Earlier this week, New York Mag’s Adam Platt panned star chef Alain Ducasse’s Benoit (pictured), declaring it an “ersatz” brasserie and concluding that “French cuisine, as we used to know it, is deader than we think.” Now the Times’s Frank Bruni takes his turn, and while he disagrees that it’s “a throwaway restaurant,” he does concur that “Benoit is selling a dining experience so familiar it’s almost a cliché… And what of the ‘Parisian salad’?......

Alloro: Green Lantern, party of seven? The photo above depicts Alloro, a new 50-seat Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef is Salvatore Corea, a native Calabrian, who’s leaving front-of-the-house duties to his wife Gina, just like a real-life Artie and Charmaine Bucco. Let’s just hope the mob doesn’t torch their place. Per the press release, the menu features “classic Italian specialties transformed into gastronomical creations,” such as loin of lamb in a fresh mint reduction with eggplant purée and pecorino cheese foam. And Alloro has the additional virtue of granting diners invisibility on St. Patrick’s Day. 307 East 77th Street, (212) 535-2866....