The Other Critics

Eater’s First 2 Restaurant Reviews Cover Roberta’s and Mapo Korean B.B.Q.

Three stars and up-to-temp.
Three stars and up-to-temp. Photo: Roxanne Behr

One month ago, Eater announced its bold new foray into the realm of restaurant criticism with the hiring of food writers Ryan Sutton and Bill Addison, along with the promotion of Robert Sietsema. Today, the former Village Voice critic files a dispatch from Flushing’s Mapo Korean B.B.Q., where he finds there is “so much meat in an order […] you may find yourself indulgently eating it with no accompaniments at all.” Sutton awards three gold stars (out of four) to Roberta’s, meanwhile, noting in his debut that the Bushwick restaurant’s duck ham is “one of the world’s great luxury goods,” the torchetti and clams is “one of the city’s best bivalve pasta dishes,” and the $160 Wagyu flank is among the “country’s great steaks.”

In a separate post explaining the new system, Eater editorial director Amanda Kludt writes that while the site’s first-ever reviews — lots of food photos accompany each column, another first for the site — are online as of today, the local and nationally focused pieces are technically in beta. They will undergo a format shift later this year, Kludt says, to coincide with a site-wide relaunch, which will remake the columns into “living, breathing, dynamic, evolving critiques.”

Restaurant Review: Roberta’s in NYC [Eater NY]
Restaurant Review: Mapo Korean B.B.Q. in NYC
[Eater NY]
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Eater’s First 2 Restaurant Reviews Cover Roberta’s and Mapo Korean