It’s Friday! Thank God… this fucking week is over.
Check out my dancing pecker.
That’s a bird, people. Get your minds out of the gutter!
Grgich Hills Merlot 2003 – Napa Valley, California
Cost: $42/bottle
Impressively endowed wine, a merlot that in my honest opinion is the greatest one ever produced in California. This is solid, and ranks even with the finest right bank Bordeaux Grand Cru out there! Complex notes of leather, cedar, black cherry, and cassis with hints of smoke that make this so impressive. In the mouth, perhaps the most smoothest merlot ever made, balanced and loaded with fruit and boasting an impressive finish, this is the quintessential merlot.
Rating: 95
For the record, I enjoyed the 2004 vintage merlot from this winery, and it is consistent and worth every penny.
Accompanied with Beef Negamaki and Black Swan (Peking duck, hoisin sauce, and white rice in a seaweed wrap… YUM! )
More photographs and information on Jean-Philippe “JP” Boucicaut’s works are available here, and at a story describing his recent exhibit.
• Tuesday, November 3, 2009 – Valentino Garavani, Giancarlo Giametti, Narciso Rodriguez, Marc Jacobs, Michael Chow, Martha Stewart, Larry Gagosian, Shala Monroque, Brian Grazer, Madonna, Adrien Brody, and Hugh Jackman at the Valentino: The Last Emperor DVD release party at The Bon Bon Room.
• Tuesday, November 3, 2009. 7:00PM – Martha Stewart dining with three guests at Le Bernardin. Also Gil Bellows (not together).
PX This presents THE F&F REVIEW
Hey, sorry we couldn’t make it to "Friends&Family," we were out of town/ had to work/ not invited. We’re really glad we finally managed to come by, though— it’s so nice to see you!
What’s that? You would still like us to take the time to fill out the F&F survey, because you’d love to take advantage of all our vast experience, knowledge, insight, and expertise as long as we’re already here? Because you invited 75 people to F&F, and afterward all you got was 41 "Congrats[es]!" 22 "Awesome[s]!" 3 "Ciao[s]!" and 9 "Best of lucks[s]!" ?
Of course, we’d be honored. Oh ha, yesss, we’ll be honest— brutally honest even, ha ha! After all, that’s what friends & family are for!
No no please, don’t send anything more, we’re stuffed, we can’t breathe, you’ll have to roll us out of here, ha ha ha… !
What was your first impression?
ooh swanky.
Please rate the Bar:
beautiful. but apparently, technically it’s not a bar, "it’s a dining counter, by reservation only." a tad irritating to hear, but understandable considering there isn’t much else you can do if the bar space is needed because the dining room is consistently maxed out. the service was exceptional.
Please rate the drinks/ cocktails/ wine:
the wine list is actually quite diverse and reasonable, particularly since i was told LeCaprice is "very expensive."
all i need with my good polish vodka (available) are three big fat juicy olives (delivered) and i’m a happy camper.
Please rate the Dining Room:
nice. maybe a wee stiff for my tastes but really quite nice. spacious, accommodating, serene— very appropriate for The Pierre Hotel.
Please rate the BOH:
quite good. again, i was surprised to see the menu is more reasonable than i had expected. prices are adequately competitive with even more casual places downtown. the menu is unfussy and straightforward, simple enough to please a business traveler, but artful enough to gratify a seasoned diner.
the timing of courses was perfect, and the preparation was commendable.
How was the staff?
the hostess was congenial but professional, as were the maitre d’ and service manager. the barcountertender was most pleasant of all— warm, attentive, efficient, knowledgeable, and amiable. overall an A+ team.
What did you eat?/ How was the food?
steak tartare : decent. personally i’m always impressed if i get a little quail egg cuz i love them, so maybe the lack of one was a little disappointing. but i thought the charming arrangement of all the best unpretentious condiments on a silver platter was great. tabasco and lea&perrins rule.
tomato/basil galette with burrata : okay. tasty enough, but for $18, maybe just a wee skimpy on the burrata.
wild mushroom risotto : delicious. very flavorful. very rich. probably my favorite of all the dishes, and i’m not even that crazy about mushrooms.
deep-fried haddock : good! pretty big portion. who doesn’t love a fancy fish&chip?
creamed spinach.: very nice. also very rich. the butter/cream/oil/steamed options will make a lot of people happy.
scandinavian iced berries with hot white chocolate sauce : just kidding. i wish! unfortunately, way too full and short on time :(
but damn did that sound enticing.
What did you like?
pretty much everything.
What did you dislike?
hmm. having to go to midtown?
What was your last impression?
i really enjoyed this much more than i had expected. this could be my next one-and-only midtown joint. my new Grayz, so to speak.
Would you come back?
yes!
Thank you, and hope to see you soon!
any minute now…
** UPDATED 4/29/14**
Mangia VINDICATED in Final Verdict of Wiercinski vs Mangia
Here is Adam Wiercinski aka Adam Jamroz. He was employed as a part-time delivery person for over 20 years at Mangia corporation, where he recently attempted to defraud the company by twice filing fallacious lawsuits. The strategy for his attempted multi-million dollar extortion Read more »
• Thursday, October 29, 2009 – Veronica Webb, Narciso Rodriguez, Cecilia Dean, Richard Johnson, Jean Marc Houmard, Huy Chi Le, Fran Leibowitz, Lynn Yaeger, Ric Pipino, Jorg Rae, and Athena and Victor Calderone at the Indochine Book Launch Party at Bergdorf Goodman.
• Thursday, October 29, 2009. 3PM – Mickey Rourke and Armin Amiri outside Gusto Ristorante e Bar Americano.
• Thursday, October 29, 2009. 7PM – Adam Tihany chatting with Sasha Muniak at Le Caprice.
*photographs by Greg Maltby
It’s Friday! Thank God… for lots of things. Especially things of great beauty.
:)
You may find this hard to believe, but PX This has always been much much more about Fashion than the F&B Industry. But, that’s not the only reason my Netflix recommendation of the week is Valentino: The Last Emperor.
You see, one of the perks of being a PX This Dot Com administrator is that I now have access to the official email inbox — which even includes emails from long, long ago before this new version of the website was even built. Well, to try and make a long story short, a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this old email from the past. And one of things I found very intriguing was this passage:
".. You migth definately find this interesting, Well like I said I used to work at [withheld] and so I know [withheld] and you know she had to leave beacsue they found out about all the [withheld] she stole that she was giving away to all her big-name clients and friends and such. Scandal! And did you know she works for [withheld] now… but the way she cemmented herself is that she introduced [model] to [withheld] who is the son of [withheld]… which is the company that OWNS [withheld]….because of her client list whcih little do they realize she gave away half the stock for free to get…Well I don’t have to tell you fashion is sooo shady…"
But, of course, in the original email, the "[withheld]" parts are all visible. Well, wouldn’t you know, browsing through Netflix last week, I just happened to stumble upon a certain documentary about the fashion world, and I simply couldn’t resist adding it to the top of my queue. And I’m so glad I did!
What a fascinating movie! I mean, if you’ve read PX This, that is. And have access to the email inbox. And do a little creative Googling. And think for a couple of minutes.
Fascinating.
= "personne extraordinaire"