Marcus Samuelsson, an Ethiopian-born chef who learned to cook from his adoptive Swedish grandmother, was an instant hit at Aquavit when he was just 24. Some say he ascended too fast, and his celebrity status led to a proliferation of projects that received less than his full attention (cf. Merkato 55). But his new endeavor, Red Rooster in Harlem, may bring it all back home for the chef. New York's Adam Platt calls it a "big-city dining destination right now... but Samuelsson clearly knows that in the long run, his new enterprise will only go as far as the neighborhood takes it... The thing I couldn’t get off my mind was the apple pie, which is baked with a hint of Cheddar in the crust, served in Gulliver-size wedges, and designed, like lots of things at this elegant neighborhood restaurant, to exude the comforts of home." (Metromix also has a detailed review.)

"I would never open a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan now," Jerry Tang of Flushing's Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan tells Sam Sifton at the Times. "My father would never open in Manhattan now. No way. Cooking is an art, it is balance. It is not fighting the city because you’re in Manhattan, and paying those rents. You want good Chinese food, food like we had before, you have to go to Queens." You don't need to twist Sifton's arm. "So stipulated," he writes. "It’s like 1973 out there. Let’s go!... Those who recall when Chinese food first began to matter here, when it was a kind of joy to travel to Chinatown in search of raw authenticity and immense flavor, will discover similar joys here."

Time Out's Jay Cheshes loves Millesime, the delightful new French seafood brasserie in the Carlton Hotel. "The project, like Balthazar with a maniacal seafood focus, revives a style of cooking we’ve frankly been missing—offering classic Gallic fare with a light touch," says Cheshes. "While the menu features a few modern creations, like a warm Caesar salad with grilled lettuce hearts and smoky cod as an elegant stand-in for anchovies, [Chef Laurent] Manrique’s cooking here is mostly a throwback. Among the honest brasserie fare are flawless revivals of regional classics like Lyon-style quenelles—light-as-meringue orbs of pike fish surrounded by rich lobster bisque in a cast-iron skillet."

"The Hungarians could teach us a thing or two about comfort food," says the Village Voice's Robert Sietsema in his review of Andre's Cafe on the Upper East Side. "Take turoscusza tepertovel, even if you can't pronounce it: a towering platter of glistening egg noodles, shards of bacon, and random gobs of sour cream and farmer's cheese. The noodles slip and slide inside your mouth, the dairy products melt and further lubricate, while the bacon explodes in the bland, buttery mass with all the power and smoke of a land mine. You'll stumble from the table overdosed on carbs and enormously blissed-out, and live to feed another day."

Steve Cuozzo at the Post says West Village bistro Lyon "is The Lion for grown-ups. Not that this enchanting new bistro on a picturesque West Village corner has anything in common with that cha otic, neo-tourist scene nearby... Instead, Lyon, like The Lion, merely has a mood perfectly attuned to its clientele, and a setting that utterly becomes its location. Hopperesque from the sidewalk, it's more like Renoir within, aswirl with life, color and rampant flirtation. The unpretentious, winning menu adds to the fun. Bring a hearty appetite and a taste for herbs, blood and butter."

And Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton is the latest critic to rave about Ciano, chef Shea Gallante's hot new Italian restaurant. "Gallante used to work at Cru, a stodgy bastion for wine geeks," says Sutton. "He moved on to Bouley, where I experienced a series of excellent, albeit very extended three-hour lunches and four-hour dinners at romantic banquettes. So I was surprised to find that Ciano isn’t just another excellent restaurant with Italian food. Someday, it might even rival Babbo, Marea or Ai Fiori. It’s already attracting crowds. That lasagna! Is there a better one in the city?"