Ryan Sutton Slams The Gallery at Villard Michel Richard

Instead of a formal review this week, Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton offers a list of 18 facts about The Gallery at Michel Richard, chef Richard's brand new tasting menu restaurant in the New York Palace Hotel, where an eight-course meal for two, with wine, tax, and tip costs $747. Sutton concedes that there are some good dishes on the menu, like the caviar with scallops, the eggplant and tomato terrine, and the Nicoise salad. But the menu is full of clunkers, the portions on the tasting menu are too big, and, as Sutton notes, "The Gallery might have the worst lighting of any New York restaurant." And weirdly, the FOH staff is all male. The takeaway:

The Gallery isn't bringing much to the New York culinary conversation. If Richard wants to offer striped bass as part of a four-course prix-fixe at $150, it needs to be better than a $30 version of the dish. It's not. And boneless rack of lamb is as exciting as hotel buffet fare, with jalapeno sauce packing all the heat of parsley.

The restaurant is only six weeks old, and Sutton does not give it a star rating. But the critic writes: "[I]f Richard is charging more than his peers, he at least needs to be hitting his golf balls on the green. The Gallery, sadly, is still very much hacking around in the rough."
· 18 Things to Know About NYC's Lousy $700 French Dinner [Bloomberg]
· All Coverage of Villard Michel Richard [~ENY~]
[Photo: Bess Adler]

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Villard Michel Richard

455 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10022

The Gallery at Villard Michel Richard

455 Madison Ave., New York, NY