The Other Critics

Cipriani Charged With ‘Highway Robbery’; Market Table Gets a Big Kiss From RG

Frank Bruni pens one of his best zero-star reviews ever in putting down Harry Cipriani, hard: “The crime that comes to mind first when I think of the Ciprianis is highway robbery. Based on my recent experience, that’s what happens almost any time Harry Cipriani on Fifth Avenue serves lunch or dinner.” Brillo-like potatoes? $23 for asparagus? Bruni makes ‘em pay. [NYT]

Market Table gets two and a half stars from Restaurant Girl, who praises the solid American cooking and buys into the overall concept. We wondered if MT wouldn’t be the restaurant that absorbed the Haute Barnyard backlash, but it seems to have dodged it so far. [NYDN]

Paul Adams hits Tailor and delivers the most intelligently rendered version of what seems to be the verdict on the place: The food is brilliant but spotty, and the drinks are great. [NYS]

Lauren Collins compares West Village haute falafel shop Taïm, favorably, to Spice Market. They may have been having a bit of fun with her, though, when they told her that zatar was an herb “that grows on a mountain near Jerusalem”: The last time we looked, it was more like a Middle Eastern Mrs. Dash. [NYer]

Randall Lane seems sky-high on Grayz but only gives it four stars instead of his usual five because of the high prices, abbreviated menu, and drink list. [TONY]

Alan Richman shows that he can still chowhound with the best of them and writes of East Chinatown standby Fuleen with a notable relish. The best line, though, is his unnamed companion’s: “If the food is this good when you’re sober, imagine how good it must taste at 2 in the morning when you’re drunk.” [Bloomberg]

There weren’t any goat eyeballs at Williamsburg’s Taco Santana, and in fact, the tacos aren’t even that good, according to Robert Sietsema. So why is he writing about it? We don’t know. [VV]

The new Momofuku is bigger and better, says Ryan Sutton, who was a fan of the old one; he seems to like Bun a lot too. [Bloomberg]

Cipriani Charged With ‘Highway Robbery’; Market Table Gets a Big