Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup

Madangsui

This week Sam Sifton at the Times files enthusiastically on Madangsui, which he deems Manhattan’s best Korean barbecue restaurant. The informative review instructs readers how to order and when, plus how to eat: "Now use your chopsticks to drag a piece of cooked meat through the mixture of sesame oil, salt and pepper. Place it on a piece of fresh romaine cupped in your opposite hand in the manner of a tortilla. Add to this some banchan, some slaw, perhaps a dot or two of bean paste or kochujang. Wrap and eat: heaven in Midtown, with cold beer besides. Dessert’s an orange cut into eighths. It tastes of magic and happiness." Sifton also reviews the Tipsy Parson and says, "The food’s not great."

The Village Voice's Sarah DiGregorio is similarly disappointed by the meat at Tipsy Parson, but she does like the atmosphere, declaring, "If there's one Southern virtue that Tipsy Parson nails, it's hospitality... you'll half-believe you're not in Manhattan anymore." Meanwhile, Robert Sietsema reviews Trattoria Cinque, a big friendly Italian restaurant on Greenwich Street in Tribeca: "Among pastas, the spaghetti carbonara ($16) proves superb, though it's made with paccheri (a short tubular pasta) instead of spaghetti. This recipe was invented at the conclusion of World War II, when American doughboys streamed into a food-strapped Rome bearing eggs and American bacon."

Bark Hot Dogs in Park Slope gets the New Yorker treatment from critic Mike Peed, who raves, "They’re about seven inches long, too big for their buns, and the ends curl upward to form, if not a smile, at least a knowing smirk. As you bite down, the tensile strength holds for a fleeting second, before a pop and the flow of juices. Besides the mess you make, there is no diner’s remorse: the first sausage makes you ache for the second. Even the veggie dog (potato, apple, and sage, sculpted appropriately) is good enough for you to understand how the vegetarian counter girl justifies working here."

The Post's Steve Cuozzo files one of his fun populist rants against the fancy Le Caprice, which recently opened in the Pierre Hotel: "Few restaurants open dripping as much mystique and malarkey... The menu reflects the upper-middle-class British itch for what sour old monarchists still regard as culinary daredevilry, so Asian, Italian and French notes stake their claims. Garlicky chicken Milanese was good Italian schnitzel. Flaky, moist cod under crisp batter scored for the home team, although dull 'chips' didn’t measure up... At dinner, a very tall, sullen and silent woman appeared to seethe under her fur vest atop a jumpsuit and bell-bottom pants. 'She looks the way Mrs. Woods must be feeling,' my friend observed."

Alan Richman at GQ reviews The Breslin (photos) in the Ace Hotel, and wonders "how many New Yorkers are looking forward to a grilled tongue sandwich at lunch (despite the tongue being deliriously tender) or a fried peanut-and-banana sandwich at brunch. (Not for me, but I suspect Elvis would have loved it.)" And Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives the recently-renovated Cafe Boulud four out of five stars: "Though the diners Café Boulud attracts may regard the restaurant as an extension of home, for the rest of us, Daniel Boulud’s 'more casual' venture—which serves complimentary housemade chocolates and warm madeleines after dessert—still makes an awfully impressive treat."

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