Wednesday Food News: Early Edition

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Esca, calls chef Dave Pasternack a "fish whisperer" (um, OK Frank) and awards the restaurant three stars. "In an era when too many restaurants try to be everything to everyone," he says, "Esca has a specific agenda: show what the sea can yield." The restaurant was previously awarded two stars by William Grimes in 2000.

In $25 and Under, Peter Meehan checks out the cafes at the recently opened Fairway Market in Red Hook and Whole Foods Market on the Lower East Side. Finds the view at the Red Hook Fairway outstanding but the food? Not worth a special trip. It's "competent without flair," he says. The Whole Foods has two stand-alone restaurants, several salad and coffee bars, and a french fry stand. The Italian restaurant, Rustica Minardi Osteria offers "sleepy options to diners who must not know that they're a conventionally grown tomato's throw away from dozens of well-regarded Italian spots," says Meehan. Sushiva, which offers conveyer belt sushi, features "gummy rice, flavorless fish." You're better off cooking for yourself.

Ryan Sutton stops by newly reopened Provence for Bloomberg News. He likes the changes instituted by new owners Vicki Freemen and Marc Meyer (of Cookshop), including the updated wine list and the grilled whole fish. Sutton also visits Belgian gastropub Resto on Park Avenue South, which serves up to 60 different types of Belgian beer and some pub food. What's good? The burger and the deep-fried meatballs.

In the NY Sun, Paul Adams goes to the Inn LW12 for Canadian food. Canadian? Well, there's a cocktail with maple syrup, and a dish called poutine that features french fries with beef gravy and melted cheese curds. Chef Andy Bennett dresses it up, though, offering several versions. There are also "big-flavored meats," says Adams, given "elegant Francophilic treatments."

Steve Cuozzo touts Landmarc's affordable menu compared to those of its Time Warner Center "food court" neighbors. "Its popularly priced mix of well-turned-out French, Italian and American bistro favorites seems downright zany in a place where lunch at Masa costs $300. 'We're like the Volkswagen, they're the Ferraris,' [owner Marc] Murphy jokes."