Collected here are current Insatiable Critic columns and articles that have appeared in
New York Magazine over the years going back to 1998, plus a few vintage favorites. (Eventually I hope to scan more.) Many of the restaurants I loved or skewered or had high hopes for are gone. Restaurants land with a splash and evolve or fade away, not necessarily because they can’t find a following. Sometimes it’s a feud between owners, bad chemistry in the kitchen, a chef on his own with no business sense, a divorce, or a landlord issue. These older reviews, roundups and Ask Gaels columns are here for nostalgia or visitors in search of history.
October 6, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Compass Gyrations
In yet another premature mid-life crisis, Compass has redesigned itself for the third time and emerged looking good with a new seafood focus…
September 30, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
The Most Important Restaurants in Forty Years
What are the dozen (or so) most important restaurants of the past forty years?. Before the reality of space requirements took over, this was what I wrote…
September 15, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Socarrat Paella Bar
This could be the best paella I can remember. It is lushly rich in socarrat--the marvelously crusty rice I’m scraping from the pan…
September 8, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Yerba Buena Beckons
I’ll brave the street’s remnants of grunge for serious cocktails and reasonably priced, fabulous Latino food by partner Julian Medina of Toloache…
August 18, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Sheridan Square Redux
Chef Franklin Becker inherited a dysfunctional work in progress when Gary Robins vanished…Becker has already tightened ship and put his own mark…
August 11, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Nouvelle Delicatessen
The crowd skews young and pretty at this lively new comfort food initiative from the folks at Cafeteria. And what a surprise, this grub is good…
August 4, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Tasting Convivio
Michael White wasn’t happy with less than raves…so he and partner Chris Cannon bolted the door for two weeks and invented Convivio: new look, pared-down prices, a $59 four-course prix fixe, and a wonderful rustic style for the Southern Italian…
July 14, 2008 | Insatiable Critic
Matsugen Does Noodles
Clearly, as landlord and partner, Jean-Georges Vongerichten is betting our town’s noodleheads will be moved by the esoteric noodling of Japan’s entrepreneurial Matushita brothers…