In a landmark for molecular gastronomy in America, the movement’s top proponent, Wylie Dufresne, gets his third star for wd-50. A historic review, especially as Frank Bruni expresses the usual reservations about overly cerebral cooking. [NYT]
Bar Boulud finally gets some respect from Alan Richman, who praises its blue-ribbon charcuterie and says of its much-maligned mains, “The worst that can be said…is that the recipes are relentlessly conventional — lamb stew, roasted chicken, boudin blanc. The best is that such a style of cooking is terribly missed.” [GQ]
Restaurant Girl seems to have been distinctly unimpressed with about half of the dishes she tried at Adour, resulting in a lukewarm, two-and-a-half-star review. Ducasse’s latest is not getting off to a great start. [NYDN]
Peter Meehan really, really likes the fried chicken at the “guileless” Egg, though he has little to say, good or bad, about the titular breakfast part of the menu. [NYT]
Robert Sietsema finds some very hot, very rare, and what sounds like very enjoyable regional Mexican food in Sunset Park’s Restaurante Taqueria Guerrero. [VV]
Plucky Seymour Burton comes in under Paul Adams’s gaze, and the result is a withering, if somewhat affectionate, review that appreciates the place’s spunk but finds the food pretty uneven. [NYS]
Steve Cuozzo considers Southgate a very welcome addition to Central Park South and has only good things to say about it in his column. [NYP]
“Tables for Two” gets around to Park Avenue Winter, and after the requisite exposition about the décor — which everybody has known about since the year aleph — delivers the blow: The food, though good, isn’t wintry enough. [NYer]
Restaurant 81 is elegant, expensive, and very good: Such is the gist of Ryan Sutton’s brief write-up, but it does include the helpful tip that most things there can be split for two. [Bloomberg]
“Well above average” sushi and “hit-or-miss” entrées don’t add up to much more than three stars (of six) for Blue Ribbon Sushi in Randall Lane’s judgment. [TONY]
