Buenos Aires – In an interesting “follow-up” to my posting on September 18 about my experience in exploring the new restaurants of the Time Warner Center in New York, the New York Times published these notes today:

Nearly two years after it was announced that he would become the final star in the constellation of top chefs at the Time Warner Center, Charlie Trotter and the building’s retail developers have decided to cancel plans for him to open a seafood restaurant there.

and

In addition to the loss of Mr. Trotter’s restaurant, Mr. Himmel said he was looking for a replacement for Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s V Steakhouse, on the building’s fourth floor.

Let’s see, out of five “top” restaurants, that’s one out of the picture before it ever opened, and another one headed out. There’s just a limit to what people are going to be willing to pay for in the way of dinner in a shopping mall… and you know, as a diner, I’m not really interested in the fact that a restaurateur is paying way too much rent, I’m far more concerned about being overcharged for the quality by someone who’s just trying to make up for that.