Dean St. chef is gone
from the Times:
Nate Smith, the chef who had been at the Spotted Pig and opened Dean Street in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn one month ago, has left. “We plan to make a transition away from his menu,” said Rob Gelardi, a partner.
I didn't even get to go there yet!
Comments
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I've been to Dean Street twice.
It seems to be wrestling with whether it will be more of a restaurant of more of bar.
....at the moment, the crowd is a mix of local families, and singles!
Which way will it go?
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/02/nate_smith_was_fired_from_dean.html?mid=twitter_GrubStreet -
he got fired because he didn't want the TV on in the bar.
http://www.onehansonplace.com/2011/02/truth-comes-out-on-ouster-of-dean.html
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wow. sorry he lost his job, but good for him and too bad for the rest of us. nothing ruins a good bar, to say nothing of a restaurant, quicker than a tv.
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Yeah, good for him. I hate tvs in restaurants, and in bars, too, for that matter (unless they play cool stuff like Freddy's does). If they're going to start blasting sports at Dean St., I won't be checking out their new chef either.
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I'm not anti-TV at all, but agree more bars/restaurants need to shut the damn thing off. Just yesterday I was trying to schedule a lunch and the very first criteria was, which of these places will NOT have a TV?
Marketeers, take note, if you want my money.
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We had a bunch of friends who were planning on meeting there, but changed our minds after we found out Nate Smith had been canned. Interesting twist to know that the rift was over the TV. I gotta back the chef on this one...
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I agree with everyone else. A restaurant with a TV is not a restaurant... it is at best a diner (and that may be unfair to diners).
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That's too bad, because I agree with everyone else: love restaurants without a TV. I hadn't even had a chance to try that place! I was looking forward to it, too, because I hadn't been crazy impressed when it was Tavern on Dean.
Looks like the owners are going more for the bar than the restaurant feel. Sigh....
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This guy is a hero. A TV in a restaurant is like when someone turns a TV on at a party. It sucks. I've noticed that so many restaurants - not bars - put in TVs. Rice Thai, Okeanos, Mura, to name a few.
I'm a big TV watcher, but not at a restaurant. It's distracting. For bars it depends. Dram has TVs, but they close the cabinets on them when a sporting event isn't on (at least they used to). Sports bars should have lots of TVs.
I also like it if they are like Freddy's or Bar 169 in Chinatown, which always shows some campy film from the 60s featuring James Coburn and scantily clad women with eye-gouging boobs.
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Hmmm. I also hate TVs in restaurants but I was glad they had one because sometimes you do want to watch a game, and not at Plan B. Does the back room have a TV? Is there anywhere else in PH that you can watch baseball?
I've been there once so far and wasn't too impressed. I asked for a burger, medium, and got a burger, rare. Very rare even. When I waved the waiter over to discuss this, he proceeded to give me a surprisingly long oration on the chef's unique notions of what rare, medium, etc. meant. You know, the only reason that system really works is because there's a sort of agreement between people on what those words mean. Anyway, I got a replacement burger which was still rarer than I would have expected.
If they hire someone who can cook meat through and let me and my dad watch the game, I'll be happy enough. Plenty of places to go if I want something more gourmet. I guess I just want ToD back.
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I would think there's a better solution than firing the guy... there must've been more to it than just the TV. If the layout is anything like it used to be, there are many places to put the TV so that it would only be visible from the bar.
As much as I don't need a TV in a restaurant, I like a muted TV at a bar. Obviously I am not alone, and I would think a place on that corner probably can't make it as only a fancy restaurant - it needs neighborhood types. That means dads and youngsters who will fill the place beyond the dinner rush. That means Knicks games and the like.
Anyway, I was looking forward to going there, and if the food was that great and a great draw, there HAD to be a solution that would've worked for both parties. Maybe, turn the TV off during dinner?
Even Cornelius has a small TV. SODA breaks one out for big games. And Woodwork has the best burgers (the sliders) and the best TVs.
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tavern on dean had TVs over the bar.
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I've been to Dean St twice for dinner and both times was a bit disappointed. Each item was a little off, like the brussels, which should be delicious without almost any work, were drenched in something mustard like that was not good. The broccoli rabe was over salted, and I love salt. The portions were bigger than I needed them to be. I love the place, it's nice to have a meal there, I did not notice a TV in the back room, where there are only diners, and I do not think there is a need for a TV. When I go, often on a weekend, it has been packed with a lot of people hanging out in twos and small groups mainly having drinks, while diners are in the back. I want this place to make it.
I usually like a TV at the bar, mainly on weeknights when I might come in by myself for a burger at the bar and a little baseball. But only at the bar.
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We miss TOD terribly. It was our go to place for burgers and brunch and the staff was really wonderful. The tvs were always muted unless there was a really big sports event on. My husband and I have been to Dean Street a few times and the burgers and salads are really good. Our biggest complaint is the menu is rather limited. I have no problem with tvs in a pub style restaurant like Dean Street. Their tvs are not very big and they do not have one in the back room if you are bothered by them. I hope Dean Street continues to have a good crowd with out their 'star' chef.
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I miss ToD's prix fixe brunch! The brunch options at Dean Street seem rather limited.
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In this week's New York Magazine (the Best of NY issue) Dean St. is listed as one of the most child-friendly restaurants in the city.
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...which might mean they have decided to be more of a restaurant than a bar.
Or are they trying to be both?
Or are they confused as to what they want to be?
Regardless, it is full wherever I walk by during prime hours
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We had dinner here on Saturday, for the second time. First was right after it opened. It was slower, far less crowded, but also seemed to reflect more of the neighborhood, for the better I think. The TV is huge, and it's in direct line of sight of the door. It does set a tone, and not a nice one if you are there for a non-sports-watching night.
As for the restaurant part, I was very disappointed. Our first meal was really lovely, even though they ran out of a bunch of stuff. Our recent meal was really uneven, and they still had run out of one of the dishes we wanted. The caesar salad was far overdressed, and a couple of the other dishes suffered from the same sense of "too much" -- too much garlic (overwhelming a nicely prepared steak), too much kale (making the bruschetta very soggy), etc. They are cooking very straightforward dishes, which is fine, but you have to be confident enough in the quality of your ingredients not to smother them.
That said, I can see this place as a great local option to take family or other diners who aren't that adventurous, and who might be more comfortable in a big, not-so-trendy, bar & grill than in someplace like james or the vanderbilt. If that's the market though, it needs to come down a dollar or two on many of the dishes.
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I went in for beers and burgers with a coupole of friends the other night, and we sat up front, but not at the bar. The TV seemed to be a 30-incher, so hardly huge, and I had to strain to see it from the corner by the window. At the bar it would be easy to see, but I don't imagine it would bother anyone elsewhere. There is no TV in the back room (as there was in the TOD days).
The burger was pretty good - it actually looked better than it was, but THE FRIES WERE OFF-THE-CHARTS DELICIOUS. Seriosuly, one of my friends even went back and said the fries were even better the second time.
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Just want to put in my 2¢ for disliking TVs at non-sports bars.
Especially when there isn't an event on and bars just leave Discovery or SpeedTV some dumb sh-t on.
Whenever I find a bar without tvs I always make a mental note.
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the tv is quite easy to see from most of the bar room. i didn't take my measuring tape, but it's big enough. we weren't sitting at the bar itself, but we were in the "bar area," and it bothered me. it's not just whether you can see it easily from 30 feet away, but the fact that everyone else is watching it, or "straining to." it would be one thing if you could choose to sit in the back room, but the back room is pretty small, and we didn't think it was worth the wait. all things considered, the food just isn't good enough to justify the expense and/or sitting in a sports bar to eat it. unless, of course, i felt like watching sports. not that there's anything wrong with that.
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