Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Persimmon, the debut restaurant of Youngsun Lee, a Dave Chang disciple. Today, the Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows:
Zero Stars: 9-1Persimmon is the 20-seat, single table restaurant in the East Village that has drawn some comparison, justified or not, to Momofuku Ko. Ko, of course, own three stars from Bruni. Because of the format at Persimmon and the chef's ties to Chang, it'll draw comparisons to both Ko and Ssam Bar, which has two Bruni stars. But, let's begin by ruling out the impossible, which a rating equal to Ko or better. Bye bye, trey; never knew ya, four-spot. Persimmon, which we'll go ahead and admit we haven't yet visited, has gotten positive enough buzz and is of good enough value to make two stars a less-than-insane bet, but it's not how we see this going. The Bruni is reviewing a new and, however you slice it, rookie effort with some serious rough edges. But he doesn't pick on little restaurants—adios, zilch train—so Eater is taking one star.
One Star: 2-1 ??
Two Stars: 4-1
Three Stars: 25-1
Four Stars: 10,000-1
· Persimmon [NYT; after 8:00 PM]
?? denotes the Eater bet.