This Isn’t Your Dad’s Room Service
Friday, March 30th, 2007
Frank Bruni at the New York Times just lived the foodie hotel-junkie dream to test out the new trend of refined dining in your room in New York hotels. Enjoying some of the finest hotels as well as some of the most gourmet meals from the top restaurants and chefs in the city, you can just hear his readership drooling. His mantra and goal:
“Seven nights. Seven hotels. Seven dinners. Seven breakfasts.”
You can read the full article here.
In his travails through the Big Apple, here is a quick sum-up of his experience in each hotel:
The London NYC - “The two-room suites provide ample space for dining, and not only did that spinning coffee table rise up to meet us, but the person who took our dinner order volunteered to send the desserts a half-hour after the rest of the meal, for no extra charge. The London was one of only two hotels that mentioned the possibility of a staggered delivery.”
Hotel on Rivington - “(The hotel) uses the kitchen of the restaurant Thor downstairs. I was jazzed by not only the cod but also house-made tagliatelle with Parmesan, butter, cream, peas and black truffle shavings.”
City Club Hotel - “With the exception of the burger, all the dinner dishes were first-rate. They included a flaky tomato and goat cheese tart, squash soup with garam masala and toasted pumpkinseeds, and orecchiette made with chestnut flour and sauced with a venison ragout.”
Trump International Hotel Tower - “If novelty and very freshly made food are what you’re after, this experience delivers. While the skin of the black sea bass, flecked with hazelnuts, almonds and sesame seeds, had already been seared on a plancha in the restaurant’s kitchen, Kyle roasted the fish in the room, where he also made its sauce of caramelized mushrooms, Banyuls, browned butter and red and yellow tomatoes. I have no doubt that the sauce’s perfume was sharper and its nuances clearer than they would have been if the dish hadn’t made it to the table so fleetly.”
Hotel Gansevoort - “But sesame-crusted tuna, requested rare, was cooked perfectly, and the wasabi béarnaise with it added the right notes of richness and heat. Roasted chicken was unusually tender. And a miso soup with tofu and scallions had a bewitching perfume.”
The Carlton - “Its eggs Benedict, made with smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon, benefited from English muffins less soggy and yolks less hardened than those in similar dishes at the other hotels.”
Muse Hotel - “This hotel avails itself of the restaurant District’s kitchen, but the tepid, bland salmon and tepid, bland cauliflower soup that I got could have been the work of some nameless commissary far away. I would have doused each with salt and pepper, but the server failed to bring any.”
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Frank Bruni at the New York Times just lived the foodie hotel-junkie dream to test out the new trend of refined dining in your room in New York hotels. Enjoying some of the finest hotels as well as some of the most gourmet meals from the top restaurants and chefs in the city, you can just hear his readership drooling. His mantra and goal:
“Seven nights. Seven hotels. Seven dinners. Seven breakfasts.”
You can read the full article here.
In his travails through the Big Apple, here is a quick sum-up of his experience in each hotel:
The London NYC - “The two-room suites provide ample space for dining, and not only did that spinning coffee table rise up to meet us, but the person who took our dinner order volunteered to send the desserts a half-hour after the rest of the meal, for no extra charge. The London was one of only two hotels that mentioned the possibility of a staggered delivery.”
Hotel on Rivington - “(The hotel) uses the kitchen of the restaurant Thor downstairs. I was jazzed by not only the cod but also house-made tagliatelle with Parmesan, butter, cream, peas and black truffle shavings.”
City Club Hotel - “With the exception of the burger, all the dinner dishes were first-rate. They included a flaky tomato and goat cheese tart, squash soup with garam masala and toasted pumpkinseeds, and orecchiette made with chestnut flour and sauced with a venison ragout.”
Trump International Hotel Tower - “If novelty and very freshly made food are what you’re after, this experience delivers. While the skin of the black sea bass, flecked with hazelnuts, almonds and sesame seeds, had already been seared on a plancha in the restaurant’s kitchen, Kyle roasted the fish in the room, where he also made its sauce of caramelized mushrooms, Banyuls, browned butter and red and yellow tomatoes. I have no doubt that the sauce’s perfume was sharper and its nuances clearer than they would have been if the dish hadn’t made it to the table so fleetly.”
Hotel Gansevoort - “But sesame-crusted tuna, requested rare, was cooked perfectly, and the wasabi béarnaise with it added the right notes of richness and heat. Roasted chicken was unusually tender. And a miso soup with tofu and scallions had a bewitching perfume.”
The Carlton - “Its eggs Benedict, made with smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon, benefited from English muffins less soggy and yolks less hardened than those in similar dishes at the other hotels.”
Muse Hotel - “This hotel avails itself of the restaurant District’s kitchen, but the tepid, bland salmon and tepid, bland cauliflower soup that I got could have been the work of some nameless commissary far away. I would have doused each with salt and pepper, but the server failed to bring any.”
