Tell Louro I Love Her

David Santos was the chef at 5 & Diamond and Hotel Griffou before he started hosting super clubs at his Roosevelt Island apartment. For a $75 donation, guests were treated to a seven-course, Portuguese-inspired meal with dishes like coriander cured snapper and sweet potato and duck tongue salad. About a year after the super club started, Santos opened Louro in the West Village, and today Pete Wells awards the restaurant one star.

At Louro, Santos continues the super club theme on Mondays, "when the restaurant puts away its à la carte menu and serves a fixed-price meal," writes Wells. It also goes the B.Y.O.B. route Mondays, "While some restaurants that offer tastings also push a wine pairing that can double the check, Louro let me carry in beer I’d picked up at the supermarket."

Santos takes a worldy approach in the kitchen, where "His cooking ranges avidly through flavors from around the globe, but what it expresses most clearly is the sheer pleasure of being set loose in the kitchen." The small plates and eggs & grains dishes at Louro are the most exceptional, compared to "the larger meat or fish dishes, which tended to be forgettable." While Wells is clearly taken by the passion in Santos' cooking, he writes, "My praise for Louro would be louder, though, if the more substantial dishes were as satisfying." [NYTimes]