October 16, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Café Gray
For deliciously ostentatious swank that's infinitely cheaper than a status handbag, you must try the $85 black-truffle pizza on the new Brasserie menu in the bar at Cafe Gray.
October 9, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
I-Chin
I'm surprised by the splendidly revved-up flavors at I-Chin. Yes, I'm sneezing and I feel peppery heat coming out of my ears. Yet I couldn't be happier with the fiercely peppered ribbons of stir-fried chicken the waiter just snipped free of...
October 2, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Picholine
Will a younger crowd be drawn, as chef-owner Terrance Brennan hopes, by this
new stripped-down elegance (sedate if not soporific), new sound (Diana Krall
instead of Pavarotti), and new pricing ($64 for two courses) from the updated
menu?
September 25, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Je'Bon Noodle House
Bare-bones plain, cheap, and earnest, Je'Bon Noodles seems oblivious to our town's bold new world of pulsating Asian eateries-on-steroids.
August 28, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Darna
New York still lacks that great Moroccan restaurant-but until it arrives, Darna, with its modest Casbah accents and passion to please, will do.
August 10, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
The North Fork Table & Inn
A duo of fine-dining veterans, burned out by the city and smitten with Long
Island's rich local harvest, have made the brand-new North Fork Table & Inn
an imperative year-round detour in a neighborhood that claims to be starved for
quality.
June 26, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Sfoglia
How can it be that Ron and Colleen Marnell Suhanosky have been tending this offshoot of their Nantucket restaurant for three months and it hasn't popped up on our foodie radar?
June 19, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Central Park Boathouse
In the past, a Boathouse table was basically about inhaling nature-never mind
the food. Today the kitchen sends out thrillingly pure crab cakes, and a lush
salmon-and-oyster tartare with a dribble of caviar.
June 12, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Dressler
The scarred tile floors are real, and the abundant hills of tantalizing,
gently priced food are real, too, a joy in this era of foam and froth. But
everything else at the new Dressler is whimsy.
June 5, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Le Cirque
Le Cirque old-timers will be relieved to find crispy pig's feet, tete de veau
vinaigrette, and unabashedly retro quenelles de brochet.
May 22, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Barmarché
With Linda Japngie, its fourth chef in just eighteen months, in situ, the
quirky little bistro Barmarche picks up the quickening pulse of this
neighborhood just east of Soho.
May 15, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Capital Grille
Loyal to my hometown favorites, I felt no craving for out-of-town steak when Capital Grille settled in...
May 8, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Dona
I worry that the drive to reinvent the octopus has dizzied Michael Psilakis,
the inspired young chef-owner of the Upper West Side's Onera, since Donatella
Arpaia lured him east to co-reign at her new, handsomely outfitted Dona.
April 24, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Crema Restaurante
Julieta Ballesteros has graduated from teeny Mexicana Mama in the village to
a narrow earth-toned spot of her own.
April 17, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
A Voce
All those years chef-partner Andrew Carmellini spent pleasing Daniel at Cafe Boulud inform everything that's wonderful right now at the new A Voce.
March 13, 2006 | Insatiable Critic
Gael Greene's Best New Restaurant
The rosy glow of Bar Americain where Bobby Flay calmly perks up American classics with sane sophistication...
December 8, 2003 | Insatiable Critic
Small Plates
Appetizers are the new entrees, with cichetti, meze, tapas, and other
delectable (and affordable) little bites popping up on menus all over the city.
Call it the age of the do-it-yourself tasting menu. Or heaven for diners who
want it all.
November 11, 2002 | Insatiable Critic
Chef Power
Who dazzles, who counts, who makes us tremble, and who was who in our town's best kitchens.
November 11, 2002 | Insatiable Critic
The Taste Race
Superstardom isn't always conducive to great cooking. Luckily, an unsung Cadre of talent is watching the stove.