Wednesday, May 6, 2009

How to Win Friends and Influence People

While it's nice to hear that chef Jason Hall of Eos, the new Michael Psilakis / Donatella Arpaia venture in the Viceroy Hotel in Miami, is excited over some funky Sardinian goat cheese aged in a suckling goat's stomach that they're putting on the menu, locals may be less pleased to hear his thoughts on Miami:

I don’t really like Miami that much. It’s OK to visit for SOBE but I want to get back to New York.

Well, thanks for visiting anyway. Not exactly the kind of stuff that disabuses me of my perception on the influx of out-of-town chefs to Miami.

12 comments:

  1. Really wanted to try this place, now have absolutely no desire to. Maybe if we threw some trash in the gutters and graffitied some of the buildings in Brickell we'd make him feel at home.

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  2. hmm... how long do you think he will last? That makes me sad as this restaurant was amazing when I went.

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  3. good then go back as while the food is very good they wont last there long just another failure for the ICON...

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  4. C'mon guys, you said the same things when Norman dissed Miami. Are you going to boycott HIS new place?

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  5. Guys, let's not get the proverbial panties in a bunch. Ive lived here for 8 years and my saying is always, "51% of me likes it here, 49% wants to get the hell outta here." Miami is not an easy place to re-acclimate to, especially coming from the Northeast where life moves faster, people are more polite, and food/drink amongst other consumables are far less expensive. THink about it, if Miami were such an awesome place to live, wouldnt most of these vacant high-rises be filled?

    I do think that we've got some nice restos here though even if they are higher priced and under appreciated by the majority of residents here. :)

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  6. This was a quick post and perhaps not fully articulated. I'm not suggesting the restaurant should be boycotted - the menu looks great and I'm actually thrilled to see someone trying new ingredients in a South Florida place instead of just assuming the yokels won't eat anything other than a mozzarella/tomato salad.

    But ...
    (1) anyone that thinks because this is a "Michael Psilakis / Donatella Arpaia restaurant" that Michael Psilakis is ever going to come within 500 miles of the food being prepared there is deluding themselves. Indeed, his disciple Jason Hall (apparently quite a chef in his own right according to the NY press) can hardly wait to beat a trail out of here. Which goes back to the point I made earlier: we're not getting the talent, we're just getting a "brand" - the name and a menu.
    (2) I understand the sentiment, and the guy's just being candid, but why crap on the community where you just opened up a restaurant? Do you think nobody outside of New York is reading?

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  7. True Frod, it is silly to slap the hand that feeds you. The food will speak for itself though. Im gonna try and get there Friday night I think...

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  8. Frod, you bring up a good point. Does it really matter that we're not getting the talent (at least not the originator) and only the name and menu if the food, service, etc. are good? If you had no idea about the Psilakpia venture and you just walked into this place blind and the food was stellar, does it really matter that Michael Psilakis isn't in the kitchen?

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  9. I heard Eos sucks bigtime but if the chef wouldn't mind, can he take me with him when he leaves?

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  10. L2M - If the food is stellar, none of it really matters, subject to one qualifier: if the menu never changes, I'm unlikely to go back very frequently even if the food is great.

    There are clearly some chefs/restaurateurs who are very good at the spin-off game. Others possibly not so much (reports coming from Gotham Steak in the Fontainebleau suggest Portale may not be cut out for it). I think a huge part of the successful ventures is the ability to groom the chefs who will serve as the resident executive chefs for the far-flung outposts - and giving them some leeway to actually run their own restaurants.

    Psilakis probably does have the knack, as he already has 3 very successful restaurants in NY (with Hall as exec chef of at least one of them I believe). But it's unclear to me who will even be running Eos once Hall clears out.

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  11. I'm partially with Blind Mind here. It is absolutely asinine to publicly criticize where you work, but the truth is I kind of hate Miami every time I travel. It puts in perspective how rude people can be, how disorganized the county is and how overpriced and superficial all these restaurants can be. It was pretty horrible before moving near the Brickell corridor.

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  12. Jason, you speaketh my lingo very well. The county is completely disorganized, the government is completely corrupt and out for personal agendas rather than public benefit, and everything is insanely overpriced. What happened to retiring in South Florida?? The rudeness is what takes the cake for me though. Hell, I just went to one of my old favorites for the first time in awhile, Matsuri, only to be annoyed by the service and even more by the clientele who now frequent the joint. Gone are the Japanese patrons and in are the loud, obnoxious, plastic patrons. The food was still good but the experience kinda blew.

    With all that said, the scales still tilt just enough in favor of staying to keep me here. Damn this beautiful weather!!

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