The Other Critics

Kauffman Gives Twenty Five Lusk a Mild Thumbs Up; Reidinger Will Trek to the Marina for Capannina

The same week as Bauer’s two-star review of Twenty Five Lusk, Jonathan Kauffman files his own take, which on a whole seems kinder with the regard to the food. Like Bauer he compliments the design and draws comparisons to Bix, and says they’ve created an “immersive” supperclub environment. As for the food, he calls a rabbit ravioli dish with a bunch of components “a bit much to take in,” but he enjoys the cauliflower crème brûlée and says the bar bites available in the lounge almost work better than many of the other dishes. But overall he sounds uncomfortable with the gloss of the place, saying, “there are almost as many suits as at a symphony concert there” and “It’s a restaurant designed for business dinners and tech-firm holiday parties, not alt-weekly food writers.” [SF Weekly]

Reidinger also ventures outside his comfort zone, writing, “It does fall to me occasionally to check up on our town’s tonier heterosexuals,” and thus he finds himself at the “wonderful” Marina Italian restaurant Capannina. After four paragraphs about the crowd and the design, he’s almost reluctant to discuss food, but he enjoys some spicy prawns with polenta, and says of some mini crab cakes that they have a “sublime, almost fritter-like crispness.” As for their chicken under a brick, “[it] couldn’t be improved on,” and the cannolis, “exceptional.” [SFBG]

As for L.E. Leone, who we may just need to start reading now whenever Reidinger makes us nod off, she stops into Bender’s and says, “I love their burgers and tots,” and then meanders over to Seoul on Wheels at Off the Grid McCoppin, and is rather disatisfied: “Its Korean burritos, which it calls korritos, are premade and have sour cream, which is a big mistake. An even bigger mistake: way too much rice and way not enough meat, or kimchi, or therefore flavor.” [SFBG]

Kauffman Gives Twenty Five Lusk a Mild Thumbs Up; Reidinger Will Trek to the