Revamped Bill’s Flops With $66 Ribeye; $36 Fish: Review
The room smells of beef. A pianist taps out Billy Joel tunes perfunctorily while patrons leave half-empty glasses of beer on the worn spinet.
This all looks familiar. That’s because this used to be Bill’s Gay Nineties, a Midtown Manhattan watering hole dating from 1924, now trimmed to just Bill’s Food & Drink, where all is well as long as you’re drinking hard liquor and not eating much at all.
The new owner, John Delucie and the Crown Group Hospitality, kept a third of the name and even less of the spirit. A bartender nods upon your arrival, then looks back down at his iPhone.
The sommelier suggests a $110 bottle after she tells you a $72 Cotes du Rhone is sold out, then disappears when you balk. Your $30 Bordeaux is topped off with some $26 Barolo (oops!), but it doesn’t really matter, because the stems are too short for proper swirling or smelling. Reds and whites by the glass get the same one-size-fits-all glass. Hey, it’s just a tavern, right?
Cheap Brut
The $14 Champagne cocktail is advertised as containing “brut Champagne.” Then you watch a staffer pour your drink from a bottle of cheap sparkling wine. Not cool.
A stiff whiskey cocktail helps you forget you’re paying $110 for osso buco. Bottles of champers start at $115. Foie gras starts at $75; compare that with $40 at Per Se, where the price includes tip.
Sure, the foie at Bill’s can feed three, and it’s perfectly seared with a jiggly interior. Still. The kitchen should try an innovative technique to lower the price by 50 percent and cut the foie in half.
Got a corporate Amex? The $66 one-man ribeye is the priciest I’ve seen in New York; it involves a little bit of mineral-tinged meat and a lot of fat. You will leave hungry. And I’ve yet to find a costlier porterhouse for two than Bill’s $125 offering. The beef, purportedly USDA Prime, is slathered with a mound of whipped horseradish lardo tasting of neither ingredient and as bland as if it had come from the neighborhood supermarket.
Batting Average
Delucie brought us The Lion, which was one of 2010’s worst restaurants. He also gave us the mediocre Crown, whose chef, Jason Hall, mans the stoves here at Bills.
So our hopes were never high for this revamp, which seems to be striving to replicate celebrity hangouts like Nello or Harry Cipriani, where high prices act as a cover charge to keep out the plebeians.
Shrimp cocktail ($18) should be listed on the menu as seafood jerky, for the strenuous mastication required to consume these crustaceans. Bouillabaisse was gritty and, at $36, overpriced.
Beware the seasonings here. Country sausage is overwhelmed by the flavor of star anise. Tagliatelle bolognese (with a one- note goat ragu) has too much juniper.
Worst of all is macaroni fagioli, a punishing mush of penne, overcooked beans and bland sausage.
Not everything’s awful. Tuscan kale soup ($14) warms you up. At least the “bacon chop” ($38) doesn’t taste too much like bacon -- you really don’t want an entire chop’s worth of hickory smoke. And cremini mushrooms with escargot butter is an improvement over the typical steakhouse side (though the pommes puree here are fine, too).
Then you order the $69 Dover sole. There’s no tableside deboning, no meuniere. The jet-fueled luxury is crammed onto an under-size plate with ho-hum potato chips and warm celeriac and carrot slaw. The firm filets, stacked atop each other diner- style, have a pan-fry coating more appropriate for a blue-collar flatfish like flounder. This is Dover sole a la cafeteria.
We’re inured to rising costs at New York restaurants. But there’s something particularly dispiriting about Crown Group turning a storied Midtown bar into a spot as exorbitant in its prices as it is in its mediocrity.
Rating: 1/2 *
The Bloomberg Questions
Price: Easily $100 per person or more.
Sound Level: Silent upstairs when it’s justifiably empty.
Date Place: Breakup place.
Special Feature: Great foie gras, despite the $75 price.
Inside Tip: If you must have dessert, go for the Scotch pudding.
Back on My Own Dime: Nope.
Bill’s is at 57 E. 54th St. Information: +1-212-518-2727; http://www.bills54.com.
Sound-Level (in decibels): 51 to 55: Quiet enough to converse. 56 to 60: Speak up. 61 to 65: Lean in if you want to hear your date. 66 to 70: You’re reading one another’s lips. 71 to 75: You’re yelling. 76 to 85: Ear-splitting din.
(Ryan Sutton writes about New York City restaurants for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on Tumblr at www.thepricehike.com or www.thebaddeal.com))
Muse highlights include Jeremy Gerard on theater and Katya Kazakina on hot art.
To contact the writer of this column: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net or qualityrye on http://twitter.com/qualityrye
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
The $66 ribeye, a steak for one, at Bill's. The prime beef might sport a lot of fat, and just a little bit of mineral-tinged meat. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Jason Hall
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Chef Jason Hall outside of Bill's Food and Drink.
Chef Jason Hall outside of Bill's Food and Drink. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Wine director and sommelier LeLanea Fulton in the wine cellar at Bill's. She serves both whites and reds by the glass, in one-size-fits-all stems. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Bill's Dining Room
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
The upstairs dining room, abounding with taxidermy, at Bill's in New York.
The upstairs dining room, abounding with taxidermy, at Bill's in New York. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Dover Sole filets, stacked on top of one another, diner style. The $69 dish is paired with ho-hum potato chips and warm carrot and celeriac slaw at Bill's. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Bill's Cremini Mushrooms
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Cremini mushrooms, served with escargot butter at Bill's. The result is a clever riff on a classic steakhouse side dish.
Cremini mushrooms, served with escargot butter at Bill's. The result is a clever riff on a classic steakhouse side dish. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Bill's Macaroni Fagioli
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Macaroni fagioli at Bill's. The noodles are overcooked and mushy .
Macaroni fagioli at Bill's. The noodles are overcooked and mushy . Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Bill's Piano
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
An upright piano near the foyer at Bill's. A pianist pumps out tunes by Billy Joel, The Beatles and others.
An upright piano near the foyer at Bill's. A pianist pumps out tunes by Billy Joel, The Beatles and others. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
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