Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup

This week Frank Bruni at the Times slams fancy Franch brasserie Secession, the new iteration of what was formerly Danube in Tribeca. It's not good. He's completely vexed by the "oddly organized riot of strangely mismatched options" on the menu, deeming it "the menu of an unfocused, distracted mind. And it’s a window into the present hyperextension of its guiding spirit, David Bouley [pictured]...Not much of what emerged from Secession’s seemingly overburdened kitchen rose far above mediocrity. And there were instances of outright sloppiness. A block of butter for the breadbasket had a hard, pale yellow ring around it, suggesting that it had begun to melt before being returned to the refrigerator."

Robert Sietsema at the Village Voice declares that "no place can match the excellent Vietnamese food I've been eating lately at an unexpected location—Jerome Avenue in the Fordham section of the Bronx," where you'll find World of Taste. Meanwhile, NY Mag's Underground Gourmet is pleased to discover that "the standard-issue pub grub" at Wilfie & Nell in the West Village "exceeds expectations...But be forewarned: If you’ve got an appetite, go early or on a slow night. It gets loud and raucous on weekends, when a thirsty young crowd takes over the room like a swarm of locusts, seemingly oblivious to the pedigreed pub grub at their disposal."

Andrea Thompson at the New Yorker digs JoeDoe in the East Village: "The biggest thing about the place is its flavors. (Closely followed by its portions.) A liver-bacon-and-onion sandwich, listed as an appetizer, was luscious and comforting, and large enough for a hearty meal, as was the Beets & Butt, in which the butt (pork, beautifully braised) easily outweighed the beets, and a dollop of marrow butter gave it all a rich sheen." And the Post's Steve Cuozzo is pleasantly surprised by the food at the newly refurbished Oak Room, where he dined with gossip columnist Cindy Adams. He says it's "acting like a real restaurant for the first time in its history," but beware the bill! "$338.03 for the two of us with a few glasses of wine, tax and tip. No bottled wine, no dessert."