It's not just Mark in the kitchen, it's Lee on the list! Went by the other night, but it was slammed.

Ever seen the list at La Grenouille? It will give this one a run for its money. Utterly cynical or oblivious.

Somehow knowing that the wines are (OK, not great but.) so much better on the Paris list makes it a wee bit more egregious. But I see what you mean. La Grenouille's idea of Loire wine is Ladoucette.

"They're also pouring Domaine Pepiere's gorgeously focused cabernet franc by the glass for $10."

Lovely wine - Outrageous price.

Actually, very fair price. Pours are generous. And what's more, industry standard is to charge by the glass what the whole bottle would cost retail. This pricing is closer to the wholesale.

A "low Bordeaux" for how much??

Madness. Even if I had the money, I don't think I'd waste it on such outrageous ripoffs.

Take me to a good little place on the LES or Hudson St. and give me wonderful food with wine at unplutocratic prices.

Now there's a restaurant that deserves to have its liquor license revoked. I'll never eat there but if confronted with such a list anywhere else I'd happily drink beer or, assuming they botch the choices there too, water.

Bruni gave this place three stars!! How can he justify 3 stars for a place that serves wine this bad? I had the same experience here. Was terribly disappointed and disgusted with the wine program.

Hey Byron, Tell us what you ended up drinking?
I think that's a great rule though, remove a star for such an appalling wine list. But maybe it was going to be 4-star and went down to 3 because of the wine? -Alice

Alice, I've just stumbled onto your site. It's a hoot. Good to run into someone who does not lack for opinions and the cojones to state them loud and clear. I've not had the pleasure of a trip to Robuchon's temple of dining in NYC -- there's the small matter of a few thousand miles between my home and his little neighborhood boite. But your description of the wine list could apply to quite a few NYC restaurants, based on my recent experiences in Gotham. Unless these establishments are delivered a wake up call in the form of bad press and customers ready willing and able to vote with their feet, this kind of abuse will remain all too commonplace. Yes, your rents in Gotham are high, but please, there is no good excuse for putting a $10 bottle of not very palatable wine from the corner Safeway on the list of a top tier restaurant, much less any explanation why that wine ought to cost $75 a bottle. In the case of a restaurant run by someone with Robuchon's star power, the only explanation one can come up with is unmitigated arrogance somewhere along the food chain. It is quite possible M. Robuchon really doesn't know what he's doing winewise -- which could well be the case, as I've seen more than one chef of the French persuasion who puts his own wine list together and assumes that being French and knowing how to cook means he necessarily knows all he needs to know about wine, despite having spent no time or effort figuring out which end is up with the fermented grape. Or perhaps M. Robuchon is completely focused on his food and has been cajoled into turning control of the wine list over to someone who is a scoundrel and/or a know-nothing with scar tissue where his taste buds and olfactory bulb ought to be. But in most cases, there is a solution, at least when one is close to home: bring your own wine, pay the corkage, pass a glass to the kitchen as a peace offering and take full responsibility for your own enological well being, even if that means bringing your own glassware to the party, too. In my view, there is no good excuse for drinking bad wine, and there are but rare occasions when I cannot contrive a way to avoid doing it. It's particularly pathetic to be resigned to drinking bad wine when there is transcendent food on the plate in front of you. You may as well slather your food with Gulden's hot dog mustard as drink some godawful Clos de Peugeot or other with your meal and pay through the nose for the privilege. Granted, there are places where this just isn't possible. If that is also a place with a well chosen list of its own, fine. If it is a place where I know the wine is bad and overpriced, there's that little thing about voting with your feet I spoke about earlier. Just say no! Particularly in NYC, there is no shortage of places to have an excellent meal and a solid, interesting and fairly priced bottle of wine or two, whether it's off the house list or something you toted in the door yourself. I'd no more knowingly and willingly go to a restaurant with an insulting and stupid wine list than I would patronize a place with stupid and insulting staff in the front room, no matter how good the food and no matter how much "buzz" the place may generate.

Hi David, Thanks so much for writing. Yes, rent is high, and that adds to the cost but there is no excuse for a list. I wish more people viewed it as disrespectful to the dining public. However, not all NYC restaurants are as guilty. When you come to town, write me a note and I'll supply you with a list. OK? --Alice

Alice: I do have clients in NYC and get there reasonably often, so your thoughts on good places would definitely be helpful. I probably know just enough about what's what in Gotham eateries to be dangerous. Favorites have come and gone but Cafe Boulud, Savoy, Fleur de Sel (although some bad reports lately from friends), Casa Mono, Bouley, Gramercy Tav, Chanterelle have been standbys of sorts.