Restaurants

A collection of links from the reporters and editors of the Dining section.

Ryan Sutton likes the recent menu changes at Gabe Stulman and Tien Ho's Montmartre. On the entrees: "Pot-au-feu ($44, for two) becomes pot-au-pho, with cinnamon-clove aromas coming off the beef and intense marrow-spiked broth. It's loaded with oxtail richness and the clean spank of Thai basil that makes this hot soup okay for summer. Duck for two ($78) is code for duck tacos, thanks to buckwheat pancakes. Giant slabs of roasted breast meat give way to your knife with ease, while braised leg practically shreds itself after a good stare." Sutton gives the restaurant two stars, with a special shout-out to Tien's sweet and salty fries. [Bloomberg] As noted yesterday, Pete Wells is not a fan of Graydon Carter's The Beatrice Inn: "Lamb porterhouse showered with roasted artichoke leaves was very satisfying once I ignored the grainy, salty sauce of dried black olives around it. So were crisp and fresh fried oysters with smoked char roe, as long as I didn't focus too much on a bitter and blandly sweet citrus purée." Goose egg. [NYT] Joshua David Stein files on Lafayette this week: "Astute is exactly how I would describe most of the food. Inspired? Not really. But smart and perceptive, certainly. Raclette, a cheese too often confined to blanketing potatoes, ennobles a very good brisket burger at lunch. Muscat grapes, like capers, are used to great effect, as in a perfectly prepared dorade, where they cameo in an update of sauce veronique, or at lunch, where they top little grilled shrimpies and are studded with capers." [The Observer] Gael Greene files on two relatively new Upper East Side establishments: 83 1/2 and Cocina Economica. On the former: "The service alternates between friendly, effusive and wrong table, but that's forgivable given a lemony caponata, the familiar eggplant stew with pine nuts and raisins to pile on toast, and fricco, parmesan crisps that we're dragging through a thin 'aioli' of Calabrian chili and honey. Only the watery housemade ricotta with pesto disappoints. My friend finds her Sicilian gimlet with homemade limoncello pleasantly refreshing. She gives me a sip. I agree." Ms. Gael not wowed by the Mexcian fare at Cocina Economica. [Insatiable] [Lafayette by Krieger] Adam Platt gives two stars to Lafayette: "The small-plate toast dishes popularized by Jean-Georges at ABC Kitchen are called tartines here, and you can get them piled with spoonfuls of opulent duck-liver mousse ($8) or Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese, decked with tomatoes and slivers of fresh radish. My classic beef tartare ($18) was a much better deal than the mealy Hawaiian prawns ($19 with sauce verte), but if you're in the mood for serious feed, begin your dinner with the lardon-rich salad frisée, which is served on a plate the size of a small hubcap." [GS/NYM] [Nightingale 9 by Krieger] Although she's not a fan of the decor, Ms. Jordana Rothman likes Robert Newton's take on Vietnamese fare at Nightingale 9: "The iconic Hanoi dish cha ca la vong—typically turmeric-blasted fish served with a pickler's pantry worth of dill—is served as a rice noodle bowl, with sprigs of the herb, crushed peanuts and fingers of fried catfish that might be equally at home at Seersucker, the American Southern restaurant Newton operates nearby. Peanuts and slippery vermicelli noodles also anchor the bun cha bowl, with patties of charred Berkshire pork and curls of belly meat, a chop of scallions and leaves of butter lettuce." Three stars out of five. [TONY] [Sweet Chick by Krieger] In his last review for the Village Voice, Robert Sietsema recommends the signature dish at Sweet Chick in Williamsburg: "The menu's bedrock is the venerable combo of chicken and waffles. This being the 'Burg, the fried chicken mimics the extensively brined product sold not far away at Pies 'n' Thighs, with a thickish crust and pillowy flesh. While my own preferences are for a dusting of flour and not brining the bird (making it chewier but more

Instead of a review this week, Steve Cuozzo offers his recommendations for al fresco dining. He likes Sripraphai, Riverpark, Nougatine, Cafe Boulud, and also La Caye in Fort Greene. Of that last restaurant, Cuozzo writes: "At twilight, broiled conch with Creole sauce and black rice superimposes Caribbean warmth on the 'new' Brooklyn." [NYP]

Words and Photography by Su-Lin Ong Extraordinary eating begins when convention and caution are thrown to the wind. Tonight’s one night stand is to enter mind-stretching realms, with the lofty promise to ‘engage all the senses, to restore, challenge and enrich’. Too tame! It’s a burst of adventurous fun: stones that aren’t stones, the zingiest kaleidoscopic colours, altered states of texture, and flavours that have a piercingly natural clarity. So this is it; when two Michelin starred chefs partner up as in the vision of Nuno Mendes at Viajante. One of his six selected co-hosts in his Craft season which ran in April is Rasmus Kofoed of Geranium in Copenhagen. Rasmus is the only chef in the world to hold a gold, silver and bronze medal from Bocuse d'Or. Geranium in the centre of Copenhagen is set high up. Urban meets rural as you connect with the tops of trees and windmills in view. Viajante in Bethnal Green, East London, is in the restored art deco Town Hall Hotel (see earlier review here). I pass pubs frequented by notorious criminals the Kray brothers and streets of faceless shops to get there.Photo: Viajante Choosing a late sitting tonight challenges this Viajante-Geranium dinner to prove itself all the more. Skip forward some 18 incredible creations over three hours, and it is 1.30am when we finish eating. I feel as if I’ve taken a trip through a dream cloud and emerged supremely energized. Buzzing. Each dish is presented at table in modest detail by the chefs, including Mendes and Kofoed. It’s a seamless sequence without any ceremony. Just as well; it’s been a stupendous week – both teams must have been up all night before celebrating their leap up the league of the World’s Best Restaurants. As for us guests, it’s tempting to play the game of guessing whose dish is whose creation. The real joy is experiencing how the signature style of each chef weaves round each other, emerging, re-emerging, creating a harmony with some characterful clout along the way. The menu is a mystery, and when I finally see it at the end of dinner, the descriptions are short and stripped back – incredibly liberating. You really want to understand the ingredients and composition, but not long into the dinner, you just want to sit back, admire and say wow at every bite. The dinner: Crispy twigs with sea salt aged cheese and burnt leek. Razor clams with edible shells. Crabmeat, peas, nasturtium and crab shell sauce. Milk skin lactose and squid ink. Space-age food. Dill stones and separate dish of lactic acid fermented vegetables with salmon roe. Langoustine with braised chicken skin, pine and chopped radish. Smoked bacon & walnut sourdough and potato baguettes with beurre noisette and hay smoked whipped butter. A fluid jelly made from ham from northern Denmark, fragrant thyme and tomato water, cooked at a constant 62 degrees C. Charred leek heart with lobster and bitter ground elder flower. White cabbage with shoots and stems, pickled leek flower and parsley with champagne butter sauce (our preferred substitute for oysters). Smoked bone marrow with carrot and dehydrated carrot skin. Brill wrapped in milk skin with vanilla and samphire. A royally red tartare made from leg and heart of lamb and smoked pork fat, red beetroot sauce, truffle & blueberry, gel of beetroot & cherry vinegar. Meltingly delicate Iberico pork and fermented cabbage and peppers. Reduced milk sorbet, lemon granita, smoked cucumber, salty cucumber jelly and linen seeds. Naked trees of crispy puréed prunes and frozen dark beer and biodynamic cream infused with beechwood. Beetroot & caraway ice cream. Eggs of dried pine & caramel & chocolate. Finally, petits fours of frozen oil of vanilla and cèpes mushroom truffles. We drank Filipa Pato Bical & Arinto 2011 Beiras and Gerhard Pittnauer Alte Reben St Laurent 2009 Burgenland Austria. Viajante, Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, London E2 9NF, Tel. 020 7871 04

[Photo via e2hospitality.com] · Memorial Day: Where to Celebrate in Broward and Palm Beach Counties [CPC] · Five Best End of the World Cocktails and Drinks (Recipes) [SO] · A Pair of Belgians Hoists Adventurous Eaters High in the Air [WSJ] · NASA Is Funding a 3D Food Printer, Starting With Pizza [The Verge] · Restaurants Slim Down Cocktail Calorie Counts [Ad Age] · "Water" Is One of the Top 10 Culinary Trends at 2013 NRA Show [NRN] · A Sociology Professor on Our Love of Service [Rationalist] · Behold the Iron Chef America Frozen Meals [-EN-] · Amy's Baking Cancels Press Conference After Legal Threats From Fox [-EN-]

If you've spent any time dining at Providence, Michael Cimarusti's Melrose Ave. seafood palace, you'll know how much the chef and co-owner of the place loves his fish. Since it opened in 2005, ...

Headed home. The Mission Chinese chef will head to Oklahoma City, his hometown, to cook with Jonathon Stranger of Ludivine on Sunday and Monday, News OK reports. Local chefs Kurt Fleischfresser, Chris Becker, and Marc Dunham round out the line for the impromptu pop-up OK Chefs, which will donate 100 percent of its proceeds to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts. A growing group of New York chefs and food businesses is also raising money for tornado victims. [News OK, Earlier, Related] Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: oklahoma, danny bowien, jonathon stranger, ludivine, mission chinese, new york, new york restaurants, oklahoma city, san francisco

[Back Forty West by Krieger] · A First Look at the Franny's Cookbook [~EN~] · Checking on the Status of Paulaner Brauhaus [BB] · The Gin and Tonic Revival [NYT] · Num Pang's Ben Daitz Talks Wine [FitR] · Sad Sale of the 9th Street Bakery Continues [EV Grieve] · A Chat With Sarah Simmons of City Grit [SENY] · Watch Jimmy McMillan Plug Papaya King Hot Dogs [GS/NYM] · Amy's Baking Cancels Press Conference After Legal Threats From Fox [~EN~]

I AM sipping cool Chablis from an almost ecclesiastical goblet under designer Philippe Starck’s decadent Black Zénith chandelier – identical to the 19th-century original in all but colour. I am at Guy Martin’s Cristal Room in Maison Baccarat. Overlooking the manicured Place des Etas-Unis, it feels removed from Paris’s snarl of traffic. Now HQ and museum for arguably the world’s most famous crystal brand, it first saw fame as Marie-Laure de Noailles’ mansion. The lavish patron of the arts supported Buñuel, Man Ray, Duchamp, and knew Dali as a pauper...Read at Square Meal »See pictures at Visuals »

Mr P and I both enjoy a good bit of bread. When Pump Street Bakery in Orford opened we thought that all our Christmases had come at once and we would never need to attempt to bake bread again. I enjoy baking bread, do not misunderstand me, but the enjoyment wears off quickly for me with something as technical as baking bread when it’s done on a daily basis, especially when menus change regularly. The British Larder Suffolk team visited the Hand and Flowers in Marlow a couple of months ago. It was a very special and memorable visit and Tom and his team looked after us very well. Amongst all the special and delicious plates of food, the memory of the delicious and very tasty soda bread has stayed with me. I was inspired to bake my own version of soda bread. It took a few attempts to get it right, or shall I say, the way I would like it to be. I used a local spelt flour mixed with wholemeal bread flour, and a teaspoon of honey gives the soda bread a rounded, moreish and lasting flavour. I add pumpkin and sunflower seeds for extra crunch to make it more interesting and give the bread another taste dimension too. The crust is superb; bake the bread at a fairly high temperature and the crust will be crisp and the interior fluffy and delicious, exactly as you would expect it to be. I now regularly bake this bread as I do find it very satisfying, and the best bit of all is that it’s incredibly quick to make. You can have a loaf of freshly baked soda bread on the table in just over an hour and you’re guaranteed to have the best smelling kitchen in the world!