Based on the name, the bar seating, and the emphasis on small plates, Frank Bruni says Bar Artisanal “pillages and repackages current trends with astonishing thoroughness,” but he loves how cheese is integrated in the menu. [NYT]
Related: First Look at Bar Artisanal, Now Open for Business
“With nearly every dish less than $20, and many much less, [DBGB] is Boulud for the masses,” Steve Cuozzo writes. Don’t just eat the burgers, because “executive chef Jim Leikin’s kitchen is clicking, if not yet on all cylinders, on most of them.” [NYP]
Related: A Closer Look at DBGB
Gael Greene spots Anna Wintour at the Standard Grill and decides the meatpacking district is still hip: “I suspect the High Line Park and this appealing canteen in Andre Balazs’ hotel tower on stilts will be the Botox that makes it look young and hot all over again.” [Insatiable Critic]
Related: A Closer Look at the Standard Grill, Opening for Dinner on Monday
“The new lounge menu at Per Se, Thomas Keller’s response to these trying times, may be the city’s most tepid recession concession,” says Jay Cheshes. [TONY]
“Once you land a table, good things start to happen” at Minetta Tavern, says Shauna Lyon. Too bad the dry-aged côte de boeuf for two is expensive and only “decent, if not transporting.” [NYer]
Related: What to Expect From Minetta Tavern
Alan Richman planned a tribute to Katz’s, “the Great American Restaurant,” for the Fourth of July, but the food was so bad he said “I got almost a third of the way through my mission before I quit in dismay.” [Forked/GQ]
“Most of the tacos at Mesa Coyoacan taste like they’re straight out of Mexico City,” writes Danyelle Freeman. [NYDN]
Robert Sietsema overeats Croatian food with members of the men-only Wet Towel dining club in the public dining room of the Rudar Soccer Club in Long Island City. [VV]
