The Daytrippers
Not sure if apologizing or not apologizing for writing the eightybajillionth post on the Ko reservation system is is worse, but Bruni's passionate, (but gave my word to stop at third) review in the NYT does point to a consequence of this system that has been overlooked, as far as I know. For people who do not live where there are fancy restaurants, one of the attraction of visiting a big city is eating in fancy restaurants. I have no way to confirm this, but I'll bet a significant proportion of the reservations on the book at Per Se tonight are from people from out of town, celebrating a special occasion, or just the chance to eat chez Keller. The six-day window at Ko, coupled with the capricious nature of the system, renders making a plan to come to town to eat at Ko impossible, or very expensive, in that it would involve last-minute ticket purchase, not to mention some flexibility jobwise. With Bruni's raveish review in a national fishwrap pushing Ko awareness beyond the people reading the latest breathless updates from Eater and Grub St. on their iPhones, to people who watch golf on television, it will be interesting to see if the system changes. Of course, for the foreseeable future, Chang could bang the place out with people who live within walking distance, so his answer could well be to suggest that out of towners stick with lunch at Katz's, a matinée of Wicked, and dinner at Tavern on the Green.
The image is from a sleptupon holiday classic. And speaking of which, the best Beatles cover ever:
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