A Reply From 9 North

I received a polite comment about my 9 North post…from the chef! I sent him the link because it’s tacky to criticize him behind his back. To his credit, he was nice, and didn’t tell me to stick my amateurish, asinine comments. He also pointed out that his steaks are indeed 21-day dry aged from a local company.

I think that Mr. Bernstein is a serious chef trying to create a serious restaurant, and I am going to take his food seriously. That means holding the experience to the standard that he is trying to reach, but hasn’t achieved yet. I think that he will get there.

2 Replies to “A Reply From 9 North”

  1. I’m guessing that a lot of these purveyors are selling a bill of goods. They know that “aged” is the new buzzword and that some people even understand “dry aged” vs. wet. so they’re offering these services to restaurants. unfortunately a restaurant isn’t going to have the quality control that it is has if it does the aging itself, which i suppose is why so many restaurants that are serving dry-aged steaks aren’t delivering the quality that i’d expect, especially at that dry-aged price-point.and i’m not sure 21 days is enough for my taste. 28 days seems to be the norm for those restaurants that I like, and that’s a full 33% more time aging. or something like that.BYOB? hmm. i was hoping it wasn’t. sometimes i like a place with a bar!the monkfish at Crave, you can cut it with a fork.

  2. So young, and yet so jaded. Yeah, you’re probably correct. And once the pipeline is full of aging meat, the extra cost is not that significant. I think that the real aged-beef purveyors are getting a huge markup, mostly because of the percieved barriers to entry. But if a place like Whole Foods can age beef, anyone can.

    Stop your silly dreaming about a bar with excellent food. It won’t happen in New Jersey, so stop torturing yourself.

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