Lahey abandoned the idea of using this pass-through window. It's going to be more of a sit-down restaurant instead, he said.
After reading Gael Greene's post about Jean-Georges Vongerichten's involvement in Sullivan Street Bakery founder Jim Lahey's pizzeria, I called Lahey for a clarification. He said that Vongerichten and his partner, Phil Suarez, were investors in his pizzeria but they will have no involvement in either the management or the food being made there. The pizzeria will be called Company, spelled "Co." in the logo.
Lahey also told me that the equipment for the pizzeria hadn't arrived yet, and he doesn't expect it to be installed until the end of August or the beginning of September. Lahey is, of course, one of the city's and the country's great bread-bakers, so all serious eaters are eagerly awaiting the opening of his pizzeria.
He will probably not be making his trademark room-temperature Roman-style pizza at the new place (Lahey never says never). He will be making round, Neapolitan-style pies and perhaps other types of flatbreads. Lahey made some of these pizzas for a holiday party he invited me to the year before last, and I can tell you they were so good Lahey's place will likely make its way into my top-ten pizzeria list for the country shortly after opening.
I'm not sure what other pizzerias he went to (he did go to Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles), but I'm quite certain he did not make it to Apizza Scholls.
All of the serious eaters at the Slice-Serious Eats office eagerly await Lahey's opening, as we work just a hop, skip, and a pizza paddle away from the place.
Company
230 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10001 (at West 24th Street; map)
This is so exciting. Jean Georges is my hero. Not only is his own cuisine incredible, he is an amazing restaurateur. He and his gang are like the Superfriends of food.
Last night, we watched the waiter tell the two diners next to us (who had waited for 40 minutes for a table and who had ordered 20 minutes prior to this) that the restaurant was OUT of PIZZA DOUGH. It was not even 10PM. The manager, at first refused to even come to the table to talk with the diners, and when he finally did show up he refused to cover even the cost of the drinks. The couple was irate (and rightly so) and one of the diners used the f-word at which point the manager kicked them out of the restaurant.
We were still discussing the horrible treatment the couple had received when NOT TEN MINUTES LATER, the hostess sat another group of 3 diners at the SAME TABLE. We waited for the waiter to come over and humbly apologize for a lack of dough, but instead they brought them FOUR PIZZAS! SO, it appears that you have to be SOMEONE in this town to get decent service (and possibly even PIZZA) at this restaurant.
DO NOT GO TO CO.
The pizza was fine, but nothing amazing. Definitely not worth a 45 minute wait. And definitely not if you need ANY customer service!
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2 Comments:
This is so exciting. Jean Georges is my hero. Not only is his own cuisine incredible, he is an amazing restaurateur. He and his gang are like the Superfriends of food.
simon at 3:45PM on 08/12/08
Last night, we watched the waiter tell the two diners next to us (who had waited for 40 minutes for a table and who had ordered 20 minutes prior to this) that the restaurant was OUT of PIZZA DOUGH. It was not even 10PM. The manager, at first refused to even come to the table to talk with the diners, and when he finally did show up he refused to cover even the cost of the drinks. The couple was irate (and rightly so) and one of the diners used the f-word at which point the manager kicked them out of the restaurant.
We were still discussing the horrible treatment the couple had received when NOT TEN MINUTES LATER, the hostess sat another group of 3 diners at the SAME TABLE. We waited for the waiter to come over and humbly apologize for a lack of dough, but instead they brought them FOUR PIZZAS! SO, it appears that you have to be SOMEONE in this town to get decent service (and possibly even PIZZA) at this restaurant.
DO NOT GO TO CO.
The pizza was fine, but nothing amazing. Definitely not worth a 45 minute wait. And definitely not if you need ANY customer service!
AverageJoe at 1:34PM on 01/07/09