Cru's New Chef/Wine Expert

Cru has been my favorite fancy New York City restaurant since it opened. And now I think it’s about to become my new favorite not-so-fancy place. As Florence Fabricant reported in the New York Times’ Diners Journal blog, Todd Macdonald is Cru’s new chef (once upon a time he was sous chef there). And he’s installing a whole new menu that will be more accessible and less expensive but still wildly compatible with Cru’s extraordinary, and now lower-priced, wine list. Maybe even more so. Macdonald is hugely wine savvy: His parents are the kind of foodies whose vacations in France mean hanging out with Burgundian winemakers and eating at least one three-Michelin-star meal a day. Macdonald has even set his own wine recommendations for the dishes he’s just put on Cru’s menu. Crispy octopus with roasted sunchokes, caraway and celery = Grüner Vetliner; fig-stuffed quail with farro and stewed leeks = Volnay. Can he possibly know more about pairings than Cru’s wine superheros Robert Bohr (partner) and Roy Welland (owner)? I’ll just have to go to Cru to find out.