The Other Critics

Landmarc Steals More Stars; Mercat Earns First Kudos

Frank Bruni inexplicably grants a star to a restaurant with zero ambience, overdone pastas, “tame entrées,” and a “loud” room that’s “dreary at night.” Which is what Adam Platt and everybody else said about Landmarc TWC, though without granting a star for the accomplishment. [NYT]
Related: Off the Mark [NYM]

Landmarc somehow coaxed three of six stars out of Randall Lane, despite comparable comments on uneven food and a room filled with rebars. The wine list seems to have been the saving grace. [TONY]

Mobbed Mercat gets the Paul Adams seal of approval, its first major positive review, which compares it favorably to Boqueria and praises it for special authenticity. Only the desserts are denied praise, and at that point in the review, it hardly matters. [NYS]

Peter Meehan, an inveterate beer-and-sausage man, discovers Plattduetsche Park Restaurant, a biergarten way out in Franklin Square and sums up his response in an equation: “beer + sun + sausage = joy.” [NYT]

Alan Richman, unimpressed with Harold Dieterle’s celebrity, visits the Top Chef winner’s new restaurant, Perilla, and finds it competent but grossly inappropriate for the season – “After eating, I wanted to go out and shovel snow.” Richman thinks the chef is just cooking the things he can do well, because he isn’t fully formed yet. [Bloomberg]

Ryan Sutton checks out Chodorow and Pelaccio’s new gastropub, Borough Food and Drink and finds it both good and affordable, a rarity in the Chodorow empire. He’s also impressed with Suba, Seamus Mullen’s sequel to Boqueria, both for the modern Spanish cooking and the absinthe cocktail he had. A promising start to Suba’s review cycle, delayed during the chef’s illness. [Bloomberg]
Related: Suba’s Seamus Mullen Goes Through Something Even Worse Than an Opening

Robert Sietsema composes a love letter to Favela, a new Brazilian restaurant in Queens and to their signature item: a massive beef rib called a “costela Bam-Bam.” [VV]

Leo Carey gets around to reviewing Provence after most of the other critics have weighed in, and like them finds the place lovely but spotty in the kitchen’s performance. Some places are critic-proof, though: “There are certain restaurants that people just want to like, and it’s hard to go very wrong in premises so obviously appealing.” [NYer]

Landmarc Steals More Stars; Mercat Earns First Kudos