Following a string of mediocre reviews, particularly a one-two punch from Adam Platt, fancy uptown restaurants Fishtail and The Oak Room have both lost their top toques. At the Oak Room, acclaimed Atlanta-based Joël Antunes has left; today rumor has it that executive chef Eric Hara will leave David Burke’s “sustainable-friendly” seafood restaurant Fishtail. Now it seems Hara will replace Antunes. The recession has created a tighter-than-normal feedback loop between poor reviews and business as usual at high profile restaurants, in part because business as usual no longer exists (read: no more expense accounts). Meanwhile, Post critic Steve Cuozzo yesterday called out a “whining” Anita Lo, blaming absentee chefs for bad reviews and recent closings. “Stop treating customers like we're idiots,” he wrote. Bad food is bad food, sure, but perhaps Cuozzo would also encourage Lo to stop cooking at charity events around town that do things like feed homeless people, which seems more important than ever.
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