The Other Critics

Tamarkin Ponders the Experience of Aviary; Arnett Checks Out Perennial Virant

• While David Tamarkin wonders whether Aviary is more of an “intellectual exercise” than a bar, he still gives the new Grant Achatz project four out of five stars. Sometimes the “taste is secondary to the experience of looking at” the cocktails. The Ginger, which seems to be going for a Moscow Mule, is a “curious thing of beauty,” but it’s also a “bit watery” and “not so Moscow mule-like.” Still, he’s left with the impression that “cocktails will never be the same.” [TOC]

• She can’t “get on board” with the “clunky” and “awkward” name, but Lisa Arnett couldn’t find much else wrong with Perennial Virant. The food is “local to the core,” and all the dishes manage to “balance flavors perfectly.” Her favorite dish was the pork shoulder confit, which is “a crabcake-like disc of juicy, tender pork shreds, seared to a satisfying crisp.” [Metromix]

Bridge House Tavern may be “trying,” but Julia Kramer also thinks it’s “also bombing.” Giving the new spot only one out of five stars, she claims to have dined on “chewy shrimp,” “cold, limp bacon,” and numerous other dishes that were “soaked through with oil.” Even the boring beer menu could “negate any reason for visiting this place.” There is only one saving grace: the Bridge House burger is a “steroidal take on the Shake Shack cult object.” [TOC]

Tamarkin Ponders the Experience of Aviary; Arnett Checks Out Perennial Virant