Four Brothers and One Star for Caravaggio

[benjamin petit for the times]Pete Wells heads uptown for his review in the Times today and files on four-year-old Caravaggio. The Upper East Side restaurant is owned by the four Bruno brothers. It opened in 2009 and throws back to the era of white tablecloths and dress codes. "Caravaggio," writes Wells, "is defiantly elegant in an age that sees white tablecloths as a medieval relic whose sadistic power to stand in the way of a good time is second only to that of the chastity belt."

In the dining room, elegance takes the guise of fresh flowers and a selection of well-curated art. There's "a signed Matisse lithograph," "a pair of Ellsworth Kelly prints," and "a pair of Frank Stella paintings." "Donald Baechler has covered the entire back wall with a crowd of the eeriest children in the world," the critic writes. "The mural is unsettling," Wells notes, "but it has the hovering, electric presence of real art."

Of Caravaggio, "It is one of the most civilized Italian restaurants to turn up anywhere in the city in the last few years," Wells writes. But he also cites ample inconsistencies in the kitchen, and with the all-too-common, steep Upper East Side prices, the critic awards just one star. "First-time travelers should be warned: no matter what the euro is trading at, the exchange rate on the Italian Upper East Side is always awful." [NYTimes]

Pearl & Ash and the Two Stars from Mars

[ed lefkowicz for the times] cappiello at workPearl & Ash has been a much buzzed about restaurant since it opened four months ago on Bowery. The combination of Patrick Cappiello's extensive wine knowledge and Richard Kuo's eclectic plates there quickly garnered rave reviews.

Cappiello was a sommelier at Gilt previously, and he worked with the wine lists at Veritas and Tribeca Grill before that. Kuo was born in Taiwan, lived in Australia, and cooked with Fredrik Berselius at the short-lived Nordic pop-up Frej in Williamsburg before it closed and morphed into Aska.

"First things first," Wells starts his two-star review of Pearl & Ash in today's Times. "Going to Pearl & Ash without opening a bottle or two is like buying a chocolate bar and not unwrapping it." Cappiello has a thing for low markups. His competitive pricing affords wine enthusiasts and casual diners alike the ability to drink from his near-300 bottle list, one where high-end Bordeaux is balanced by an abundance of affordable new world selections.

"Mr. Kuo studied the modernist tool kits at WD-50 and Corton," Wells writes of the chef's background. "Some people who’ve gone to Pearl & Ash seem confused about what kind of restaurant it is," he continues. "The menu is heavy on small plates, but then the dishes under the meat and fish headings can also be prepared in main-course sizes. You can cover the table with a carnival of little dishes, or start with an appetizer and proceed to an entree. Whatever. Let’s just call it a very high-functioning wine bar that offers one of the best values in the city, and move on."

Jordana Rothman filed on Pearl & Ash for Time Out last week. Her review mentions Cappiello was "sporting a Joy Division tee" during her visit. Wells notes a "Black Flag T-shirt under an untucked, unsnapped cowboy shirt." At Pearl & Ash, Cappiello has abandoned the suits and showmanship of uptown and opted for a more casual, downtown approach. But it's one he executes with an equaled sense of passion and professionalism. The band shirts could be a nod to what was once New York's most iconic venue two blocks north, but maybe they're a sign that wine is the new food is the new rock. [NYTimes]

On the Road Again; Wells Visits Saison in San Francisco

[jim wilson for the times]On Apritl 9th, Pete Wells filed a review on two restaurants in Houston: Oxheart and Underbelly, marking the start of a new series for the Times called "Critic on the Road." Today, Wells visits San Francisco, where chef Joshua Skenes and sommelier Mark Bright serve a $298 tasting menu at their restaurant Saison.

Wells ate at the San Francisco restaurant twice, with a year between visits. "During my earlier meal," he writes, "I would have given anything to speed things up." On the food, the critic noted, "A few dishes had a rough, unfinished quality, and some felt repetitive, but others were like nothing I’d seen before." On the service the first time around, Wells "was less thrilled by the attitude of the servers," and writes, "I know nobody asked if I was having a good time, because there were two long stretches when I wanted the whole thing to stop."

One year and a venue change seemed to be the breath of fresh air Skenes and co. needed to hit their stride. Wells found the staff "kinder and less cocky" the second time around, with Bright's wine pairings and desserts from pastry chef Shawn Gawle sharing an elegance that mimics the price tag.

"Saison brings together some of the best and the worst things about tasting menus, but now, I believe, the good has the upper hand. Facing down more than 15 courses, I wasn’t bored once," Wells writes, "and several times I was on the edge of my seat."

In a separate piece written for Diner's Journal, Wells sheds some light on what to expect with the new "Critic on the Road" column. "I think it’s time for the restaurant critic of The Times to cast a wider net," he writes. "The Times has been a national paper for years now, and its Web site is seen all around the world." There are no stars in place for the COTR template, "at least for now" Wells writes. "I don’t intend to skip out on New York City every three weeks," he adds, and explains, "This critic will be on the road regularly, but not that regularly." [NYTimes] [DJ]

Randazzo's Clam Bar is Starboard

[krieger for the nytimes]The sauce. That's what got Pete Wells to Randazzo's Clam Bar in Sheepshead Bay. He breaks from filing on the city's hot new restaurants with a review of the 50-year-old Brooklyn seafood shack today.

"Randazzo’s makes any number of tomato sauces," writes Wells, "but only one Sauce. It has two speeds, spicy and medium, but the dark, intense, concentrated, oregano-accented essence is the same," he continues. "A pure distillation of Italian-American cuisine, the Sauce tastes as if a chemical analysis would reveal the blueprint for every great dish in every red-sauce joint in the country."

The restaurant closed after Hurricane Sandy, but was able to reopen just before Christmas. Much of the interior is new, but Helen Randazzo's recipes there are still the same. And with the exception of a stuffed lobster dish, lobster bisque, and corn-and-crab chowder, Wells is pleased by much of what the restaurant has to offer. He gives it one star.

[NYTimes]

Houston, We Have a New York Times Restaurant Review

[photos: michael stravato for the nytimes] clockwise from top left: oxheart, justin yu, underbelly, chris shepherdPete Wells files on two restaurants in Houston, Texas this week in Oxheart and Underbelly, and it looks like we can expect more cross-country reviews from the Times critic. "[Oxheart] is also an example of the growing ambition of the Houston dining scene, and one of two places that lured me here to kick off this occasional series of reviews of restaurants outside New York City." At Oxheart, Justin Yu serves three menus on a nightly basis. Two are four courses ($49), one is seven ($79). But each highlights much of what Yu learned in Northern European kitchens, "he creates plates that take their visual cues from the colors and shapes of nature," Wells writes.

"Some things about Oxheart reminded me of other new restaurants that emphasize the personal and the handmade. The naturalistic look of Mr. Yu’s dishes, too, is familiar. But every course of my meal," Wells continues, "showed an instinct for the delicious that is rare in any city."

A few miles to the southwest of Oxheart on Westheimer Road is Underbelly. There, Wells explains, chef/owner Chris Shepherd tells "a story of many cultures and cuisines meeting in a place that has become the most ethnically diverse metropolitan region in the United States." For one dish, "Mr. Shepherd tosses chewy rice cakes with butter and gojuchang, the Korean chile paste," Wells explains, "which together make something like what you would get if you fermented Buffalo wing sauce and aged it in a barrel."

The star-system isn't in place for the new "Critic on the Road" series, but Wells is a clearly a big fan of both Oxheart and Underbelly. He writes that the restaurants "share Houston, the city that they are both helping to make into one of the country’s most exciting places to eat." [NYTimes]

My Hooni Said Shine Two Stars on the World

[sasah maslov for the nytimes]Sam Sifton gave Hooni Kim's "wee little restaurant on 52nd Street" one star in August 2011. That restaurant was Danji, Kim's first in New York. About a year and a half later, Kim opened Hanjan in Flatiron on the same stretch of West 26th Street that's home to Hill Country and Maysville. At Hanjan, Kim turns out Korean fare using the casual, whimsical, and small-plate template borrowed from the izakayas of Japan, where eating and drinking are regarded with the same ferver. Today, Pete Wells awards the newcomer two stars.

"Like Mr. Kim’s slightly older restaurant, Danji," Wells writes, "Hanjan has a menu divided between traditional Korean dishes (the pajeon) and new ideas (slices of raw wild salmon that you wrap around salad greens in a spicy sesame dressing). And once again, the cover versions and the original compositions are so much in touch with the spirit of Korean cooking that it can be hard to tell which is which."

"Mr. Kim may be more confident in his cooking this time around," Wells notes, "or more certain that New Yorkers will get it." He finds ingredients and menu items that suggest "Mr. Kim trusts his audience, and vice versa." Hooni Kim has built a relationhip with New Yorkers via the Korean pantry, and the two-star review reinforces the claim others have already made about Kim: he's the city's king of Korean. [NYTmes]

Dan the Man

[robert wright for the times]Pete Wells has given one four-star review in his 15 months as critic for the New York Times. Reviews of this sort are few and far between, which is not surprising when you consider the shift in restaurant trends over the past few years. Casual and small has become the new fancy and grandiose. Loud is the new quiet, and downtown is definitely the new uptown.

There has been a handful of three-star reviews though. Ichimura at Brushstroke was the last recipient back in September. Before that is was Atera, before that The Nomad, Kyo Ya before that, and Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria was the first on February 14th. Today, Wells has another for the Dining Room at the Modern.

The eight-year-old Danny Meyer restaurant was reviewed by Frank Bruni shortly after it opened in 2005. He gave three stars to the restaurant's Bar Room and two to the Dining Room, where on a recent visit, Wells found, "the cooking has more focus and intensity than I remember from the early days." He writes, "Sweet apple-wood smoke made its way into every bite of a sturgeon and sauerkraut tart topped with a glittering vein of caviar. It was elegant and powerful, like the pairing of a luxuriously soft poached egg with squid-ink spaetzle, sea urchin, roasted salsify and fragments of black truffles."

Executive chef Gabriel Kreuther's food matches the artistry found throughout 9 West 53rd Street. "He is bold with color," writes Wells, "painting salmon crimson with a marinade of beet juice, or drawing a dark green stripe of powdered Kaffir lime down the center of a monkfish fillet resting in a gorgeous sauce of blood orange and mustard."

The review breaks a streak in covering newly opened restaurants. It's a breath of fresh air that proves it's OK to get dressed up for dinner, and that, after running restaurants in New York for 30 years, Mr. Hospitality's still got it. [NYTimes]

Salamat, Pete

[robert kaplin for the times]Pete Wells dropped a multi-restaurant review last week with barbecue as the common thread. This week's is done in the same vein, only the focus is Filipino food. It's a cuisine that is rarely at the center of the city's food dialogue, though it's certainly not from anyone's lack of trying. Dozens of Filipino restaurants have come and gone over the years, Pistahan, Cendrillon, Elvie's Turo-Turo, and Bayan Cafe among them. Suffice it to say, the city is not without its share of bagoong, bangus, balut, sisig, suman, and halo halo. Mainstays like Krystal's Cafe, Ihawan and Ihawan2 in Queens, Grill 21 and Kuma Inn in Manhattan, and Purple Yam in Brooklyn have been serving Filipino food for years.

The subjects of this week's review? Jeepney and Pig & Khao. "The two places have many things in common," Wells explains. "Open since last fall, they are small, casual, fun and often loud — Jeepney with American and Filipino party rock, Pig and Khao with slow-rolling Southern hip-hop. Neither stocks hard liquor, but each still manages to shake up very entertaining cocktails." So how will decide which to bring your friends to next time you're in the mood for the rich flavors of the Southeast Asian archipelago? Take Wells' advice, "For Pig and Khao I’d round up the ones who love Asian flavors, don’t have significant hearing loss yet, think it’s fun to get endless refills of beer from a keg in the back garden and won’t be heartbroken to learn that fertilized duck embryos are not an option." "The friends I’d take to Jeepney would be the explorers," he mentions later, "the ones who see every meal as a chance to learn something."

Part of a chef's job is to adapt custom and tradition to evolving food trends. As our food culture marches further down Artisan Road, our palates are becoming less and less captivated by generic, factory farmed ingredients. Innovative cuisine alone isn't always enough to bring in the crowds. But if there's a new story to be told, and the chef communicates through their food, people are likely to engage in conversation. The teams at Jeepney and Pig & Khao get this, and the two-star reviews show signs of a shifting dialogue. [NYTimes]