Tried Koloman last night for the first time. Thought the food was very good. The wine list good but not what it was in the beginning. The room is super loud. I would go back again if I needed a place in that area.
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Heading back to Chambers for the first time this year.
Anyone have anything off the list they love recently? WINE+LIST+3.23.24.pdf (squarespace.com)
I know the real answer is just āAsk Pascaline,ā but curious for folkās thoughts.
I usually find a lot of great value with their aged Loires (I do like wines with secondary development), but not opposed to branching out.
Always lots of interesting things on Chambers list.
I tend wait to browse the list until Iām there as often some of the more coveted wines get sold before I make it there. Also very much depends on your price range, there are compelling wines across wide range of prices. I will say that a while back a few friends and I did a dinner there were we all tried to pick what we deemed was the best sub $100 wine off the list and had a blast doing so
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some cool shit, but man the format of the list is wild. itās like those cognitive exercises where you have to choose the square that says blue, but the color of the square is green.
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Good point on the waiting to browse, but what is self-control?
yea - itās not a place where I feel like I have to spend a ton to have great wine. For example - Guillaume & Adrien Pire ChĆ¢teau de Fosse-SĆØche - Les Tris de la Chapelle Saumur 2011 for $150 - fantastic.
I visited Corima last week based on recommendations here and the fact that I wanted to use inKind credits.
Most of the food was good, and the beverage pairing was stellar (and only $68!), but my experience merits some nuanced discussion about the dining experience. I didnāt know much about the restaurant before going - I will not make that mistake again.
It would be dishonest of me to leave out what I enjoyed. I liked a majority of the food and was very happy with mackerel, sourdough tortilla, ayacote beans, dry-aged duck, grilled pineapple sorbet, and mango & tajin pate de fruits. But the other elements make me resistant to return.
I visited Corima as a solo diner and was seated at the Chefās Counter in front of the kitchen. While I was initially excited to be able to watch the inner workings of the kitchen, as I have enjoyed at other restaurants before (like Restaurant Yuu), Corimaās counter seats are a bit too close to the action and reveal some unsightly details and create some awkward encounters.
Throughout the meal, I witnessed several unpleasant things:
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There was a charcoal grilling station where duck, beef, fish, and pineapple were all grilled with no cleaning in between. It made me wonder how diners with dietary restrictions or allergies could trust any of the grilled items (something Iām sensitive to because my wife has celiac). The chef used the same flavored oil with a brush on everything - the oil splattered everywhere and everything was further cross-contaminated.
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The chef at this station was also pan-searing meats on and off, leaving them to rest on wire racks above the grill. While Iām unsure if this is inconsistent with food safety practices, the meats continuously dripped onto all of the other food. It was unsightly.
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In order to check the temperature of the meat, I saw multiple chefs stick cake testers into the meats for a few seconds and then touch them to their lips and then saw them re-use these cake testers again and again. Iām almost certain I also saw the head chef lick an offset spatula he was using for dessert and then saw him return it to the utensil holder.
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The kitchen staff used lots of PAM non-stick spray and zip-lock bags, which further diminished the āfine diningā elements for me.
The Service
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Shoutout to the server who explained the beverage pairings. He was enthusiastic about the spirits and introduced each pairing with detail and context. But the positives end there.
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Because no menu was presented to me until the and, combined with the fact that Iām unfamiliar with Mexican cuisine, I had to ask an extreme number of follow-up questions when I couldnāt understand or hear the descriptions of the dishes. Since I had nothing to refer back to, I sometimes had to guess what I was eating.
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The servers and chefs(!) wouldnāt stop asking me if I was enjoying everything. It exuded a lack of confidence and was awkward when I didnāt like some of the dishes.
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Again, since I had no menu, I was tricked when the dessert add-ons came around. The server asked me if I wanted to order the cheese plate - he said something about a quesadilla, listed some cheeses, and said truffle. Little did I know that the ācheese plateā was a massive quesadilla with flavorless, tasteless black truffles on top. The servers did seem in tune with the appetite of a solo diner and tried to push the chocoflan on me after this too. I was stuffed to the brim at the end of the meal.
I am willing to accept that some of the above are specific to me and that I bear some responsibility in researching and understanding what Iām eating. Still, Corima has more work to do on the service and experience front.
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i was supposed to go tonight (but snagged a foxface table)ā¦i was eyeing the 2015 savagnin from tournelle (maybe from buronfosse) if i recall for under $100. 2015 jura has been excellent from my experience.
theyve had great prices on les iles feray by gonon in the pastā¦like $100 at the restaurant for recent vintages.
that 2015 les grezeaux from baudryā¦or that 2009-2010 croix boissee for $200 was interesting as well.
one of the very few wine lists where im happy to buy off their list and not bring my own.
easily one of the best and detailed restaurant reviews on this thread. thanks for taking the time.
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They clearly have some work to do. It is a young restaurant with a lot of people in senior positions for the first time. I have heard a few similar complaints from other experienced diners about certain aspects of the meal. I ate at the Bar and really only focused on the food and had a great meal. NYC is a tough city with lots of great restaurants, you donāt get a grace period so I hope they figure it out soon because the food is very good.
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Everything I told you about the food I enjoyed was true.
I didnāt know that it was Mexican/Japanese before I went - and since I eat a lot of Japanese food, I thought that the Japanese part detracted from the Mexican.
It was cool to learn about the Mennonite community in Chihuahua that they source their dairy from.
Iām just really pissed that they asked me if I wanted to try their cheese plate and a massive quesadilla came out LOL.
I LOVED the beverage pairing. They crushed it.
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Ships in the night! Though understandable the foxface rez is harder.
Thanks!
Completely agree no need for corkage here.
Appreciate this.
Super thoughtful.
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Wooga, a popular KBBQ place by me in NJ, has opened an outpost in NYC. The somm is buying at auction and putting lots of fun stuff (think old jadot burgs, old ca cabs, etc) on the list at what appears to be very reasonable markups. I believe also doing Sunday and Monday no corkage. I havenāt been yet but the one in NJ has great food.
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i had the most enjoyable meal at foxface last night. ive been so hesitant to try new places because they almost always disappoint (and we have such few nights out with a young kid) but im slapping myself for sleeping on this one. ive been eating david santosā food since hotel griffou nearly 15 years ago. i know a lot of you have been there but we had a great time. ate the surf clam two ways, the octopus bolognese (probably would skip that one) and the āsmallā fluke which was just massive for 2. extremely friendly staff and owner and chef. very corkage friendly.
followed by a cab ride to town hall to catch the last half of magnetic fields in the rain. good nyc night!
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I saw a chunk of the Troisgros documentary last night, and they were doing a lot of sampling the way you describe, like tasting from a spoon and returning it to a larger container of utensils at the prep station (guess those could be waiting to be washed but am not betting on it). Donāt ask / donāt tell, I suspect this is just part of how things get done well.
But donāt let the restaurant inspectors see you. Raw meat above cooked meat as you describe constantly gets folks knocked down a letter grade and potentially featured / shamed on a local news segment 
.
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This serves as a reminder that I have to go! Still havenāt been.
How was the wine list btw? Any specific strengths/weaknesses?
i brought a bottle of ganevat chardonnay. i saw the wine list in advance and minus some of robertās wines, not much else appealed. $50 corkage aint my favorite but worth it and the team was very happy to try a glass or two.
That fluke is fantastic.