Le Bernidin, that was the best dining experience of my life. So, maybe I just answered my own question-- wait until Vetri goes all tasting to get the best experience.
I have recently started dating someone who doesn't like eating mammals -- poultry and fish, no problem, but a pig just reminds her of her dog, and so on -- so when I see "tasting menu" I veer away because there are very rarely substitutions.
ReplyDeleteAt Vetri they give you a list of possible foods they might give you and ask if there's anything you particularly are interested in or particularly want to avoid. My wife and asked not to get any fish, for example, because she particularly doesn't like that. In the other direction, I think they have enough seafood and pastas they could avoid mammals if that was your call.
ReplyDeleteI generally like tasting menus b/c I like the idea that the chef/kitchen put together a "narrative." Yes, I'm one of those obnoxious people that uses "narrative" to describe a menu. :p
ReplyDeleteBut really, I like it b/c I like the creativity and the gradual progression of course to course based on how they want you to experience the food.
And, I'm a very indecisive orderer, so it would take me a million years to order well.
My favorite tasting menus have been West in Vancouver, Restaurant Eve here in DC, and Per Se in NYC (where I ordered the vegetable tasting menu, it was AMAZING).
I am a fairly picky eater (no red meat, no pork, no eggs that I can taste, and no fish aside from some non-fishy sushi), so fancy restaurants in general are out for me. I've always wanted to go somewhere fancy, but I think the experience would be lost on someone with my lack of good taste. That being said, if someone has a recomendation for a fancy restaurant in the Northeast that would serve my needs, I am all ears!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you could go wrong either way. Vetri is a damn genius, and unlike Ripert, he seems to be always in his kitchen. So, trust him or not, off the menu or his choice, you're going to love what you get.
ReplyDeleteHaving been to Vetri with Adam on one or more occasions, one thing you should all know about Adam that makes this issue especially interesting as it relates to him, is that Adam has a pretty special knack for ordering well that he takes some (deserved) pride in. I would imagine that makes the tasting v. non-tasting menu issue harder for him to sort through.
ReplyDeleteI'm very similar to you, calliekl - I'm so picky that I fear "fancy" restaurants unless it's a steakhouse. I don't eat fish, spicy food, creamy food, and mushrooms, which rules out... a lot. It's also why I fear tasting menus, although for me, the tasting menu I had with friends at CraftSteak in Vegas a few years is still one of the best meals I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteEric Ripert was in the kitchen the night I was there. I somehow managed to keep my shit together when he walked through the dining room.
ReplyDeleteSince I watch Top Chef, I've actually heard of CraftSteak! I have checked out the menu there, and aside from some mushroom-y type things, it did seem approachable. I might check it out the next time I'm in NY.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know this is probably too old for people to be reading, but has anyone heard of Chart House? I received a gift card for there as a door prize @ my company's Christmas party (this past weekend, happy end of Christmas to me!), but I've never heard of it. I think it's fancy-ish?
Not too fancy, but a fish house. And not non-fishy sushi. You may want to regift that door prize!
ReplyDeletethere's no more CraftSteak in NYC--it's now Colliccio and Sons. I think that's a good thing, though, as the CraftSteak in Vegas is seriously amazing. I've had two of the absolute best meals of my life there (topped Per Se by FAR in my estimation). If you go, ask for Kevin as your waiter. He is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteColliccio and Sons is by all accounts a big improvement on CraftSteak NYC, as the NY outpost (CraftSteak started in Vegas) never really lived up to its potential. But the new place is more like an old-school Craft-type of dining experience. Still some hit or miss things, but all in all very nicely done.