“Tables for Two” enjoys Bed-Stuy’s Do or Dine, even though you may be hard-pressed to find any trace of a vegetable on the menu, and the joint itself is pretty “berserk.” “Some of the best dishes are actually the least outlandish,” Ariel Levy writes, but “it is unlikely that health-consciousness or even a sense of balance will become a preoccupation of the proprietors anytime soon.” [NYer]
Steve Cuozzo praises Kutsher’s Tribeca for its “generous portions of smartly realized favorites” with “just enough Jewish inflection.” He claims the Matzo ball soup may be the “best in town,” while the gefilte fish made of halibut reminds him that he’s had “none this good.” [NYP]
Pete Wells visits Romera New York, deeming it “a restaurant that wants to be admired, not enjoyed.” To eat at Romera, he writes, “is to be told repeatedly that you are in the presence of greatness, while the evidence of your senses tells you that you are in the presence of, at best, okayness.” He gives the restaurant one star. [NYT]
Betsy Andrews praises two Brooklyn connoisseurs of the clam roll, Littleneck and Sea Witch, both of which she says are retiring the lobster-roll trend with their clammy update. At Littleneck, Andrews enjoys bicoastal oysters, which she claims are “even better than their compadre shellfish.” At Sea Witch, the kielbasa sandwich, served “supremely garlicky and smothered in raw onions, mustard and sauerkraut,” wows her. [NYT]
Robert Sietsema gets his spicy fix at Land of Plently, where “there’s nothing tepid or restrained about the seasoning … [Sichuan peppercorns] turn your tongue into a numb, tingling lump of flesh as surely as a dentist’s shot of Novocain and make a sip of water taste like metal.” He suggests the “rather verbose” braised whole fish filet with soy bean sprouts in roasted-chile-spiced broth, or the “infernally hot” braised lamb filets with napa cabbage and roasted chile. [VV]
Lauren Shockey loves the “hodge-podge” of Italian-American classics at Parm, where “the grub is comfortingly familiar yet executed in a way that makes you realize what you’ve actually been missing all along.” She does advise against the “super mayo-heavy” Saratoga club, though “my inner fourth-grader appreciated the chips tucked in between the toast slices.” Among her favorites, the ice cream cake with rainbow sprinkles, “a/k/a your must-order dessert.” [VV]