As someone who can be a total sucker for preciousness (see also: my love letter to the Ace Hotel), I also adore it when other writers stick a pin in it:
“There’s nothing that represents the ongoing degradation of the very soulful soul of New York than the invasion of cookie-cutter-branded theme eateries. ESPN Zone! Hawaiian Tropic Zone! Planet Hollywood! The Goddamned Olive Garden! …
[But] if you want to see a theme restaurant that’s really flourishing, visit Keith McNally’s jam-packed new pizzeria, Pulino’s, on the formerly gritty Bowery. Like all of McNally’s super-successful restaurants—from Pastis to Balthazar to Schiller’s to Morandi—it offers a cozy, charming, carefully curated experience-in-a-box. Now, that experience is undeniably more sophisticated and deft than, say, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. But it’s also undeniably the result of a meticulous formula, one built as much on replicating a particular fantasy experience as is any Rainforest Cafe. The experience here, though, is a “darling, tucked-away bistro you happily discovered”—except that now you can pretty much stumble over one on every other block…
No, these eateries don’t feature giant TV screens, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie memorabilia, grossly inedible food, or animatronic singing animals. We’re much too refined for that. Instead, the theme in these theme restaurants is My, What Good Taste You Have.”
Good lord, that summary just could not be more awesome.
It’s a reminder to me for the next time I want to wax rhapsodic about a precious–and of course, completely unique!–little travel experience I had, that we’re all on the slippery slope that leads to the “authentic Italian” 16-cheese special dish at the Olive Garden.
Cynics Who Liked This Also Liked: “Hidden Tuscany,” a.k.a. Tuscany Is the ‘Twilight’ of Travel Destinations
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