Comments on: review: moving gotham…

By: L2O « Gastros on Tour

L2O « Gastros on Tour — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:39:33 +0000

[...] we had the day before at Alinea. But i was not really worried. From what i had read on a few blogs (U.E. and Chuck), i was convinced that L2O could provide a lot of pleasure too and be maybe the best [...]

By: ChuckEats blog » L20 (Chicago, IL) - Striving

ChuckEats blog » L20 (Chicago, IL) - Striving — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:44:28 +0000

[...] mouth-feel, with a hint of brine. The morels countered the richness with their (rich) earthiness. Ulterior Epicure wrote that his had foie gras sauce – this was not mentioned by the server, or menu, but it could [...]

By: ulterior epicure

ulterior epicure — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:23:00 +0000

tastybits: I concur with your observations. There wasn’t a coherent arc to my tasting.

chuckeats: Where would you place Le Bernardin vis-a-vis those that you list?

By: chuckeats

chuckeats — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:58:11 +0000

I generally agree w/ this review and tastybits above. My meal last Sat was not great – and that, considering the restaurant’s ambitions, is a failure.

There were ingredient mistakes – my tuna would have been at place in a neighborhood sushi bar, not at a restaurant of this quality.

There were cooking mistakes – my salmon was long over-cooked.

But the highlights would definitely warrant a return visit when in Chicago (especially considering my lack of luck at most Chi places.) I just would not go out of my way to go back.

I would still rate Providence (LA) as the country’s best seafood-focused restaurant. However, L20 falls a clear level below the best restaurants that serve fish in this country – Manresa (Los Gatos), Urasawa (LA), and Masa (NYC.)

By: tastybits

tastybits — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:39:56 +0000

I had a dinner at L2O last week and has a similar experience. Overall, the first 5-6 dishes were better than the mains. I was actually thinking to myself that Gras has really pulled off a near perfect restaurant, but then the slightly overcooked (for my taste) seafood mains arrived and everything was continually soaked in some sort of consomme. I am mildly amused by the “intimacy” created by a dish finishes table side, but I think a lot of flavors got drowned in the liquid bath that came with virtually every course.

I am not certain I would do a tasting again, because I felt like I had two prix fixe dinners back to back, rather than a progression of flavors and textures that felt complete.

I am making L20 sound much worse than it is. It’s a fantastic restaurant. I would go back in an instant and I expect it to only improve over time. It’s just not at the top of the food world just yet, nor should people expect it to be.