![]() ![]() But given the choice between Tao - a place that feels like a dream you’d have after drinking several Four Lokos - and the relative snoozefest known as Cathédrale, we’ll take the former any day. Does that mean you’ll find us at Tao later, drinking $20 vodka sodas while we try to get the DJ to play the 2 Chainz remix of “Bubble Butt”? It’s doubtful. Sure, they call the sea bass by its French name (loup de mer), and there are few items on the menu that are legitimately worth ordering - like the pristine caviar omelette and baguette with rotisserie drippings - but there’s no element of fun to justify the high prices and mostly mediocre food.ĭespite the huge space and constant crowd, Cathédrale is boring. Of course, food isn’t a bad thing for a restaurant (most people expect it), but going to a Tao Group spot purely to eat some gummy steak tartare and a $37 plate of forgettable sea bass is similar to attending jury duty just to hear someone call your name. Unlike Tao, there aren’t any sake bombs or bachelor parties to keep you entertained - there’s just food. It’s an impressive-looking spot, but a few minutes after sitting down, the effect wears off, and you wonder what’s next. And just past this luxurious-looking spread, there’s a dining room with ceilings high enough to inspire awe, rumination, and slight nausea. It has some big booths, a bar that could seat every person you’ve dated up to the present, and a table covered in apples, breadsticks, and champagne on ice (all of which appear to be purely decorative). The subterranean restaurant, located in the heart of Chelsea, is intended to look. To get to Cathédrale, find the Moxy Hotel on 11th street, walk down several flights of stairs, and enter a space that looks like a fancy mall bistro inside a dystopian place of worship. Designed by Rockwell Group, TAO Downtown offers a distinct sense of arrival and discovery and is the first TAO venue where guests descend into a multi-level space. Without the ridiculousness the Tao Group has become known for, there isn’t much of a point in coming here. But, with its soups du jour, stiff service, and dad rock soundtrack, it also feels like a club restaurant undergoing a midlife crisis. It’s a pricey, elaborately designed restaurant where Heidi Klum hosted a Halloween party featuring the likes of Ice-T and Dylan Sprouse, and the food here is occasionally pretty good. Unfortunately, this place takes the worst parts of the Tao experience and leaves most of the fun behind.Ĭathédrale is a massive spot in the bottom of an East Village hotel specializing in vaguely French food. And when we went to Cathédrale, the latest spot from the people behind Tao, we anticipated something similar. Depending on your mindset, you can have a great time there. We understand Tao, and appreciate it for what it is: a cavernous party restaurant for people who want to do sake bombs, shout things, eat handfuls of popcorn shrimp, and temporarily drop any pretense that they’re adult human beings. ![]()
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