[Wilfrid1]

A curious number, but that's how many restaurants Eater has chosen to list as recommendations.

right here

My main reaction was that the list has a distinctive personality, and it's not mine. No surprise. It does include J.G. Melon, which is a corrective to my amazement that Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand. But then there are several places - Raoul's, Balthazar - which imply the involvement of somebody over thirty-five in the final selection.

[Sneakeater]

It's actually surprisingly non-retarded.

For a list that somehow manages to exclude FRANNY'S.

[Steve R.]

It's an interesting list, full of places I've wanted and meant to try. Since I'm pretty much a lifelong NY'er, who goes out to eat 8 days/week and loves the entire city, would anyone care to guess how many of these places I've actually been to? Would it surprise anyone to hear that I've only been to 4 of the first 20, 5 of the first 30 and a total of 11 of the 38 (yep, 6 of the last 8 listed). I found it amazing how non-"essential" the places I go to obviously are.

That being said, this is a good list of places to recommend that folks try (I'll keep it for future reference when I'm stumped on where to go) but NOT an "essential" listing. And I can name an additional 20-30 more "essential" than these easily.

[oakapple]

It's what I call a non-ridiculous list (much as I have been saying about Michlein ). If you parachuted in from nowhere and were handed this list, the odds are you wouldn't eat badly. There's a bit too much McNally love (Balth and Minetta both?); that's the only conceptual flaw.

As an aside, it seems the Leventhal-Eater rift has been healed.

[Sneakeater]

If we're going to play this game, I've been to 29.

I'm such a fucking sheep.

[oakapple]

Only 18 for me.

[Rich]

7

[scamhi]

17/38
I like the list

[Lex]

Yes, the list certainly does display a viewpoint. Clearly the people who put it together don't like Chinese very much. They threw in a dim sum place in Chinatown and then picked Chin Chin.

Chin Chin ... is younger than Mr. Chow and Shun Lee, but its anchor status on 49th Street in Midtown … is indisputable. Chin Chin's appeal lies in its versatile menu of, patent pending, "haute couture of Chinese cuisine..."

Shun Lee has been irrelevant for years. And Mr. Chow? Mr. fucking Chow? That's the competition? Embarrassingly pathetic. Considering the ripping business done at all branches of the Grand Sichuan International I think a whole lot more people find them essential than Chin Chin. The omission of Szechuan Gourmet or Wu Liang Ye is also flat out inexcusable. At least pick one of them. Either would be a defensible choice.

Not a single Indian restaurant makes the cut. They couldn't even make a token choice. Pathetic as well.

We've long known that Eater has it's arms locked firmly around Keith McNally's legs. The inclusion of Minetta Tavern proves it. How can a restaurant be considered essential if it's virtually impossible to get a table at a decent hour?

[oakapple]

Embarrassingly pathetic.

You have a much more lax (should I say Lex?) standard for "pathetic" than I do. Olive Garden would be pathetic.

[Steve R.]

The 38, taken as a whole, wouldnt be "pathetic", as much as some of the choices clearly are worthless. As folks have said, with a list like this in hand, one has a pretty good chance of eating well for a month (30+ out of 38 is how I figure it).

The fact that 20 or so truly "essential" NY eating places arent on the list is what makes it truly pathetic. How you can tell folks to go to Mr. Chow while leaving off everything from NY Noodletown to Cantoon to Spicy & Tasty to G.Szech..... is beyond me as well. And, as much as I had a very nice dinner at Vinegar Hill House last night, the idea that it's more essential than so many others is equally absurd.

[Lex]

Embarrassingly pathetic.

You have a much more lax (should I say Lex?) standard for "pathetic" than I do. Olive Garden would be pathetic.

To mention Mr. Chow in a discussion of essential Chinese restaurants displays a total absence of critical judgment. Mr. Chow is a joke, albeit a very expensive joke. What they've given us is a dim sum joint (where you go if you feel like slumming in Chinatown) and Chin Chin.

Chin Chin's appeal lies in its versatile menu of, patent pending, "haute couture of Chinese cuisine..."

Evidently haute couture is the only thing that will make a Chinese restaurant tolerable for them.

It reminds me of the time one of the NY Times food writers confessed that they didn't like offal. On a personal basis I find that unobjectionable but as a professional food writer it's a major failing. I see the same lack of breadth in Eater's list.

What they should have called it was "38 Essential French, Italian, and New American Restaurants."

[Lex]

OK, they threw in Ssam Bar but I think that bolsters my case. It deserves to be on the list but you can hardly call it an Asian restaurant.

[oakapple]

The fact that 20 or so truly "essential" NY eating places arent on the list is what makes it truly pathetic. How you can tell folks to go to Mr. Chow while leaving off everything from NY Noodletown to Cantoon to Spicy & Tasty to G.Szech..... is beyond me as well. And, as much as I had a very nice dinner at Vinegar Hill House last night, the idea that it's more essential than so many others is equally absurd.

Maybe this is a minor point, but they didn't tell folks to go to Mr. Chow. A quick second perusal of the list shows that the guy with the funny glasses isn't on it.

I'm sure your list would have omissions too. How could a list of 38 not leave off a lot of worthwhile stuff?

[Wilfrid1]

Katz's? As much a restaurant as Co, perhaps?

Not that I've been to Co.

Okay, let's count. I have been to 17 out of 38 (not counting take-out from one). More than I expected, actually. Many of the choices fit precisely the category of restaurant I tend to avoid - noisy, no reservations (or tough reservations) and trying to be hip. Although I have failed repeatedly to avoid Ssam Bar. But it makes sense - other than the bizarre Chin Chin inclusion - as a list for Eater readers generally.

Are there any I'm embarrassed not to have visited?

- I should have been to Blue Ribbon, just because it's been there so long, but I have the feeling I'm not missing much.

- I am surprised I haven't been to Peasant, as it's relatively convenient. But it is Italian.

- Spotted Pig and Little Owl can both frick themselves; I couldn't get near a seat at the former on a dull weekday afternoon in December, and the latter refused me lunch because the little hand was nearly on the twelve or something. Their loss.

- I wouldn't mind going to Fette Sau.

A word on Minetta - it's far from impossible to eat in or at the bar if you are somewhat flexible as to day and time. And it's easy to walk in and have a drink.