Wednesday Food News: Early Edition
Bruni doubles up again this week, two-starring Tocqueville and one-starring The Tasting Room, respectively. Both restaurants have relocated since their Grimes reviews in 2000 and 2001, respectively (two stars and one). Tocqueville "remains a haven of considerable pleasure," says Bruni; service uneven, though. He likes the Tasting Room's move less: finds the space ugly and the service, terrible. As for the food, they do amazing things with mushrooms and other vegetables, he says, not so much with the rest.
The Eater boys are off by a star on Tocqueville (their money was on one) and right on regarding The Tasting Room. Both Bruni and Eater point out that neither relocation was entirely successful.
Peter Meehan visits BLT Burger for $25 and Under, gets fixated on the $62 Kobe beef burger. We know the whole $25 thing is a ballpark figure, but isn't this is going a bit over budget? It is, says Meehan, but he couldn't resist. He also couldn't resist devoting half his review to it, even though he didn't much like it or any of the other burgers. They aren't cooked to specification, and are served on "supermarket-style" buns. He does like the beer and shakes, though.
Cuozzo finds wonton soup on the menu at Cafe Boulud. The chicken/pork broth is made with pigs feet and preserved yuzu, there's smoked, braised duck leg in the wontons, and the end result is "revelatory," he says. So is finding it on the menu, so much so that he talks to Mimi Sheraton about it, and she says "New Yorkers are going back to Cantonese cooking, whether they know it or not, and wonton soup is one of the iconic items."
In the New York Sun, Paul Adams visits Periyali, renovated this August. He finds "the reliable food and charming mood as old-fashioned as ever." (In a good way.) He likes everything: the octopus and calamari starters, the lamb, the wine, the kadaifi for dessert, and calls the restaurant a landmark.
