Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup

Goo Jul Pan at Purple Yam

This week Sam Sifton at the Times files a positive review of Purple Yam, a Filipino restaurant in Ditmas Park that formerly operated under a different name (Cendrillon) in Soho with the same chef/owner (Romy Dorotan). Sifton deems it "a perfect neighborhood restaurant. True to its aesthetic, the menu is resistant to easy division into appetizers and main courses. There are kimchis and chutneys to order. There are vegetables and side dishes. There is pig—almost every part of it. And there are Cendrillon classics, ranging from a sublime chicken adobo to a faintly ridiculous wild-boar pizza."

Sifton also recalls his 11 most memorable dishes of 2009; topping the list is the Smoked Haddock Tart at the swank, sophisticated, standoffish Le Caprice. It's an appetizer that isn't even on the regular menu, but Sifton says "its smoky sweetness is a small taste of British sophistication, especially against the melting gold of the two tiny poached quail eggs he places above the pastry. Eaten at the bar, after the application of a Hendrick’s martini, this dish can leave even the rubiest of American rubes feeling Bondlike and well fed."

The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema is "Woo-Hoo for Ruhu" at Sunnyside's Sonali Cuisine, a restaurant specializing in "the nutty and fishy tastes of Bangladesh... They've also developed a distribution scheme for getting their favorite fish here in dried and frozen form, and the piscine roster at Sonali includes several that may be unfamiliar to many New Yorkers. One goes by the rave-up name of ruhu... The thick, brown sauce actually complements the delicious fish, but share it with several friends, because the flavor is intense. But don't stop at ruhu—Sonali also serves ayer, pomplate, and boal. Which would make a dandy name for a law firm, wouldn't it?"

Leo Carey at The New Yorker files enthusiastically on Sushi Uo on the Lower East Side, where "the tuna is a brilliant, clear red, like stained glass, and eel is soft and pliant... It takes guts to open a serious sushi restaurant in a bad economy, all the more so if you’re not Japanese and are only twenty-three years old. But David Bouhadana, who grew up in Florida, of French and Moroccan parentage, clearly has plenty of ambition, as well as an appealing personality and considerable flair with a sushi knife... Bouhadana makes subtle tastes register—like the Japanese citron that he zests in microscopic quantities over live scallops—and his presentation is deft: the body of a mackerel, its meat filleted into neat rectangles, is bent back with a bamboo skewer, as if turning in the water."

Maialino (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

GQ's Alan Richman swoons at the bar in Maialino, Danny Meyer’s Roman-style trattoria in the Gramercy Park Hotel (photos). "The word maialino means 'little pig,' a play on Meyer’s nickname as a young man," explains Richman. "Not only do I like the food at Maialino’s bar more than I like the food at any of his other bars, it might be my favorite bar food in New York. There’s a dish, available both times I ate there, that’s one of the most perfect fish dishes I tried all year. It’s really too fancy for bar dining. It’s really too interesting and imaginative for bar dining. It breaks every rule I have for bar dining, which is that the food should be soothing and simple, relaxing and recognizable. The dish, an off-the-menu special, is swordfish belly."

And Time Out's Jay Cheshes dissents from Sifton and New York's Adam Platt in his review of Le Caprice. "While the Deco setting—shimmering with silver, crystal and chrome—evokes the bygone glamour of a Noël Coward musical, the stiff, impersonal waitstaff (a far cry from the celebrated servers in London) and octogenarian patrons make the place about as sizzling as a Park Avenue potluck," opines Cheshes. "The bland, innocuous grub—country-club cooking with an Anglo spin—seems designed mostly not to offend."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.