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Two Stars for Perbacco’s ‘Prodigy’; A (Very) Mixed Review for Forge
Paul Adams at a sausage-fest, and restaurant girl on Convivio, in our weekly review roundup.
Posted 08/20/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Three Stars for Oceana; Richman Releases His New York Burger List
Scarpetta takes a hit, Oceana gets a lift, and more, in our weekly review roundup.
Posted 07/16/08 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
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Bar Q Steals Two Stars; a Split Decision on Benoit
Differing verdicts on Benoit, the Bar Boulud review that Daniel dreamed of, and Cabrito gets hit with the "I can get better tacos on the street" card, in this week's review roundup.
Posted 06/18/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Ago Gets the Bruni Bagel; Richman Sky-high on Scarpetta
Everything that could go wrong did at Ago for Frank Bruni.
Posted 06/11/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Elettaria Comes Up Short; Bar Milano Does Too, But Somehow Gets Three Stars
One star for Akthar Nawab, Bar Milano dodges a bullet, and Eleven Madison Park just misses a fourth Bloomberg star.
Posted 06/04/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Bruni Admires But Doesn't Love the Harrison; Same for Meehan at Artichoke
A huge boost for Pomme de Terre, affirmation for the Harrison, and a skeptical take on Artichoke Pizza highlight our weekly critics roundup.
Posted 05/28/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Another Rave for Ko; Mixed Reviews on Bar Q
Ko rave No. 35, San Domenico gets some rare Richman love, and Bar Milano comes up short, in our weekly critics roundup.
Posted 05/21/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Three Inevitable Stars for Ko; Five Surprising Stars for Eleven Madison
Ko cleans up, despite all its hardships, but that's no surprise; Restaurant Girl's going gaga for Eleven Madison Park at this late day, though, is.
Posted 05/07/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Ko’s First Non-Rave Finally Arrives; One Star for Commerce
Ko isn't really all that to one critic, Benoit gets off with a bang, and Commerce takes a one-star hit from Frank Bruni this week.
Posted 04/30/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Bar Boulud, Loved at Last; Cuozzo Not on the Dovetail Bandwagon
“It's a new era, and Bar Boulud belongs to it.” That's why, even though the hot items are mostly “snoozers,” the restaurant deserves two stars. Another Zeitgeist review from Frank Bruni. [NYT] Steve Cuozzo doesn't give out stars, but if he did, he wouldn't be giving three to Dovetail, whose stellar critical reception he recapitulates in a forceful, acerbic review. “The Times' Frank Bruni, who found 'drab' décor at Anthos a reason to deny that truly original, forward-Greek place three stars, overlooked Dovetail's butt-ugly brown palette to exult over the likes of — holy cow! — monkfish and lobster on the same plate.” [NYP] Writing on his GQ blog, Alan Richman obliterates Brasserie Les Halles, but why? Who was thinking about it, anyway? And who thought it was good? The review seems conceived as a blow against Tony Bourdain, but it does him no harm. [GQ]
Posted 03/12/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Wylie Wins Respect for Molecular Gastronomy With a Third Star; Bar Boulud Finally Gets a Good Review
In a landmark for molecular gastronomy in America, the movement’s top proponent, Wylie Dufresne, gets his third star for wd-50. A historic review, especially as Frank Bruni expresses the usual reservations about overly cerebral cooking. [NYT] Bar Boulud finally gets some respect from Alan Richman, who praises its blue-ribbon charcuterie and says of its much-maligned mains, “The worst that can be said…is that the recipes are relentlessly conventional — lamb stew, roasted chicken, boudin blanc. The best is that such a style of cooking is terribly missed.” [GQ] Restaurant Girl seems to have been distinctly unimpressed with about half of the dishes she tried at Adour, resulting in a lukewarm, two-and-a-half-star review. Ducasse’s latest is not getting off to a great start. [NYDN]
Posted 03/05/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Bar Blanc Draws Its Deuce; Mia Dona Welcomed by Richman
Frank Bruni finds Bar Blanc fussy, mannered, overly fastidious — and very, very good. The two stars should take the sting out of his review for the place's owners. [NYT] Related: Raising the Bar Restaurant Girl hits Williamsburg’s Zenkichi and, between the room, the food, and the sake selection, seems to have a real find on her hands. [NYDN] Randall Lane joins in the general enthusiasm for Dovetail , but now he seems unwilling to go back to his five-star-granting ways and so ends up giving them only four — the equivalent, in traditional star terms, to a two-star review, which is not what this reads as. [TONY]
Posted 02/27/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Another Triumph for Dovetail; Another Disappointment for Bar Boulud
Citing cleverness, finesse and his own “hugely positive” experiences eating there, Frank Bruni gives Dovetail three stars to go along with Adam Platt’s. [NYT] Related: This Dove Flies Poor Bar Boulud, on the other hand, continues to get pilloried. Randall Lane gives it only three stars (of six), and no doubt it would be a lot worse if not for the world-class charcuterie. [TONY] Related: Daniel Disappoints Restaurant Girl, too, got her licks in on BB, giving it two stars (of four) for Syrah-heavy sauces, unreliable service, and mishandled snails and tartare. This has got to be killing Boulud. [NYDN]
Posted 02/20/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Praise for 2nd Avenue Deli and Dovetail; Southgate Suffers
Frank Bruni can't help but make a one-act play out of his one-star 2nd Avenue Deli review: Sholom Aleichem by way of Oscar Wilde. A classic review, even if you don't come out of it knowing much about the food at 2nd Avenue Deli. [NYT] Reviewing on his blog, Alan Richman delivers a less colorful, but more accurate and knowing account, of the place, which is even more admiring. [GQ] Ryan Sutton isn't impressed one bit by Southgate — he thinks it's expensive and uninspired, broadly speaking. Not a whit of enthusiasm here. [Bloomberg]
Posted 02/13/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Le Cirque Back in the Three-Star Club; It’s La Belle Epoque Again at Adour
Who says Frank Bruni has no heart? After demoting Le Cirque last year, Bruni restores the third star, courtesy largely to new chef Christophe Bellanca’s masterly handling of ultraluxe ingredients and, of course, the Maccioni family’s trademark feudal service. [NYT] Maybe you don’t consider the salmon at Dovetail “a religious experience,” the way Restaurant Girl does, but everyone seems to agree with Adam Platt that it’s a very fine restaurant and outrageously good for the Upper West Side. [NYDN] Related: This Dove Flies Ryan Sutton has filed the first review of Adour, and he makes it sound, at least to anachronistically minded readers, truly awesome. Did you know Adour is serving lobster thermidor? Lobster thermidor! In this day and age! Sutton is also impressed by the virtual wine list, as most other visitors have been. [Bloomberg]
Posted 02/06/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Critics Like Chop Suey Despite Themselves; One Star for Ilili
Frank Bruni awards one star to Ilili, establishing the restaurant’s critical reception as generally admiring but far from ardent. Bruni uses it as an occasion to discourse on the current trend of highlighting previously low-rent genres, but he seems to have liked all the food and not found the prices or noise too distracting. [NYT] Steve Cuozzo wanted to hate Chop Suey, he really did. The name was dumb, and he was skeptical of consulting chef Zak Pelaccio, whose “résumé of short-lived eatery associations … is as long as his list of bona fide accomplishments is short.” But he loved the food and its “bold, explosive” flavors. [NYP] Ryan Sutton also plays the “better than it has any right to be” card with Chop Suey, declaring the place as “jolting, gorgeous, frightening” and reluctantly praising its Korean-themed food. [Bloomberg]
Posted 01/30/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Chicken to the Rescue at Blue Ribbon Sushi; The Smith Hit Hard
The latest Blue Ribbon Sushi gets a whopping two stars from Frank Bruni, despite its titular sushi being not that great. No, it’s the souped-up fried chicken that added a star, making this two weeks in a row that poultry has saved the day. [NYT] Paul Adams hits new East Village comfort-food zone the Smith with one of his rare bad reviews — generally, he finds the food clumsy and gross: “A main course of lamb schnitzel ($17) shows what the kitchen can do at its best: not particularly much.” Ouch! [NYS] Nor was Danyelle Freeman especially enthralled with Brasserie 44, which got one and a half stars out of four. Her recollections of its food seem highly detailed, suggesting that she didn’t leave her notebook behind. [NYDN] Related: So the Critic Left Her (?) Notes. So What?
Posted 01/16/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Barbuto Saved by a Chicken; Fiamma Comes Up Short
The wildly uneven Barbuto earns a single star from Frank Bruni, almost entirely on the strength of a well-roasted Bell & Evans chicken. To quote Winston Churchill, “Some chicken!” [NYT] Alan Richman was appalled by how small the portions were at Grayz, how much they cost, and how shady most of them were, except for the magnificent, world-beating short rib: “In complexity and satisfaction, this dish reminded me most of the Gray Kunz of Lespinasse, the chef we miss so much.” [Bloomberg] Randall Lane gets that Fiamma’s Fabio Trachocchi is cooking in a grand, Continental style and doesn’t hold that against him, but the food is too rich and the service too sloppy to give him the five or six stars the place would have liked And so they have to settle for four. [TONY]
Posted 01/09/08 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Allen & Delancey Gets Its Two-Star Due; Irving Mill Continues to Uninspire
In spite of lousy desserts and a misstep in the fish department there, Frank Bruni couldn't avoid giving Allen and Delancey's complex, accomplished food two stars. [NYT] Alan Richman, no pushover, was also very impressed by Allen & Delancey, though he noted that the chef's strength clearly lies in the realm of turf, rather than surf. Still, the respect is there: “The visceral satisfaction is high. He piles on flavors, and he does so with assurance.” [Bloomberg] Irving Mill: tired concept, spotty execution. Restaurant Girl joins the chorus. [NYDN]
Posted 12/12/07 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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Ilili Makes An Enemy in Steve Cuozzo; Bruni Picks on Grayz
Though the food sounded pretty good at Ilili, the place treated Steve Cuozzo so badly that the Cuozz was forced to pay them back with an atomic review — one that sounds richly deserved. [NYP] In one of his silliest reviews, Frank Bruni goes on for half the article complaining that restaurants don't always fit in neat categories, then punishes Grayz for it with a blistering one-star review. Odd. [NYT] Bruni's mini-review in Dining Briefs is much more logical and succinct: “That’s Belcourt: the predictable made surprising; comfort with a wink.” Meanwhile, on the undercard, Peter Meehan was mostly pleased with Graffiti, despite its minute size, and Marian Burros not so happy with Lucy of Gramercy. [NYT]
Posted 12/05/07 in Grub Street : The Other Critics
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