Wow that sucks. For a Michelin 3 star too? Time to tweet at him and Bourdain.
Oh yeah forgot about this past Xmas incident, got passed around to 3 people on the phone for 20mins trying to order a buche de noel from one of Jean Georges restaurant (The Mark) before I finally hung up in disgust
Again, for that kind of $, that’s just disgusting. Heck I get better service from the local taco trucks. I stopped at one a week later and mentioned my breakfast burrito from the previous week didn’t have a couple of the things I ordered. I wasn’t even asking for refund, was mentioning it to make sure that day’s order didn’t get messed up again.
Guy didn’t even question me, automatically knocked the price of those items from that day’s order. And this was a truck I had only hit a few times over a span of a couple months, certainly wasn’t a regular.
Another one, at Gabriel Kreuther they forgot to serve me my petit fours and I even ordered a truffle supplement 
.
Fancy restaurants these days just aren’t living up to the hype. The Neflix behind the scenes documentaries of fancy restaurants I think is just a bunch of bullocks… I seriously doubt any of these joints are making the effort on service like they are claiming.
Agree, I find myself enjoying the dining experiences $1 tacos trucks more than the fancy joints… better QPR… no disappointments.
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I have been a returning customer for quite some time and this left a bad taste in my mouth. I want to give them another shot but after this report from @President_Mochi, I am a bit hesistant. I probably would have kept my reservation had they called me back and at least gave me some resolve.
Oh well.
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Ouch!
Actually, I think consistency in BBQ should be much easier than in most other restaurants. Almost nothing is done on the fly. There is sourcing and prepping the meats, monitoring the smoking temps, and then monitoring them for serving. Sides are all premade. No line with numerous stations that need to be coordinated and then served.
If a BBQ place is going downhill, it is a matter of lack of supervision and getting lackadaisical.
For an example of a place that has remained excellent for more than a decade, hit up Pappy’'s if you are ever in St. Louis!
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Maybe. I think it’s easier for a good chef to train his line staff to replicate the recipe and dish than it is for a pit master to train staff to understand the nuances of the meat’s density, the air temp, etc and adjust the heat and have the meat come out correctly.
That said, that’s why I think for a place with a reputation like Maple Block, I can understand if it’s not excellent but still very good. But there should be no excuse for flat out bad.
I did hit up Pappy’s on my last St. Louis trip, they were very good. Thank you again for the tips you provided. I also hit Bogart’s the other highly rated bbq place and I thought they were bad. I didn’t even finish my meal, that’s how bad I thought it was… But hey, they had a big line and people seemed to enjoy it, so more power to them. I’d go back to Pappy’s easily but be leery of Bogart’s.
BBQ is actually very difficult to be consistently awesome. You can cook 2 briskets at exactly the same temperature, same wood, same smoker, same rub and they won’t necessarily come out the same. Every piece of meat is different in fat content, moisture, muscle fibers, etc. It’s very different from cooking pasta or an egg, where you can “watch” it. So while BBQ seems like it would be easier since the meat is pre cooked, it’s actually very difficult to be consistent.
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That’s interesting you mention Pappy’s. I went there recently and found their pork ribs passable and their brisket actually bad (it had this seasoned lunch meat flavor to it, like bad packaged pastrami or something). Of course I’m super partial to Texas style BBQ so maybe that has something to do with it.
Or I caught them on an off day. Consistency with BBQ, as noted before, is THE toughest thing for any BBQ joint and a hallmark for a true destination smokehouse. I think @tailbacku hit the nail on the head with his description.
On another note, has anyone tried Bartz BBQ? I’m interested in trying it before they skip town in the summer.
Sadly, I don’t think it was a one-off. I had a similarly disappointing experience with the brisket a couple of months ago. A friend of a friend who works there says they’ve had some problems with their head chef.
I went maybe six months back, could’ve been longer I don’t remember. Had a similar experience, can say I will not be returning. FYI the first couple of times I went were great.
From various comments in other threads, this was my understanding, as well.
lies, 930pm brisket is always just as good as 1pm brisket.
Not in my experience.
Making it for yourself or for a high volume commercial operation?
Update: This guy is apparently gone now but I guess they still haven’t righted the ship.
Shame. It used to be so solid. But thanks for the scoop.
wtf
Smoking 2 briskets compared to 15 briskets uses the same care and detail. I have had day old brisket almost as good as day off brisket. Hell, there is nothing wrong with keeping 3 day old brisket uncut, reheating in oven wrapped in foil and then slicing to serve. It is still excellent if care is taken.
Also, they don’t have to serve the poorly executed product. Management, chef, expediter, server and cooks all failed to correct the problem.
This is disturbing. Maple Block used to be so good – I’ve been waiting to hear whether they’ve straightened their operation out again, but this doesn’t sound promising at all.
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