Tak Room
I went to the Tak room for dinner last week. I never let anyone write a blog on GG bu me and then Emily wrote about it in her weekly blog called Somethings Considered. She eloquently wrote about the experience we had. I just had to repost her review.. I mean if I am going to share the pages, sharing them with my daughter is the best way to do it.
Thrills await you… inside of a mall
It’s strange and unnatural to climb four escalators and walk past Zara, H&M, and The Body Shop to get to your swanky dinner destination, a buzzy New York restaurant. But then you sit for a pre-dinner drink in the bar room, and you’re surprised to find that cocktails cost just $15, a relatively standard price for libations these days, and not utterly exorbitant like those served at another Continental dining room further east and uptown. You sip on one of three martinis from the menu, enjoying the live music performance by a trio of men in suits.
Soon enough, a host leads your party of six to a roomy emerald-colored booth overlooking The Vessel, which you refer to as The Shawarma. There’s Champagne, which pairs well with crispy Kennebec potato chips dunked into a pool of French onion dip. You bite into a deviled egg, and it’s satisfyingly creamy, salty, and tangy. As you decide what else to order, those same live tunes emanate from hidden speakers and fill the space around you.
Duck a l’Orange is a special, so you’ll have that, for sure. Who can resist a chicken for two, carved tableside? And where else will you have the opportunity to savor Prime Beef Short Rib Wellington? For appetizers, a few classic Caesars, plus luscious Fettuccine Alfredo laced with flecks of black winter truffle, and a warm soft-boiled egg plopped on a blini that’s thick like cake, soft inside, rich with buckwheat flavor, and served with caviar-laced crème fraîche.
You aren’t too upset about the hiccups—a light hand on parm in the Caesar, chicken that came cold, too-sweet orange sauce—because you’re here for the experience. And as you meander through the restaurant before dessert, you take in the yellow glow, the various shades of brown, the procession of carts towards and away from tableside preparations, and you pretend you’re in the Mad Men era.
You return to your party for silky-moist forkfuls of dark chocolate layer cake, luxuriously dense cheesecake drizzled in caramel, and complimentary crunchy caramel corn.
“We’re calling it fun dining, not fine dining,” Thomas Keller says of his Hudson Yards debut; a promise that TAK Room delivers on. The sad part comes when it’s over and, instead of stumbling onto the sidewalk, flushed with excitement after a Friday night meal at one of the hottest restaurants in town, you find yourself in an empty mall at 11 p.m., as the rush of adrenaline promptly flees from your system.
TAK Room
20 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001
(929) 450-4050
Comments (Archived):
I think Heatherwick was channeling Escher when he designed Vessel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…”Vessel (TKA) is a public structure and landmark…”, and “The Shawarma”.
I have it on our go-to list, after reading Emily’s email. The mall thing reminds me of what you might see in Singapore or Hong Kong where beautiful malls with higher end restaurants are not an anomaly.
Someone said that they don’t have to go to Dubai anymore.
Haha… true. I’m bracing myself for visiting the whole Hudson Yards/Shed complex, next week 🙂
I went for an event.No drive to make this a destination for most anything I do.I’ll choose local and neighborhood over anything else.
there certainly is.
You wrote of Privilege last week. One look at menu prices at this restaurant: “Caesars” are $20; Prime Rib Wellington $138 for 2; Fettuccine Alfredo- $46; Warm Soft Boiled Egg–$46. Couldn’t see prices of desserts….. well, at least it’s buzzy.
Totally privileged restaurant. The prices are insane
…because you’re here for the experience….We’re calling it fun dining, not fine dining,” Thomas Keller says of his Hudson Yards debutAlong with my ‘charge for premium seating idea’ for restaurants (which I commented about right here on this blog) a brave-er restaurant owner could consider charging a cover charge ‘for the experience’ in addition to the cost of the actual food. This would allow them to bring down the price of dishes because people’s brain reacts differently to fixed costs vs. variable costs in decision making. Somewhat well known that this happens when people get car leases, mortgage payments, and even condo fees. [1] They could also make the ‘cover’ charge refundable (taken off the bill) if the customers did not think the experience was worth it (and tweak that fee to allow for the % of people that complained for a non-legitimate reason). No question a bump from the publicity angle (people even mentioning to friends they like or didn’t like brings more attention to the restaurant for the pioneering behavior). There are two reactions people would have to this idea. One is ‘that would never work’ and two is ‘that would back fire’. That is usually what happens when people don’t have direct social proof of someone else (a competitor) doing similar. Fwiw I knew right off the top that Danny Meyers tipping or no tipping policy would not work (despite having zero experience in the restaurant business compared to his 30 years). Why? Because it means the menu prices are higher as well as the servers not having the same motivations. It’s human nature and behavior.https://ny.eater.com/2018/2…[1] A case in point my daughter in her apartment in NYC not thinking about the fixed cost to ‘build a wall’ (to make a 1br into a 2br) but focusing on the monthly rent charge solely. Not a math thing not a ‘not a business person thing’ but more the way many people think about numbers. With condo that I am involved in I explained to others that an assessment is definitely desirable to increasing condo fees. Generally. Why? Because a new owner thinks about the monthly condo fee but rarely asks ‘what have the special assessments been over the years’ (even if they know there is one being paid off). To which the management company responded ‘you actually were the only person in 15 years that even asked about past special assessments’. Hence they agreed and we are doing it the way I suggested.
thanks.what’s the wine strategy for this place if you care to share?always interesting to me as with wine, price has nothing to do with quality or scarcity for the most part, except the cost of storage.being in this community, always looking to see the price markup strategy and the very best places I like, are at the lower end of the markup margin.
Seriously deep expensive list
thanks.(this place is not anywhere on my list, though really enjoyed the write up.)
NICE. Making a duck for Mother’s Day in my house. Best duck I have ever had is at Le Bouchon in Chicago on Damen and Armitage. Julia Child used to think that too.Interesting a shopping mall-maybe a good wrinkle for them? Fine dining? Usually malls are in great locations, and have plenty of free parking. Save on valet.
Not in NYC!
; )