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Update July 23, 2017- Told you so (see below). They have closed after a little more than a year in business.
February 18, 2015- By Steven E. Greer
I am friends with the owner of the space that used to house Kutsher’s, and is now the new Tribeca Almond. I was going to try it out, but took one look at the menu and declined the opportunity to give them free press. I am quite upset at their menu choices.
Almond is following the New York trends like a bunch of sheep. They are delivering very average casual entrees at fine-dining prices, and using the $54 “chicken to serve two” gimmicks to jack up the average price of the entrees to $30.27.
If someone were to order the overpriced $22 hamburger, they would be paying at least $30 after taxes and tip for a hamburger. A chicken dinner would be nearly $100.
Also, the chefs are relying on super-pretentious terms to describe the meats, such as “lamb neck” and “monkfish”. And enough with the pork chops. New York chefs all think that they must have a pork chop or else they will be laughed at by their peers. No one I know likes pork chops. It is a dry cut of meat even if it is basted or brined for weeks.
This menu created by Almond’s chef Jason Weiner is not family-friendly, while at the same time is not worthy if fine dining either. Like so many other TriBeCa restaurants, it will blend in nicely with the unremarkable mediocrity. If Almond is still in business three years from now, I will be amazed.
What Downtown desperately needs is a place like Hillstone in Midtown that serves high-quality entrees that are also in the $20-range. We do not need another wannabe French bistro.