Click on the images for more details on truffle specials at Bottega Del Vino, Sapori D'Ischia in Queens, Marea, Gilt, Scarpetta, David Burke Townhouse, and Craft. more ›

New York's Adam Platt files a twofer on twee West Village restaurant Joseph Leonard and Civetta, an Italian restaurant on Kenmare Street. Each gets a measly one star out of five; "Joseph Leonard’s very standard bistro menu isn’t inspired enough to add to this festive atmosphere, but neither is it so horrible that it detracts from the proceedings." At Civetta, "if you choose wisely, it’s possible to have a decent meal." Meanwhile, Jay Cheshes at Time Out finally gets around to reviewing Graydon Carter's Monkey Bar, giving it three out of five stars and noting that, "There are still some rich people in New York City, and they eat here." more ›

This week the Times's outgoing dining critic Frank Bruni files on Bar Artisanal, the Tribeca restaurant that opened in February as Trigo, then closed three months later and reopened under new ownership with a different menu. Quoth the Bruni: "Cheese animates and dominates Bar Artisanal — and helps give it what modest appeal it has. Take away the cheese and what’s left is a calculating, somewhat cynical operation, connected to the Hilton Garden Inn... Bar Artisanal pillages and repackages current trends with astonishing thoroughness, commanding attention for that alone. If restaurants could be preserved in amber and tucked away for future students of gustatory anthropology, this might be the one to save and label, 'New York City, circa 2010.'" more ›

The word "marea"— which happens to be the name of the new restaurant just opened by business partners Chris Cannon and chef Michael White, in the fabled, former San Domenico space—means tide. But White and Cannon’s spot has become the object of such intense speculation in the months leading up to its opening to the point that Crucible might have been a more fitting name. How come? Because of its prime Central Park South location, for starters: the restaurant’s rent is somewhere in the $750,000 per year ballpark. On top of that there was the massive renovation undertaken by Cannon and White. "How do you define 'brazen' in the dining world?" the Wall Street Journal asked earlier this month. “By opening an opulent, multimillion-dollar Italian eatery on Central Park South as many other restaurants struggle to fill seats.” more ›

With business partner Chris Cannon, chef Michael White of Convivio and Alto is opening Marea, a high-end seafood restaurant on Central Park South in the old San Domenico space, sometime next month. The restaurant has already enjoyed a spectacular avalanche of pre-opening hype: Eater ran photos of a fiberglass ladder and spackle buckets inside the raw, under-construction space, others followed suit, The Feedbag fumed at Metromix because of their exclusive food porny preview, then The Feedbag published Marea’s architectural renderings. more ›