Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives three out of five stars to the Lion, "Gotham’s most democratic high-profile restaurant... This is first and foremost a John DeLucie establishment. The chef—still the co-owner of the Waverly Inn—is an imposing presence, greeting friends in the dining room one minute, expediting dishes the next. His new restaurant, inspired by the West Village landmark that thrived at this brownstone locale in the ’60s (also the gay joint where Barbra Streisand made her singing debut), offers a reimagining of that bohemian haunt... Like the city’s other clubby spots, the food takes a backseat to the scene. Which isn’t to say that it’s not often delicious."

And Betsy Andrews goes $25 and Under for the Times, reviewing three sandwich shops that go beyond "the same old sandwich suspects." Prospect Lefferts Garden take-out spot Exquisite earns its name with items like the West Indian saltfish and bake. Cheeky Sandwiches on Orchard Street is "a charmingly rustic New Orleans-flavored shop" that opens at 8 a.m. with mini-beignets (3 for $1) and chicory-blended coffee. "But if you want a truly rare taste of the Big Easy, go during lunch and order the half-and-half po’ boy, dressed ($8.50). You’ll get oysters on one side, shrimp on the other." And at Brancaccio’s Food Shop in Kensington, the "real winner is an old New York favorite, the meatball sub ($8). When you watch them making the meatballs in the open kitchen, adding pine nuts and raisins just as the chef and owner Joe Brancaccio’s grandmother did to hers, you know these meatballs are light, beefy and fun to eat; so is a tomato sauce that’s shot through with fennel."