Boys'-club mentality.
The New York Times has an aggressively early sneak peek at how Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick will transform the Four Seasons space once they open their still-unnamed $30 million restaurant come 2017. Aside from re-creating dishes from the 1960s, like "coriander prosciutto" and "stroganoff with rare beef," there's one part of the plan that seems pretty problematic:
Mr. Carbone and his two partners, whose restaurant company is called the Major Food Group, want the tone of the room to be masculine, meat-embracing and signified by the brisk confidence of the Kennedy years. Mr. Zalaznick described it as “a true American grill.”
A few steps away in the Pool Room, however, Mr. Torrisi will oversee a different vision: a shrine to newness. He said the room would have a more feminine feel, a menu revolving around vegetables and seafood, and service that would not shrink from tableside extravagance.
Perhaps the Major Food Group team is taking its retro concept a bit too seriously? Throwback dishes are great; tired, outdated gendered stereotypes are not.
@pete_wells imagine a remake of Yentl, except it's about an aspiring gourmande who wants to break into the Grill Room to eat with the boys.
— hot skillet druckman (@cettedrucks) May 17, 2016
"in the grill room boys will play sports; in the pool room girls will play house" https://t.co/4vgfvdayUA pic.twitter.com/JOliuo8H1K
— ryan sutton (@qualityrye) May 17, 2016
This tells me everything I need to know about Major Food Dudes plans for frmr Four Seasons https://t.co/bQTueaFJsJ pic.twitter.com/L7KAqNFXa8
— Nell Casey (@nellcasey) May 17, 2016
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Filed Under: woof, mario carbone, new york, rich torrisi, the four seasons