Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup

After tut-tutting the pat predictability of the Obamas' choice to dine at "locavore" restaurant Blue Hill last week, Frank Bruni at the Times has taken the opportunity to revisit Soho's Savoy, where chef/owner Peter Hoffman "began exalting all things organic, sustainable and humanely raised... a full decade before Dan Barber did likewise at Blue Hill." Bruni's two star-review, evocative of a comment-thread "FIRST!", declares that Savoy's still got it after almost two decades: "Raise a glass of wine (from an appealing, varied list) to Mr. Hoffman, an evangelist outpaced by younger adherents but not out of the picture. Not even close."

The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema is the latest critic to weigh in on Harbour (photos), the sustainable-seafood restaurant with the yacht interior that's tucked away on the remote far side of Soho. He enjoys what he eats and lauds the $20-and-under wine list as "nothing short of miraculous," but little seems to change his initial impression that "This place is doomed... In both apps and entrées, seafood often plays a subsidiary role in bright canvases of flavor, reminding us that we can also promote the sustainability of seafood by simply eating less of it. But still, good as the food is, the question lingers: In a city that craves big servings of plainly prepared seafood, isn't Harbour swimming upstream?"

His colleague Sarah DiGregorio recommends Taiwanese restaurant Andy's Seafood & Grill on Queens Boulevard, but gives a big thumbs down to the stinky tofu: "The fat, odiferous puffs were deep-fried but not greasy, with a crisp, golden outer crust, served with delicious pickled daikon and cabbage. This dry style of stinky tofu is a very popular snack in Taiwan, but the smell—like a New York dump on a hot day crossed with a rotting carcass—did me in...Beyond the stinky tofu, there are many easily enjoyed traditional Taiwanese dishes at Andy's."

NY Mag's Adam Platt slams Table 8 (photos), the new restaurant in the Cooper Square Hotel from L.A. chef Govind Armstrong: "The tables are jammed together, the ceilings are low, and late in the evening the decibel level becomes so intense it makes your teeth hurt. 'I feel like I’m back in Dallas,' one of my dining companions said, and it’s true. With its cramped dining bar, generic, washed-out black-and-brown décor, and little outdoor patio scattered with empty wood tables (which appear to have been purchased directly from the Smith & Hawken remnant catalogue), Table 8 doesn’t look very much like a New York restaurant... It’s an out-of-towner’s restaurant, designed by out-of-towners to give their out-of-town guests (including those from Long Island and New Jersey) the illusion that they’re actually dining in New York." Danyelle Freeman at the Daily News also files a less-than-favorable review.