The Other Critics

Cheshes Calls the Beagle ‘Inconsistent’; Cuozzo Says ‘More Flubs Than You Expect’ at Boulud Sud

Despite mediocre service, Robert Sietsema writes of the Trilby, “the food was unexpectedly grand.” He praises the charred octopus tentacle, pork loin, and the heirloom tomato salad with shredded basil that “was probably the single best dish.” He finds the “gummy gnocchi” and bar steak less successful, but discovers breakfast items corned beef hash and blueberry pancakes are “some of the hat’s best offerings.” [VV]

Niko “special[izes] in anything Japanese and somehow do[es] it all pretty well, service notwithstanding,” writes Ryan Sutton. Despite the “complicated affair” of getting water, service, and proper flatware, he’s impressed by the cherry-glazed duck and fried chicken “with an equal ratio of breading to bird,” and even more so by the sushi bar, where “annoyances dissipate when you lay a slice of … sockeye salmon on your tongue.” He concludes it’s worth the wait for the slow-cooked Suntory Steak that “balances minerality and char with the sweetness of malt.” [Bloomberg]

Jay Cheshes is confused by the Beagle, which “turns out to be a restaurant that only looks and feels like a bar.” The mixed-up menu of “mostly solid, sometimes inspired” food and “expertly done … pre-Prohibition-style” cocktails “makes a poor case for squeezing square-peg strong spirits into the round hole of a meal.” He calls chef Garrett Eagleton’s talents almost equally “inconsistent.” The brick-cooked half chicken is a “blockbuster dish, hiding under its succulent flesh and crackling crisp skin an explosive mix of foie gras, fresh sage and artisanal cheddar,” but the pan-fried fluke is “mealy and bland in a tepid main course,” and dessert is “clearly a weak spot.” [TONY]

In The New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten praises Danji as neither “orthodox ethnic nor smarty-pants fusion,” but as “comfortized Korean served in well-presented tapas portions,” and “not a dud among them.” The fried tofu wedges, “custard-soft and sprinkled with panko crumbs and drizzled in a scallion-ginger sauce,” are “as persuasive as a trip to Kyoto,” and the bulgogi (brisket) sliders “should make the appendix to every best-burger list in town.” [NYer]

At Boulud Sud, Steve Cuozzo writes, “far-flung cuisines bump and grind like horny adolescents on the dance floor.” He admits that even though there are “more flubs than you expect,” like “sloppy, sticky baby goat orecchiette” and tabouleh two ways that was “one way too many,” “you [still] wish he’d taken over this former bank location years ago.” [NYP]

Cheshes Calls the Beagle ‘Inconsistent’; Cuozzo Says ‘More