Outside of the Theater at Bumble and bumble in the Meatpacking District

Panel On: Trends - The NYC Restaurant: Past, Present & Future with Chef-Restauranteur, Bobby Flay, Restauranteur-Publisher, John McDonald, Food Critic, Alan Richman and Publicist Jennifer Baum, moderated by Ben Leventhal

At a panel entitled “Trends – the NYC Restaurant: Past, Present and Future,” (see photo and caption above), participants hashed out their differences about their top five New York City restaurants -  Le Bernardin and Balthazar were among the classics that drew greatest consensus among the experts.

Each panelist offered his or her perspective on how the real estate bubble has redefined the restaurant business in the past decade and has contributed to the meteoric rise of celebrity chefs, the importance of architechtural design, blockbuster restaurants and restaurant and hospitality publicists. Bobby Flay helped translate the evolution of the restaurant business in recent decades into economic terms by sharing that it cost him $280,000 to open Mesa Grill in 1991. He acknowledged that to replicate the equivalent of that concept in today’s restaurant market would require a minimum of five million dollars.

Flay, who was as personable and straight-talking as he is on T.V., also gushed about burgers, fried chicken and the recent opening of his new Long Island burger joint Bobby’s Burger Palace.

All panelists agreed that the despite the glamorization of the restaurant business, the key element for success and longevity in the business is quality food.

There was also overwhelming consensus among them that the trends in New York City restaurant scene are pointing toward a proliferation of high-end Italian restaurants.

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