For the uninitiated, this is Stephen Starr, the man who owns 12 -- count them, 12 -- of the hottest and best restaurants in the City of Brotherly Love. His stable includes, of course, Buddakan and Morimoto, both of which are slated to open in NY by springtime after much anticipation and delay. His is a face you will see over and over again in the months to come, as the Starr Restaurant buzz machine gets in gear.
Steve "doing away with reviews rocks" Cuozzo sat down with the Philadelphia restaurateur recently and found a Steven Starr rather convinced he was ready for the Big Apple. Some choice bites from the article (which really should count towards whatever hours the 'Cuozz owes for community service):
· "The last really incredible openings in New York were probably Balthazar and Asia de Cuba."So, yeah. We like confidence as much as the next guy, but someone please lay out for Mr. Starr the ground rules in NY. Namely, get the place open before you start in with the trash talk. It's way too early in the year for another Trotter disaster.
· "[Buddakan and Morimoto] are big, but really different. The quality of [Masaharu] Morimoto and what he does is pretty extraordinary - like Nobu in many ways, but elevated some notches above it."
· "At the risk of sounding arrogant, I really believe I'm going to do better than what's in that area right now. I'm not arrogant or cocky, but confident."
And Mr. Starr, we will say to you, sir: we will get behind you if the food is as good as you are promising, but first you must pay your dues with some humility.
· Brotherly Shove [NYP]
