Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Park Avenue Autumn, the seasonal experiment underway on the Upper East Side. Today, the Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows:
Zero Stars: 4-1By way of refresher, this is Alan Stillman's seasonal restaurant that changes both menu and dining room decor every three months. Which makes this week's action interesting if for no other reason than that the Bruni may make use of the words 'theme restaurant.' Furthermore, the New American is just three weeks into its second season, autumn, and the current menu has been on the books less than a month. Therefore, the Bruni has to be evaluating the food of the summer, along with the seasonal concept and chef Craig Koketsu's overall skill and approach. He's likely not going to dig in deep on the current food offerings. The restaurant, in its Upper East Side environs, with its passably high-end polish and packed dining room has a lock on one star. It's just not the stuff of a goose egg, and we mean that in a good way. The real question is, does it have what it takes to get over the deuce hump and there we're going to bet the Bruni thinks, yes. In the end this is a gimmicky place that actually delivers most of the time, which makes it a reasonable two star entry. The oddsmakers have it right, that one star is the most likely outcome, but we're going to roll the dice and throw down on a deuce. Of course, for the conservatives, there is no shame in taking one star.
One Star: 3-1
Two Stars: 4-1 ??
Three Stars: 750-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1
· Park Avenue Autumn [NYT; after 8:00 PM]
?? denotes the Eater bet.
