Eighteen is Seventeen Too Many for Alison Eighteen

Alison Eighteen is the restaurant that Alison Price Becker opened in January, ending her decade long hiatus from the industry.  The first half of Pete Wells' one-star review is devoted to explaining the current dining experience in New York City south of 42nd Street.  At 15 West 18th Street, a handful of dishes failed to please Pete's palate.  "Razor clams slapped - grit, shells and all - on top of a knotted clump of flavorless fettucine" didn't do the trick.  A polenta dish with wild mushrooms was tilted "until a small pond of olive oil and melted butter collected on one side."

Traped behind an "eggplant-colored velvet curtain" is the "revival of an old play, the set looks great but the dialogue can feel a bit strained, and the players need time to learn their lines."