Wednesday Food News

Bruni visits Nish (the former March) on the Upper East Side, awards the restaurant two stars. The restaurant is "March minus some of the manners and mannerisms," says Bruni, more casual and more accessible. While he likes most of the food, as well as the affordable wine, he finds that it "isn't so dazzling as to guarantee the kind of success that’s eluded [chef Wayne Nish] over the last few years."

And the boys at Eater (scroll down) continue their streak, having placed the Bruni-betting odds on two stars for Nish.

Also in the Times, Peter Meehan goes to Ostia for $25 and Under. The tapas bar serves small plates that "include plenty of simple riffs on good Spanish ingredients," he says. Meehan loves the ham croquettes, the wine list, and the service.

Alan Richman goes to Gramercy Tavern for Bloomberg News and doesn’t like what he finds. The restaurant has become “ordinary, dated, and even--most unexpectedly--careless,” he says. New chef Michael Anthony “makes complicated food uninteresting,” and additionally, Richman finds the service off, the decor banged up, the wine list expensive, the sommelier non-existent. And that’s just the beginning; click through for the full smack-down.

In the NY Sun, Paul Adams visits 15 East, the sushi joint in the old Toqueville space. The chef is Masato Shimizu, formerly of Jewel Bako. He calls the place "a den of Japenese sublety," and loves the sushi although it leaves him still hungry for dinner. The cooked food is not quite so inspired, but it does work as filler, says Adams.

And in the Post, Cynthia Killian writes about the Stinky Cheese Fest restauranteur Simon Oren is hosting at his nine NY restaurants each Monday all this month. Muenster wins the prize at his restaurants as the stinkiest cheese, with raclette also a contender.