December 4, 2008
19th century excess returns for Vintage Dinner Series
NewYorkology contributor Vidiot commits journalism by night, edits Cocktailians and explores NYC by day. He’s especially interested in the infrastructure, transit, architectural wonders, drinking establishments, and hidden corners of the greatest city in the world.
Zagat.com and sixteen top New York restaurants including Per Se, Jean Georges and Blue Hill at Stone Barns are teaming up to present the “Vintage Dinner Series” in which each of the restaurants will present a menu inspired by the 19th century. A portion of the proceeds from each of the evenings will go to a charity of the chef’s choice. Several chefs and suppliers gathered this morning at Le Bernardin to kick off the event.
 “We thought that it’d be interesting to see what people ate in the 19th century. The more we studied the menus, the more we found that some dishes have really changed,” Zagat Survey founder Tim Zagat told NewYorkology.
Zagat said they researched period cuisine at the New York Public Library and the New-York Historical Society and consulted suppliers such as Stanley Lobel of Lobel’s Butcher Shop and Dorian Mecir of Dorian’s Seafood Market. He came up with a list of about 100 ingredients, including fish, meats and poultry that were commonly used at the time, but aren’t normally seen on contemporary menus.
Cocktail mavens David Wondrich, Steven Olson, and Dale DeGroff of Beverage Alcohol Resource provided information on 19-century cocktails. Zagat added that “each chef is doing his own version of a 19th-century menu: some are faithful recreations, and some are more fanciful.”
Prices for the menus range from $150 at Ouest to $575 at Per Se (including wine.) Seats will also be available through eBay. The series starts January 12 at Café des Artistes — which will cook the feast from the movie “Babette’s Feast” — and ends March 25 at Aureole. Each restaurant in the series offers the 19th century meal only one night.
“When Tim called me and asked me to participate, it took me only about 30 or 40 seconds to absorb this unique concept” butcher Stanley Lobel told NewYorkology.“I believe that this will save the restaurant business,” he added, pointing out that cuts of meat that were widely used over 100 years ago are often very inexpensive now that they’ve fallen out of fashion.
 At the press conference, Per Se’s owner and chef Thomas Keller noted that restaurant dining today is often very different than in the 19th century, “an era where food was really about a banquet, and eating large quantities in a very gourmand way.”
At Per Se, Keller plans to strive for the atmosphere of the 19th century as well. “We’re not only presenting an abundance of food, but an abundance of wine, all in the same ambiance”, he added, mentioning Diamond Jim Brady and other legendary eaters of the past.
The chefs that NewYorkology spoke with all seemed very excited about presenting their dinners. Terrance Brennan of Picholine said he plans to serve oxtail en gelee, lobster Americaine, a steamship round of beef (a massive 40- to 50-pound leg roast) which will be carved tableside, and flambéed baked Alaska.
Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin was very enthusiastic, saying that “it’s fun, it’s different” to break from the routine.
“The routine kills you. We try not to have routine around here”, Ripert said. He plans to serve quenelles de brochet (pike) and a puff pastry vol-au-vent with various seafood inside, among other dishes.
David Waltuck of Chanterelle said the techniques for cooking 19th-century food are pretty similar to what he does every day, since “a lot of what I do is updated classical cooking.” He plans to present fried whitebait, an oyster chowder (as seen on many old New York menus), roasted red snapper with sauce Americaine, a saddle of venison with pureed winter root vegetables, and finishing with a Bavarian cream with almond sauce.
Reservations for the dinners open today, and diners should go through the individual restaurants to secure a table. The prix fixe dinners will include alcohol, tax, and tip, and will be priced on par with normal prix fixe menus at those restaurants.
Picture captions: Flambee demonstration with Eric Ripert at right; Tim Zagat at the podium; Stanley Lobel addresses crowd with Tim Zagat, Dorian Mecir, and David Waltuck of Chanterelle looking on; Thomas Keller. All photo credits: Vidiot.
December 4, 2008 12:36 PM in Drinkology, Foodology, History
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