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“InTent: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	French	Chelsea	Moderate	Don't Bother

There were four of us for dinner at InTent, Francois Payard’s new Moroccan and Mediterranean bistro in Nolita. Two prolific book authors, a wine guru and me. I arrived first. The air outside that night was hot, dark, and thick, like sticky molasses simmering on a stove. It was still near 100 degrees at 8:30 and was about to storm. I was wiped out from the heat. I checked in with the hostess, and since I was the first to arrive—and seating an incomplete party is a restaurant’s cardinal sin—the hostess asked me to have a seat at the bar to wait for the rest of my party. I did as she instructed. I sat, but the bar was about two feet too high for the stool, so my chin was about the level of the counter. This was not comfortable. I felt like a small child. But I tried to make it work. I ordered a glass of wine and observed the room from my too low stool (at the too high bar). The glassed in front room was had a hip vibe, but was soothing too, washed in earth tones, with hand blown lighting and an amber gel splashed up behind the bar. I was served my glass of rosé. I reached up to drink it. Andrew and Karen arrived next. Rosé for them too. As we finished our glasses, we were permitted to sit. I suppose that three could sit and wait for the fourth. The hostess escorted us to the tented back dining room that gives this disappointing restaurant its name, but the bartender stopped us and asked us to settle up. We were already up and following her. “Would you mind transferring our tab?” I asked. “No, I cannot transfer the tab.” He snarled. I looked at the hostess. “We can transfer it.” She smiled. “No you can’t.” He snarled. “Yes we can.” She smiled, teeth clenched. I felt they might start throwing things at one another. Okay, so the staff has some kinks to work out.

We made it into the back room (the tab was miraculously transferred), past the open kitchen and into a Ringling Brothers Big Top as dining room washed in sandy colors with long banquettes lining each side of the dining room and a long central table decorated with Moorish lanterns. It’s a nice dining room.

If only the food were as pleasant. Sadly, it is not.

And this is surprising to me considering the team behind Intent includes acclaimed chefs Francois Payard and Philippe Bertineau of Payard and that the acting chef of Intent is Craig Freeman, a Le Cirque ve ... [more, click below]

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Posted: August 6, 2006

Other restaurants in Chelsea :
+ Matsuri   + La Bottega   + Tia Pol   + Bombay Talkie   + Cookshop   + D'Or Ahn: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Buddakan   + Crema   + InTent: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Trestle on Tenth   + Klee   + El Quinto Pino   + Socarrat   + Txikito   + Co. (Company)   

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