The Other Critics

Vettel Sends Singing Telegraph; Nagrant Anthropologizes MorSo

Telegraph: Amish chicken stop tender sweetbreads stop two stars Vettel stop
Telegraph: Amish chicken stop tender sweetbreads stop two stars Vettel stop Photo: Courtesy Telegraph

Phil Vettel loves the food of small plates gastropubs, but something about the less formal atmosphere doesn’t do it for him, because even after raving about the food, he gave just two stars to Avec, two stars to The Bristol, two stars to Longman & Eagle— and now two stars to Telegraph as well. That’s even after reveries like “Take away that luscious lamb saddle with pumpernickel croutons and a splash of ginger veloute. I still have my grilled Amish chicken with basmati rice and cranberry beans, and my thickly sliced flatiron steak and red cabbage, in a vinaigrette with sweet and smoked paprika and espelette peppers,” or “the tender sweetbreads served with bucatini pasta in a rhubarb agrodolce sauce was extremely clever; the dish hit the table looking like spaghetti and meatballs, but what hit your taste buds was a different animal entirely — earthy and creamy and sweet and tart notes all at once.” (Wait, so what animal was it again?) [Tribune]

100 years from now, anthropologists (or possibly set decorators for some holographic Scorsese) will be reconstructing dining in 2011 from Michael Nagrant’s review of MorSo: “Dishrags stand in for linens and milk jugs for wine carafes. The servers are tattooed, often waifish men or roller derby team-worthy women. The dining room feels like a first post-college apartment, a mix of thrift store junkets and CB2 design.” He has reason to praise Choo Lipsky’s Panacea cocktail, the much-praised antelope tonnato (“the thin, ruddy slices of antelope dotted with spice and fat remind me of a terrific Italian soppressata”), and the duck liver parfait, but finds that “With that ambition also comes a posse of line cooks in low-slung ball caps fueled on adrenaline trying to keep up. Maroni’s ideas are grand, but his crew generally can’t execute them.” Ambitious foodie food, clunkily informal atmosphere… we sense a two-star review from Vettel in MorSo’s future. [Sun-Times]

Vettel Sends Singing Telegraph; Nagrant Anthropologizes MorSo