Review Revue: Reader @ Alhambra

This week, the Reader revisits Alhambra Palace, following its radical restructuring last week. Actually, a better characterization of the article would be that it chronicles owner Naser Rustom’s thinking behind the megaraunt, goosesteps over the circumstances of ex-ex-ecutive chef Eric Aubriot’s departure, and focuses on new executive chef Daniel Wright’s attempts to move Alhambra forward.

The most interesting new thing we learned from Anne Spiselman’s article (although if you’re not familiar with the story, you’ll learn many new things) is that the original raison d’etre for creating a space this size was in order to house Rustom’s growing collection of artifacts from the Middle East and North Africa. So now we get it: it’s a museum! With live entertainment and dancing, like all museums should have.

The goal of Daniel Wright’s new menu, which is less French and more Moroccan than the previous incarnation, is to “have a ‘wow’ factor to rival the decor;” a tall order, but Wright’s done a good job before at Souk. Oddly, the review doesn’t contain any criticism of Wright’s cooking, so it might be too soon to tell. Doubtless that others will opine before long.

Rethinking the Alhambra [Reader]

Alhambra Palace [MenuPages]
Alhambra Palace [Official Site]

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Review Revue: Reader @ Alhambra