After losing out to Phoenix's Pizzeria Bianco for the best pizza in America, Motorino gets a rave from the Times's Sam Sifton, who says the margherita pie has "perfect-pitch dough with exactly the correct ratios of tomato to cheese to surface area to char to bubble and flat. And "a winter-special pie of brussels sprouts and smoked pancetta, dressed with mozzarella, garlic and pecorino, is like something from a magic act... It is great and unsettling, far better than imagination would dictate."

Sifton also files favorably on Raoul’s, a SoHo mainstay since the 1970s, while Pete Wells reviews Roman's in Fort Greene, where "the menu is like a jigsaw puzzle found in a beach cottage: you drive yourself crazy before you figure out some pieces are missing."

Robert Sietsema treads water at Sea 47, an Ethiopian restaurant in Hell's Kitchen. Calling Ethiopian food "one of the world's most microwavable cuisines," Sietsema has to look hard for anything he likes, and after three visits can find success only in the menchet abesh, which boasts a "winning gingery zing," and the vegetarian combo. Everything else is disappointing and bland, like the sambosas "so low on flavor we couldn't tell the lentil version from the one filled with plain ground beef."

Sietsema's colleague Sarah DiGregorio heads to newly popular Recette in the West Village, where the vibe is relaxed and the diners are young and beautiful. But Recette "feels weirdly impersonal" and the new American cuisine looks like it's there more to impress than to satisfy. The prices are "just not a good value, even by fine-dining standards," and few will stand for that in this economy, even if every dish was "extremely well-conceived."

New York's Adam Platt was at the Guggenheim's Wright this week, calling it "by far the more aesthetically pleasing place to eat." However, the food is "uneven." Platt's "$33 serving of Bouley-style poached lobster was dunked in a fruity clementine sauce and undercooked," and the suckling pig is "hard as rubber." Still, the views of Central Park are nice if you can secure a seat up front.