Sifton Soundtracks: The Mark b/w The Upper Crust, "We're Finished With Finishing School"

Sifton continues his tour of the canteens of the power elite by looking in at JGV's new hotel spot. At this rate, next week's story will be a sitdown with Henry Kissinger's private chef as he shows how he confits albino infants in a unicorn tusk-fired oven makes crab cakes just like the ones at Le Cirque. The Mark sounds like a Perkins, only really really fancy:

“The chef is known for his spices,” a waiter said one night, extolling the excellent lamb chops off that list. “These simply prepared items are for people who might be a little worried about that.”

Put Sifton on a plane to New Orleans, and he can find food that is cheap and interesting. (Two big surprises here -- 1) He gets after the Vietnamese options in NOLA more thoroughly than I've seen anyone do in a national publication, and 2) He really digs Emeril's flagship spot, in 2010 which seems as unlikely as actually enjoying a reunion show by punk heroes of long ago. [That did happen to me, once, when I saw the Buzzcocks in 1989.]) But I digress, and shirk my self-appointed task. In lieu of cheap and interesting food, (admittedly, not the purview of the NYT restaurant critic), the attention here to expensive and boring food is puzzling. At least, Creepy Sifton pops up:

Also recycled, pleasantly, is the pea soup, a purée of sweet green peas that taste of springtime and have the smooth texture of high-thread-count sheets; a version of it exists on the tasting menu at Jean Georges, Mr. Vongerichten’s four-star flagship near Columbus Circle. Blend in the accompanying cloud of Parmesan foam, and it’s like a lover sliding into bed: nice.

Were the Cod Sifton's lover, I am not quite sure if I would be flattered by this comparison, but as the Cod is not, we will let it, uh, slide. 

The focus on the luxe side of things may be a reflection of Sifton's novelistic ambitions --

An immodest little pizza of black truffles and fontina is an elegant and delicious take on the sort of puff-crusted pies Mathieu Palombino makes at Motorino, and worth a run through the excellent and deep wine list to find a pinot noir from Au Bon Climat to drink with it. Pizza at a Vongerichten restaurant? This one is exactly the sort to thrill a couple who hasn’t had a pizza since that time they needed to get takeout because there was a wreck on the Saw Mill up near where Hawthorne Circle used to be, and they didn’t get home from Tanglewood until nearly 9.

-- but it is frustrating for those of us who would like to see Sifton venture below 14th, or even into the 718. Until then, we will be dining with The Upper Crust: 

Comments

[Marco]

I always look for expensive and boring rather than cheap and interesting. Money makin' Manhattan, I guess.