Bruni one-stars E.U., finds the restaurant with the tortured history "eclectic not only in terms of its national influences but also in the quality of different dishes." He loves some of the food, as well as the design and the wine list, but dislikes the desserts. Says "you're taking a chance every time you walk in."

Also in the Times, in $25 and Under, Peter Meehan goes to Nomad for Algerian. He's crazy about the dessert plate of cookies and minipastries, to the extent that he goes on about it for the first four paragraphs of his review. He likes the savory North African pastries, too, and says the steak frites are decent, particularly the frites.

Alan Richman visits Morandi for Bloomberg News. Finds Keith McNally's latest "takes patience... First impression: Has McNally lost his mind? Later: now I understand." On his first two visits, one dish out of fourteen was enjoyable. The design? "Schmaltzy." He claims that after March 31st, the food quality rose dramatically. Though not the pastas. And the wine list is "difficult."

In the NY Sun, Paul Adams also goes to Morandi. Finds that while many of the dishes are "appealing-sounding" on the menu, "on the plate they're often disappointing." He does like the fried food, the meatballs and the desserts. And the wine list, but overall says the restaurant feels a bit like a theme park.

And in the Post, Cuozzo covers the recent Health Department shuttering of Les Halles, as well as the difficulties its sister restaurant downtown is experiencing. It's surrounded by construction due to the MTA's Fulton Street Transit Center project, leaving "a restaurant that, while hardly empty, seems aware that it wasn't quite what it was before the MTA blockade went up a few months ago."