Note to restaurateurs: It’s generally a good policy, when Frank Bruni comes into your place, not to pour wine all over the table, make him wait an hour, stick his friend behind a column, and send him waiters who don’t know what’s on the menu. Because that’s how Ago earned a zero-star review from him. [NYT]
Alan Richman is the first major critic to file on Scarpetta and has only the most glowing things to say about Scott Conant’s “refined, clean-cut, extraordinarily poised, modern Italian-American cuisine.” A big win for Scarpetta, even though Richman does call out the restaurant for being noisy. [GQ]
Restaurant Girl hits Benoit and, after paying the requisite tribute to its provenance, gets around to saying that the food there is completely unexceptional in every way. Its two stars seem like a gift. [NYDN]
Two Japanese-Italian hybrids, Moco Global Dining and Greenwich Grill, come in under Paul Adams’s microscope. He likes them both, but the latter he considers much more accomplished and together, and in fact his take on it may earn it a spate of further write-ups. [NYS]
According to Ryan Sutton, Hundred Acres is serving solid, simple “household fare” of very high quality in what sounds like a very dark room. [Bloomberg]
Broadway East can take comfort in the fact that Jay Cheshes gave it four stars (of six) despite its commitment to “flexitarian” cooking. On the other hand, the chef he praises left before the review came out. [TONY]
The proteins were weak at Fiore, in Robert Sietsema’s view, but more than made up for by the Williamsburg Italian restaurant’s excellent pastas, pizzas, and cheap wine list. [VV]
