The Other Critics

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]

Restaurant Girl gives it to Southgate, hard. “The meat entrées were an altogether grim roster of consistently fatty cuts, stripped of critical succulence.” Fatty and without succulence? Ouch! [NYDN]

Randall Lane surrenders to the genius of Alain Ducasse and gives Adour his first five-star review in many moons. It must have felt good. Good for Adour, too: This is their first unqualified rave. [TONY]

You get the sense that Paul Adams, despite his admiration for Bar Blanc’s cooking, didn’t really like the place so much: “The food is unquestionably artful, but its artfulness is so much the emphasis that it’s hard to really get comfortable with what you’re eating, hard to gauge whether it has personality or only style, and hard to enjoy.” [NYS]

“Tables for Two” stops in at Smith’s and gets to the point right away: It’s swanky and comfortable, but the food is uneven (Brussels sprouts are a “sorry and laborious simulacrum of potato chips”), and the bar is the place to be. [NYer]

Robert Sietsema finds Huckleberry Bar hidden away on Grand Street and possessed of a terrific menu of small plates and sandwiches. [VV]

Ryan Sutton, still doing the first-look beat at Bloomberg, likes the food at Olana a lot. The noise level, not so much. [Bloomberg]

Bar Boulud, Loved at Last; Cuozzo Not on the Dovetail Bandwagon