In the magazine this week, Adam Platt drops a double review and awards two stars to George Mendes’s first venture, Aldea. “With its pocket-size kitchen, its small but sophisticated menu, and its technically accomplished, low-profile chef, Aldea looks like a prototype of the gourmet restaurant of tomorrow,” he writes. Apiary also earned a deuce now that Veritas vet Scott Bryan’s “presence in the kitchen has amped things up to a somewhat startling new level.” Out in Brooklyn, Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite explore the new breed of gourmet shops including Franny’s new annex, Bklyn Larder. Also opening this week: Sel de Mer, “a Mediterranean–meets–Long Island kind of thing” in Williamsburg; and Saraghina, which tosses the Neapolitan-pie trend out to Bed-Stuy. The General Greene’s Nick Morgenstern has shared an In Season recipe for frozen yogurt with those Jersey strawberries now prettying up the Greenmarket. But if warming weather means cool brews to you, Convivio is hosting a five-course tasting paired with Italian beers on June 9.
