Is Bar Boulud Special Enough?

Posted by Ed Levine, February 25, 2008 at 11:30 AM

New York magazine food critic Adam Platt all but called Bar Boulud strikingly ordinary. Time Out New York's Randall Lane and the New York Daily News' Restaurant Girl concurred. They all seemed to come to the same conclusion: The food at Bar Boulud, other than the charcuterie, isn't special enough. Is all this criticism justified? Is it fair? Where's the beef? Let me try to answer all of the above questions.

The charcuterie, as I have previously noted, is world-class, certainly the finest charcuterie we have seen in this country to date. The charcuterie itself, a major and very gutsy achievement, is reason enough to go to Bar Boulud. The boudin blanc, the creamiest pork custard you've ever tasted, is also worth a journey all by itself. But it's the rest of the food that has disappointed the critics to date.

I have eaten at Bar Boulud at a private party, when the kitchen turned out tasting-size portions of the entire menu. I have also had lunch and brunch there. The rest of the food ranges from the well-crafted but slightly boring chicken with roasted potatoes to the delicious if obviously not groundbreaking croque monsieur. These are plates of food that people would be very happy eating at their neighborhood bistro. But because überchef Daniel Boulud has his name on the door, that is clearly not enough.

That's where the beef is. Boulud has set the bar so high for himself that nothing less than extremely elevated food (no matter what kind) will satisfy the critics. Think about it: When Boulud set out to make a burger for DB Bistro Moderne, he didn't merely craft a perfectly realized classic burger. Instead, he created a supremely delicious beefy meal on a bun that was a burger in name only. So the expectation is that when Daniel serves steak frites, it better be an elevated version of that French classic. Is this fair?

Doesn't matter. Michael Jordan couldn't bear to be seen as a struggling professional baseball player after defining what the modern basketball player is all about. So he retired, at least from baseball (we think). Daniel ain't about to retire, so my guess is he'll figure out a way to bestow his imprimateur on the rest of the food at Daniel.

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Tags: Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud, Manhattan, NYC, UWS