The Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema stops by Soba Totta (pictured), the fourth addition to the Yakitori Totto mini-chain. He loves some charcoal shish kebabs and says “the sight of three yakitori chefs skewering morsels of chicken with military precision behind a hanging sheet of glass intended to forestall spatters is one of the great sights of midtown dining.”

Eat your heart out Frank Bruni; New York Magazine’s Adam Platt is the first critic to score that insanely coveted reservation at chef David Chang’s new 12-seat Momofuku Ko. Platt gleefully reports that his “leisurely, inventive, often wickedly delicious ten-course dinner cost $85.” The open-kitchen counter seating gives this “anti-restaurant” the feeling of “a kitchen slave’s revolt, an operation run by hypergifted line cooks for the benefit of their downtrodden, misunderstood, back-of-the-house brethren.” Four stars! (Out of five.)

Bruni drags an out-of-town guest to Zac Pelaccio’s Chop Suey, located in Times Square’s Renaissance Hotel. He chose it because he knew the view of Times Square from their table would be “dazzling” and, let's face it, not everyone can get a reservation at Ko. The food, on the other hand, is “puzzling… mingling Korean and other Asian traditions, [Chop Suey] is an uneven mash of inspiration and clumsiness.” And the fried rock shrimp and pork belly “is ludicrous, the sweet chili sauce on the shrimp cloying, the pork belly plastered to the plate, the two actors not communicating with each other. They need new scripts.” One star.

The first sentence in the Sun’s review of Eighty One says it all: “The new restaurant attached to the Excelsior Hotel feels like it is run by a bunch of well-funded children doing their best to play Restaurant, with all of the trappings and none of the understanding.” And Danyelle Freeman says it “puts a high premium on luxury ingredients with downright lofty prices… that caters to a conservative upper West Side clientele.”

Photo of Soba Totta chef by Food in Mouth