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Frank Bruni Namechecks The Hotel Borg in Iceland
The New York Time’s resto critic Frank Bruni recently took some time away from critiquing NYC restaurants to spend 36 hours in Reykjavik, Iceland. Though he spent much of his time partaking in the local tradition of runtur (pub crawl) — and making more than a couple swipes at some drunken locals — his choice of bedpost, the Hotel Borg, was smart, if not particularly surprising.
Bruni says the 1930 Art Deco Hotel Borg sits on the Reykjavik’s “prettiest square” and is the “grande dame of accommodations.” We’d have to agree: This past fall, HotelChatter’s Tim Leffel described the hotel as “in most respects the best in the city.”
Tags: Hotel Restaurnts / Robert DeNiro / Frank Bruni / Tribeca Hotels / → All Tags
Ago at DeNiro's Greenwich Hotel Gets Zero Stars from Frank Bruni
We actually feel sort of bad for Robert DeNiro today. The Ago restaurant inside his Greenwich Hotel (from chef Agostino Sciandri) suffered a humiliating beating from NY Times food critic Frank Bruni--receiving zero stars and a "Poor" rating.
This restaurant isn't in the hospitality business. It's in the attitude business, projecting an aloofness that permeated all of my meals there, nights of wine and poses for swingers on the make, cougars on the prowl and anyone else who values a sort of facile fabulousness over competent service or a breaded veal Milanese with any discernible meat.
Yikes. But despite a terrible review from Bruni, clueless Manhattanites and celeb wannabes must still be hitting up this "hotspot." Bruni recommends making reservations three weeks in advance for prime time seatings.
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Chop Suey Misses the Mark at The Renaissance in Times Square
In yesterday's New York Times, Frank Bruni, the paper's main restaurant reviewer, had much to say about Chop Suey, the restaurant on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel.
First, he relates, the location is excellent. It sits on the second floor overlooking the entire square, and provides a breathtaking view out three picture windows. From a stylish setting and comfortable seats you can see the enormous billboards, blazing lights, and eye-popping visual overload that makes the human drama and electricity of Times Square so unforgettable.
Problematic, however, is the hit-and-miss menu, the food ("an uneven mash of inspiration and clumsiness"), and the service:
Service is sometimes witless, epitomized by the way hosts sweep you past a nook that can accomodate coats without ever asking if you'd like it to accommodate yours.
In Bruni's inimitable style, he reports the failures on the menu, the fact that they don't actually serve chop suey, and ponders what happened to the two edgy head chefs on staff. In fact, he pens, the less-than-great dining experience is "odd, because a real effort to make Chop Suey special can be detected in much else."
That is, the "retro cool" furniture, the relaxing setting, and the incredible view, make it worth stopping by.
Just don't go for the food.
Related Stories:
Where the Lights are Never Low [New York Times]
Tags: New York Hotels / Hotel Renovations / Frank Bruni / → All Tags
If Hotels Were Celebrities, The Carlton Would Be Jane Seymour
The last time we stepped inside Country, the restaurant attached to The Carlton, the swank hotel near Madison Square Park in Manhattan, we saw Jane Seymour dining at a table nearby. It made sense she would choose to patron the establishment. Both Jane and The Carlton have been around for ages but manage to remain sleek, classy, and, yes, oddly sexy.
Just like Jane returned from post Dr. Quinn obscurity to shimmer across the stage in Dancing With The Stars, the hotel has reopened its lobby after a facelift and the addition of some extra sparkle, we hear from the The Times.
It greets you with a grand internal balcony at the top of a broad, curving limestone staircase: an ideal vantage point for the sumptuous three-story lobby, decorated in golden tones that shimmer like precious metals.
Maybe now that Jane's off the show, she can provide nightly entertainment showing her Cha Cha moves while guests wait in line for check-in.
Related Stories:
· Check In, Check Out Carlton [NY Times]
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Frank Bruni Eats Up the London NYC Hotel
The NYT restaurant critic Frank Bruni did a guest stint yesterday in the paper's weekly "Check-in, Check-out" as a hotel reviewer checking in on the London NYC Hotel. But then again, it does make sense since the hotel has its infamous Gordon Ramsay restaurant.
Bruni first liked the amount of space the rooms in this all-suite hotel provide, starting at about $400 a night.
The octagonal living room had a kidney-shaped sectional sofa on which at least four people could comfortably sit, a round coffee table that could be elevated to function as a dining table, an enormous desk with a proper desk chair, and enough floor space left over for a Pilates session, had I been so inclined.
Maybe he could invite Bill Marriott in and they could do pilates together. Other noteworthy room amenities include a flat-screen television in the living room and in the bathroom, and a long shower with heads at opposite ends so two people can shower at once.
Of course, Bruni tested out the room service, ordering a sunchoke risotto and a peekytoe crab salad which he said was just as good as it was in the restaurant, although pricey.
In the end, Bruni was pretty soft on London NYC only complaining about the pitiful fitness center (they are supposedly building a "real" one set to open this summer) and a few lapses in what was otherwise pretty good service.
[Photo: Marko Georgiev for The New York Times]
Related Stories:
· Check In, Check Out [NY Times]
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