NEW YORK: NO UPSCALE ITALIANS IN THE BEST NYT 100 RESTAURANTS
IS IT ONLY THE GLOBAL “TALL POPPY SYNDROME” OF MEDIA AND GUIDES?
The global, (apparently) inexplicable, bias against good Italian restaurants continues. Veteran food writer john mariani is stunned to see that “upscale Italian restaurants are totally absent” in The New York Times 2024 100 BEST RESTAURANTS IN NYC. He points out that his author, Pete Wells, is “head-over-heels about Peruvian and Korean restaurants”. How can one not be surprised anyway?
There are hundreds (if not thousand) of highly popular Italian eateries in NYC and at least 50 of them are of an upscale level. For the NYT is the African restaurant Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi the number one in town, and for a second year in a row. That is, a place in which only a few lucky thousands can eat annually - it’s impossible to find a spot for months -, while instead the millions eat elsewhere (Wells ignores steakhouses as well and scarcely mentions Chinese). If ever there was a need, this is another death certificate of the guidance role of the guides. Narratives over reality, which means the triumph of impartiality, that is, vested interests. Let’s hope that is only a tall poppy syndrome that is affecting media and guides when they deal with the Italian restaurant industry worldwide. In Australia, "cutting down the tall poppy” is used when people (or business) are criticized (and penalized) for being too successful, what in Japan is known as "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down". And what about the proven recalcitrance of the Michelin guide towards Italian restaurants worldwide, especially in Asia? and the impaired vision of the Best 50/100 (follow the money there though, to understand the reasons)? And the revulsion of marketing advisors in Dubai (no Italian restaurants in the two Atlantis resorts, some of the best in town)?
In the picture: Italian “salumeria” in NYC 1943, from the collection of Marcelo Alvarez
Customer Service
7moBut since Dino was forced to leave, the next gm was a drunk. So now the new general manager should know more about service. The arena district in Columbus, Ohio is not at all good