The Other Critics

Sifton Says La Petite Maison Is Hardly Adventurous; Sietsema Praises Goat Town’s French Cuisine

The menu at La Petite Maison, “while competently prepared and wildly expensive, is hardly adventurous,” says Sam Sifton. “Main courses offer standard expensive-restaurant riffs, food for magnates and heiresses: filet mignon with béarnaise sauce, with snow-white whipped potatoes (perfectly good); herb-crusted rack of lamb (likewise); veal chop (same).” [NYT]

Goat Town’s “wonderful hamburger ($14) is furnished with pickled purple onions, Brooklyn-style dills, and — a stroke of genius — bitter frisée. Here, the homemade mayo is a boon, and this burger is made to seem like a French invention,” writes Robert Sietsema. [VV]
Related: What to Eat at Goat Town, the New East Village Farm-to-Tabler

Rubirosa’s “classic pie ($15) impresses, and the vodka-sauced version ($16) even more so, but most enticing is the one topped with bright broccoli rabe, roasted garlic cloves, and thinly sliced sausage,” says Lauren Shockey. A few steps down Mulberry Street, Balaboosta’s “smoky eggplant bruschetta ($9), festooned with an herb salad and a touch of silan, beats any version found on the streets of Florence.” [VV]

Kin Shop “steers clear of predictability,” writes Andrea K. Scott. “A blisteringly scrumptious duck laab — three hearts of romaine filled with minced meat and toasted rice, topped with thin rings of pickled red onion — unfolds in waves of sweet, tart, and savory; when the heat hits, the harmony is complete.” [NYer]
Related: Adam Platt on Kin Shop

At Spasso, “the pastas arrive, and I know why I’m here and why I’ll be back,” writes Gael Greene. “Thick strands of al dente bigoli noodles alla carbonara, flecked with pancetta and enriched with egg, seem elegant and restrained.” [Insatiable Critic]
Related: A Closer Look at Spasso, Now Open in the Old Alfama Space

Sifton Says La Petite Maison Is Hardly Adventurous; Sietsema Praises Goat