This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Lebanese Ilili, saying “Ilili is probably the atmospherically grandest excursion into Middle Eastern cooking that New York has ever seen.” While much of the menu is inconsistent, he loves the kebabs and kaftas. Says the service is “occasionally confused.” And get the essmalieh for dessert. In Dining Briefs, Peter Meehan goes to Abraço Espresso (pictured), says “it’s tiny, it brews excellent coffee, and the little food that it......

This week in the Times, Bruni two-stars Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill (the new one, at Columbus Circle). After a few rocky meals immediately after the opening, “the food has been consistently first-rate,” says Bruni. “Much of it also reflects the [owners’, Eric and Bruce] Bromberg’s winning playfulness.” He also says that while the sushi isn't the best in town, the fried chicken may be. In Dining Briefs, Bruni visits Cooper’s Tavern (pictured) in......

Ever since we read about osechi-ryori in the Times last week we’ve become a tad obsessed with this traditional cuisine that the Japanese whip up for the New Year. Stacked jubako, a more elegant take on the bento box, are filled with delicacies deriving from an age-old taboo forbidding women from cooking during the first three days of the New Year. In addition to sweet potato and burdock root and bits of grilled meat or......

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Sam Mason’s Tailor. Loves the design of the place, and—along with everyone else—the pork belly, the arctic char and the drinks. Overall? “[Mason’s] infatuation with his own imagination doesn’t leave room enough for a self-appraisal of the results… a duck-and-eel terrine in a chocolate consommé tastes like cat food splashed with Yoo-hoo.” Hee. In Dining Briefs, Bruni goes to Toloache. Calls the upscale Mexican restaurant a “welcome addition”......

Bruni visits Park Avenue Autumn this week, giving the seasonal restaurant, which changes name (Park Avenue Spring, Summer, etc.), décor and menu every three months to suit the season, two stars. Says that executive chef Craig Kotesku’s cooking here is much more interesting than at Quality Meats, the other restaurant he oversees. “Park Avenue Look-at-the-Weather-and-Fill-In-The-Blank has more than a striking gimmick,” he says. “It also has some terrific food.” In Dining Briefs, Julia Moskin goes......

Julia Moskin sits in for Bruni again this week, gives two stars to the new dining room at the Morgan Library. It's eccentric, she says--open only during museum hours, which means that it only serves dinner on Friday nights, and even then only until 9pm. But "there's no institution that joins a menu and a museum as seamlessly." Also in the Times, Sarah Lyall's got an update on food in British school cafeterias, and the......

This week in the Times, Julia Moskin fills in for a vacationing Bruni, one-stars Francois Payard's In Tent. "In too many cases, I could see where the chef was going, but the food hadn't arrived there yet," she says. But the desserts she liked, no surprise. The Eater oddsmakers are on the money again: one-star takes the day. Tables for Two visits Momofuku Ssäm Bar, finding it surprising that so many people seem content to......

Truth be told, this past season of America's Next Top Model hasn't been doing it for us, because it pales after Project Runway (and we think most of the wannabe models are not that good-looking). So we're super excited that on Thirteen tonight, there will be a program that goes undercover into the world of cat shows: The Standard of Perfection "Show Cats". It's supposed to show "the training, pampering, bathing, grooming and fussing that......

For the past eight hours, we've been thinking about macaroni and cheese, in no small part due to Julia Moskin's mac and cheese odyssey in the Times' dining section. Even though this will seriously cripple our annual New Year's resolution of losing weight, Gothamist is determined to sate our craving for some cheesy pasta. We might head to City Bakery, but upon reading the article, we really want to try Daphne's Caribbean Express. What are......

Yummy: The Times looks at the Asian BBQ in town for a change. Reporter Julia Moskin correctly points out that Big Wong at 67 Mott Street (yes, laugh and laugh all you like at the name) has some of the best Chinese pork barbecue (aka char siu) in the city. Gothamist also recommends the roast duck and roast chicken (Epinions on Big Wong). It seems we will have to try out Kim Tuong, a Vietnamese......

After tackling cupcakes and BBQ, the Times Julia Moskin looks at the new age of chocolate appreciation that includes chocolate flights, chocolate conoisseurship, and interest in chocolates flavored with rose, wasabi, and thyme. chocophile.com owner explains it well, when he says, "Chocolate is a relatively affordable obsession. The most expensive bottle of wine is way out of most people's reach; the most expensive bottle of balsamic vinegar costs more than a thousand dollars. But the......

Holy headrush, the Times has a feature on the cupcaking of New York! Reporter Julia Moskin calls the sight people toting cupcakes around, the way one would a hot dog, a sign of a trend that entrenched itself, and covers how NY bakeries are making bank off teeny little cakes. Cupcakes analyzed come from Magnolia, Cupcake Cafe, Buttercup, Amy Sedaris, Polka Dot, William Greenburg, Yura, Kitchenette, Crumbs, and Downtown Atlantic, and who better to......

Gothamist is so jealous of the Times' Julia Moskin, as she gets to write an article about how real pit barbecue has made its way to New York. The vagaries of what barbecue is are touched upon (even a statement like "barbecue is meat cooked by indirect heat and smoke" causes a lot of debate) but the focus is on the New York restaurants that do offer pit barbecue. According to Moskin, Daisy May's,......