Sam Sifton at the Times really wants to love Xiao Ye, the "midnight snack" joint on Orchard Street that spins Taiwanese cuisine into eyebrow-raising dishes like "Trade My Daughter For Fried Chicken." The restaurant's proprietor, Eddie Huang, is good at making waves in the dining world with his blog Fresh Off the Boat, where he recently wrote, "I’m interested in the culture of eating. I am not a chef." Sifton says that "sounds about right and is really too bad. Because if Mr. Huang spent even a third of the time cooking that he does writing funny blog posts and wry Twitter updates, posting hip-hop videos and responding to Internet friends, rivals, critics and customers, Xiao Ye might be one of the more interesting restaurants to open in New York City in the last few months...As it stands, though, Xiao Ye is an artful misfire: the sort of place that, as Mr. Huang sadly appears to desire it to be, is really only best when the customers are a little drunk, a little high, maybe both and in any event extremely hungry." Be sure to check Huang's blog today for the riposte!

The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema files an early review on Manzo inside Eataly, which he deems one of New York's "most unusual Italian eateries" because it's "chosen to obsess over beef... The menu is amazing, with the capacity to transport you from your shopping-center surroundings into a realm of pure culinary invention."

Steve Cuozzo at the Post is impressed with the Lambs Club, thus depriving readers of one of his entertaining rants. "Welcome to a dandy debut in the land of bright lights, nostalgically clubby and cozy, where hits outnumber flops by 3-to-1," opines Cuozzo. "Its chef and sun god is Food Network star Geoffrey Zakarian, who ran 1990s sensation ‘44’ in the Royalton a block east and launched 'interpretive New York cuisine' Town in 2001 and French-ish Country in 2006... Condé Nast editors once made ‘44’ their clubhouse. Zakaian yearns to recapture its buzz. Striking a smart middle ground between high-concept and club-simple, it reflects the need to serve many audiences from breakfast until midnight. (Beware $18 cocktails, but entrée prices mostly in the $20s are less than at popular Bond 45, nearby.)"

Time Out's Jay Cheshes bestows four out of five stars on Dutch restaurant Vandaag, where "young chef Phillip Kirschen-Clark explores a style of regional cooking still underexposed in New York... Vandaag means today, as in fresh and up-to-date. Which perfectly sums up this new hybrid café, bar and bistro—from the design-mag decor featuring cagelike steel chandeliers and low-slung black leather banquettes, to the cutting-edge cocktails and Greenmarket cuisine executed with modern techniques."

New York's Adam Platt, however, gives Vandaag two out of five stars, deciding that "some of these experiments work better than others. 'I think I’ve reached my pickle limit,' muttered the lady to my left, as she tasted a bowl of cool cucumber soup garnished, Northern European style, with a few too many tiny crispy eels, as well as ribbons of overpickled cantaloupe. The littleneck clams I sampled were fresh enough but swamped in an awkward broth flavored with aquavit and too much vanilla." Platt also gives two stars to Takashi, which specializes in a Japanese version of Korean barbecue called yakiniku.