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Week Around the Ists
The ever-vigilant other lifestyle sites/magazines in this city have picked up the news of local restuarant maven Eduardo Vargas' crazy inflated plans for expansion, so we figured we'd chat about it too. Basically, if you haven't read Urbanatomy or Smart Shanghai's takes, here's a summary.
- Azul is being made over, turning from its current Spanish tapas-style self into "modern Peruvian." We wonder if this means they'll also be overhauling their brunch, which while still delicious, has lost a little of its lustre through the year. For those who haven't passed it by, Azul's on that Dongping Lu fancy expat food street.
- A new restaurant will be opening on the Fumin-Donghu strip: Bistro Burger, a... place that will sell bistro-style burgers. Never would've guessed, right? There'll also be spiked milkshakes and combo plates.
- Then there's Balthazaar, another bistro place, though not French like the infamous Balthazaar of New York. More American food this time around (though he says he'll have coq au vin too...). This'll be on Taikang Lu, in Tianzifang no doubt.
- and FINALLY, there will be La Brasa, a Peruvian chicken concept. Funny story about La Brasa:
Over the summer, we got wind of a special deal that was supposedly happening at this new chicken place. It was all-you-can-eat from 3pm to 6pm for some insanely low price. Excited about the possibility of gorging on Peruvian chicken for insanely low prices, our interns called La Brasa's number and asked if this was really true.
"Wei?" said the person on the other line. Our interns explained their intentions. "Uh... English... uh... deng yi xia."
"Wei?" the next voice said.
"Is this the place that serves chicken?" our interns asked.
"Yes, we do delivery," the voice said back.
"No, no, we meant, do you guys have that all you can eat chicken deal?" they tried to clarify.
"Yes. Delivery!" the voice told them.
Flabbergasted - as interns easily are - by this exchange, they hung up the phone, shrugged their shoulders and assumed La Brasa didn't actually exist. Now that we're reading about it again, we think we have figured out why there was that confusion - the La Brasa we contacted was probably the first one, a Vargas + someone else deal that went sour. We're hoping for a slightly more successful experience with the new location.
Photo from Shanghai Star
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A point I hastily forgot to mention in my Urbanatomy posting: Eduardo seemed to indicate to me that he wasn't going to ruin a good thing with his brunch. I think you can count on it remaining pretty much 'as is.'
Bistro burgers, with spiked shakes. That an interesting, original concept. I like the way he's appended a French sounding name with burger as well. Kind of makes one think of a more sophisticated burger. Gourmet, if you like. Oh, wait - how could I have forgotten - Gourmet Cafe, who do a more sophisticated burger in a range of styles and who have just expanded to a second restaurant. And they have a large range of spiked shakes.
Now, I am sure that the GC concept is not unique throughout the world and it may well be that Eduardo had the seed of the idea completely independently or just is riffing on somewhere outside Shanghai, but it seems hugely opportunistic of him to open up such a similar concept just after the progenitor of that concept in Shanghai has expanded their operation to a second venue. It's not that competition isn't healthy in a town and I'm quite sure that GC will be able to stand up to this (I'm a big fan of the new Shanghai Centre location), but the problem with this (as with most of Eduardo's restaurants) is that it will be "just good enough" cooking trying to keep Joe Average happy, rather than attempt to add to Shanghai's restaurant scene. Fair play to him/them, they are very good businessmen.
And using Balthazar for the name of his not-quite-French bistro, that's a bit cheap too - most people who have paid attention to restaurants worldwide would be aware of the roaring success of Balthazar in New York (hell, most Sex And The City fans would know it). Along with pinching a concept, it seems Eduardo is also hoping a little New York glitz will fall on this new operation by appropriating the name of a restaurant that did actually do something new in its respective city.
I'm glad that writers here have drawn attention to the Balthazar link in their articles, but it would have been nice if they were just as ready to point out the similarity of a "new Vargas concept" to another already successful restaurant in Shanghai. Then again, maybe I'm jaded, maybe I'll be surprised, maybe it will be genuinely good. I'm sure I'll go at least once, as I often to do Eduardo's restaurants, hopeful that I'll be proved wrong....
That's an interesting comment, but I don't think you can accuse Vargas of stealing Gourmet Burger's idea any more than you can accuse... say... House of Flour for stealing Whisk's idea for "a desert place with to-die-for chocolate stuff that also serves decent sandwiches." Or vice-versa. I don't know which came first.
But the point is, bistro burgers and spiked shakes aren't supposed to be a new concept. You can rag on Vargas for cooking up substandard food (if you think he does), but not for being intentionally unimaginative. At least yet. If I find a Bun Laden falafel sandwich on Bistro Burger's menu, I'll eat my words (and that falafel sandwich).
A fair point you've picked up on. My irritation was more to do with the seeming opportunism of it. As you point out, that concept is nothing new. I feel, however, that the timing of Vargas rolling that concept out is a little fishy: GC's expansion kind of suggests that Shanghai is a place that they think they can roll their concept out to another location, so while they are the first to take the risk with a concept that is new to Shanghai, Vargas is kind of riding in their slipstream.
While I was careful not to use the term stealing or pinching at the start, I slipped up and did so later on - if I could edit that out, I would.
It's just a pity that with his resources, media clout and following Eduardo doesn't do anything particularly bold or risk-taking. But fundamentally my beef is with the mediocre standard of most of his restaurants.
@Beelzebub
Do you work for Gourmet Cafe or do you own it?
No. No relationship.
Eduardo Vargas just spews out a new concept every six months when he finds out that the last one isn't reaping dividends. I've met him a couple of times. He is a prick.