People mistakenly...tend to focus on these three-to-four star restaurants and to me that's not really the sign of vitality and underlying health. It's kind of the one-star restaurants — how many of those do you have and what level are they? And Fleur de Sel always struck me as the kind of restaurant that would be like the best restaurant in town automatically in a medium-size city. And in New York it passes. There are tons of restaurants you can go to that can offer a similar level of quality. You just can't say that about any other city in the United States.--William Grimes, quoted in Grub Street
Mr. Grimes, former restaurant critic for the New York Times, has just published a book called "Appetite City" which records the history of popular restaurants and dining trends in New York City from the New Amsterdam times to the present. Good writing and a scholarly-yet-readable approach to some of our favorite history.
