The perks of being a waiter are few and "family meal" is definitely one of them. But so we are clear, not included in that free feeding are bottles of pricey wine—as one waiter at the tony Italian restaurant SD26 recently found out, after he allegedly walked away with a Christmas bounty of eight bottles from the restaurant's private "Wine Connoisseurs Room." more ›

This week Sam Sifton at the Times tosses one measly star to SD26, the big glitzy Flatiron district reboot of San Domenico, which used to operate on Central Park South. Given the restaurant's lofty ambitions, one star is certainly a disappointment for gregarious owner Tony May, who used to run what many agreed to be "Manhattan’s best classically Italian restaurant. Some elements of that excellence remain in the cooking at SD26 and in the wine list put together by the affable Jason Ferris, the restaurant’s wine director. Others have been buried beneath attempts to modernize the kind of dining that Mr. May says has gone out of fashion: the elegant Italian cuisine he helped bring to New York. more ›

This week Sam Sifton at the Times files a two star review of A Voce Columbus. This slick Italian-influenced restaurant is the Time Warner Center incarnation of the Flatiron district A Voce, which was made successful by chef Andrew Carmellini (now at Locanda Verde). Chef Missy Robbins (Chicago's Spiaggia) is running the kitchen now, and Sifton agrees she's "an excellent chef. She didn’t come here to mess around. But make no mistake. A Voce is a corporate enterprise, part of a master plan, and feels like it. Save for swiveling yourself around in the Eames-y leather chairs that appoint both restaurants, there is very little room for improvisation. Service is clinical, almost silent, beyond language... This restaurant could yield more A Voces in other cities, in other malls, all over this land." more ›

This week in the Times, Sam Sifton reviews the newly-opened midtown outpost of French mini-chain Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote, which serves just drinks, salad, fries, steak, and dessert. "Women in French maid outfits serve the stuff as if they were characters in an early Preston Sturges film," says Sifton. "And you know what? It’s terrific." Meanwhile, the Times's Oliver Strand is in Williamsburg to rave about the gourmet sandwich shop Saltie, from veterans of Marlow & Sons and Diner: "It’s a lot of talent for one cramped kitchen. So they overachieve." (He also has kind words for Crosby Connection and Barros Luco.) more ›