Early in 2006 the editors at New York Magazine decided to change
the name of my weekly column from Ask Gael to Insatiable Critic...I want to
revive Ask Gael. So please
email me your questions and I will try to answer them. You'll
also find Ask Gael archives here from January 23, 2006 back to 2004.
April 3, 2006 | Ask Gael
Send me to a lively French bistro
I felt a shiver of excitement at Café d’Alsace as I savored a gorgeous soup bowl of that almost abandoned classic, quenelles de brochet, rich and cleverly textured for its 21st-century revival.
February 20, 2006 | Ask Gael
Cocoa-flavored gnocchi? Do I dare?
I admit I had little hope for that gnocchi, or for fried cod over lemon marmalade, or fennel salad with licorice-spiked olive oil, bold moves on the menu at brand-new Spiga.
February 13, 2006 | Ask Gael
Is it the real or discount David Burke at Bloomie's?
Taste the mellow green-apple lobster bisque and those fabulous Asiago truffle
fries and you'll believe the real David Burke has been lurking nearby in this
stainless-steel, smartly checkered canteen.
February 6, 2006 | Ask Gael
We're hungry for Comfort on the Upper East Side
The narrow storefront that was Butterfield 81 has always catered to the neighborhood, and that's Francesco Antonucci's mind-set here in a room that is
stripped-down and simple.
January 23, 2006 | Ask Gael
Is it Gilt or just plain brass?
I have little tolerance for dinner as a cataclysmic life experience. But
bad-boy chef Paul Liebrandt promised to soften his edge at Gilt in the freshly
restored hallows of the departed Le Cirque 2000.
December 19, 2005 | Ask Gael
And what's a barbounia?
It's a small, not all that remarkable Mediterranean fish, but the restaurant
that has taken its name is making waves already.