Momofuku Ko has hard stools, no atmosphere, no liquor, no service, and the food is not surefire on every course. But the food Frank Bruni did get, along with the $85 bill, was enough to get the place its inevitable three stars. [NYT]
“[Chef Daniel] Humm’s foams, reductions and drizzles have huge payoffs.” Indeed they do! Restaurant Girl is flabbergasted by Eleven Madison Park’s flashy, precise cooking and awards them her first five-star review. [NYDN]
Ryan Sutton also hits Ko and produces more or less the same review, minus the deathless Bruni prose. The verdict: “[W]hile Ko might be one of America’s great restaurants, it’s not quite a four-star restaurant.” [Bloomberg]
Artichoke is no Di Fara, but it’s pretty damn good — even if you don’t run across Keith Richards while waiting for your artichoke-and-spinach slice. [NYP]
Related: Passion for Pizza [NYM]
Randall Lane puts the hammer down on Madaeline May, with its overcooked fried chicken, and Chop Suey, with food that’s “an afterthought” to the great Times Square view. [TONY]
I Sodi may have been just one new Italian restaurant too many, but Paul Adams surgically precise “meh” review of the place won’t help its chances of survival any. The food sounds tired, klutzy, and uncompelling. [NYS]
Kate Julien hits Spicy & Tasty for The New Yorker and makes the usual genuflection to its pepper-powered tastes, but what really sticks out for her is the quasi-intentional awfulness of stinky tofu. [NYer]
Why can’t the food of Nigeria be as well represented as Senegal, Ghana, and Liberia? What’s that you say? There’s a Nigerian restaurant in East New York? Get me Robert Sietsema on the line! [VV]
