Anthos Misses Its Mark; Provence’s First RaveUnlike Adam Platt, who thought Anthos inferior to Dona, Frank Bruni likes it better; he seems almost pained to have to deny the place a third star. But the drab room and overwhelmed fish keep Michael Psilakis’s dream of a three-star Greek restaurant from coming true — yet. [NYT]
Related: Greek Revival [NYM]
Time Out’s Randall Lane hits Williamsburg BBQ Fette Sau and is struck by how good some of the meats are, and how unbelievably bad the sauce is. That’s pretty much in keeping with what everybody else has said, but Lane is the first to make much-needed points about the effect of keeping pulled pork exposed in a chafing tray, and how ill-fit pork belly is for the smoke treatment. [TONY]
Related: Fette Sau’s Weird Williamsburg Barbecue Palace [Grub Street]
Moira Hodgson’s rave makes the relaunched Provence sound really, really good — a great omen for their future critical reception. The old Provence was good, but neither the service nor the food was on a level you would want to face a battery of critics with. [NYO]
The Other Critics
Morandi Takes Another Hit; a Haute Barnyard SpreeThe Four Seasons gets perhaps the most negative two-star review in the history of the Times; Bruni seems to think the stars were grandfathered in. A telling example of how reputation floats reviews. [NYT]
Meehan, meanwhile, visits a chowhound’s paradise, a Hindu temple in Flushing. [NYT]
Morandi takes another blow, this time from Time Out’s Randall Lane, who like our own Adam Platt, finds it overdesigned and unimpressive, albeit with a few decent dishes. [TONY]
Related: Not So Bene [NYM]
Openings
Central Kitchen Is the Restaurant to End All RestaurantsCentral Kitchen, a new restaurant from the creators of (itself brand-new) Tasca, opens up alongside the latter place on Seventh Avenue South this coming Monday. The thought seems to be that, if you don’t enjoy eating tapas at Tasca, you can get anything else you can think of at Central Kitchen. The vast menu includes everything from bánh mì to octopus pizzette to chicken-fried steak, and there’s a raw bar and floor-to-ceiling wine library — not to mention a planned 120 outside seats. The place will be open every day, and until 2 a.m. on weekends (they’ll close at 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday). What more can you ask for?
Central Kitchen, 134 Seventh Ave. S., nr. W. 10th St.; 212-352-2230.
Restroom Report
Tinkling at Tasca, the Latest Tapas BarWhen we heard that new West Village tapas bar Tasca professed to have an interior design worthy of Gaudi (or, er, Gaudy, as the press release has it), we knew we had to feast our eyes on colorful floor tiles, the teardrop lights over the tile bar, and most importantly, those handsome barrels of sangria. It turned out to be a worthy backdrop for seducing a date with stories of a recent trip to Barcelona, but it’s not exactly the Sagrada Familia. So, did the restrooms, at least, live up to the master?
Back of the House
The Man Who Killed Dona; Caspian Caviar’s ComebackWhom can we hold responsible for the music that gets played in restaurants? [NYT]
Tasca, Po, and Cambodian Cuisine opening; Sumile metamorphosing into Sumile Sushi. [NYT]
Starbucks hops on the trans-fat banned-wagon. [Food Business Review]
The story behind Dona’s closing (with a plea to understand the developer responsible for it). [NYP]
Related: Dona Closing Saturday!
Caviar once again flowing from the Caspian Sea to the U.S.[NYT]
