Reviews for Per Se, Tertulia, Cardinal, and More

As noted yesterday, former New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton left the post by filing a four star review of Thomas Keller's seven year-old Time Warner Center triumph Per Se. After his raves for the food, the service, the pine smell of the tablecloth, he notes that he adores other restaurants in the four star club (notably Eleven Madison Park, Jean Georges, and Le Bernardin), but "no restaurant in New York City does a better job than Per Se of making personal and revelatory the process of spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on food and drink." [NYT]

Steve Cuozzo on the British pub fare of Jones Woods Foundry on the Upper East Side: "If Jones Wood Foundry were in Williamsburg, it would be the toast of every hipster-fixated blog...If you’re willing to forego hard liquor — only good wine and beer are served — there’s nothing like it in Manhattan. And it’s laughably better than any cafe in its price range within 20 blocks." [NYP]

Ryan Sutton is enamored with the food at Tertulia, awarding it two and a half stars: "Is this three-star food? Yes, though if this were a three- star restaurant, Mullen would regulate the crowds...cut the 90-minute waiting time, take reservations...add soundproofing...and teach staffers not to drop stuff on the hard floors. Instead, Tertulia jibes with New York’s haute-casual zeitgeist, a reasonable tradeoff given the designer food at discount prices." [Bloomberg]

Robert Sietsema goes in expecting little and walks away impressed by East Village newcomer Cardinal: "The menu contains at least one totally unexpected triumph. Partly eschewing Carolina 'cue traditions, a barbecue platter ($21) offers three out of four from a selection that includes beef brisket, pork ribs, hot links, and pulled pork. Here's the astonishing part: The 'cue is superb." [VV]

Adam Platt visits two new modern Chinese restaurants, Red Farm and China Cafe, and awards them each a star. He writes of Red Farm, "Ng’s cooking is playful and fresh, and although some of his forward-thinking creations veer off the rails, most of the food is a cut above the kind of run-of-the-mill cooking you see these days down in Chinatown." [NYM]

THE ELSEWHERE: Gael Greene finds food that's more pretentious than she expected at Upper East Side Czech spot Hospoda, Ligaya Mishan likes the food, not the plating at Williamsburg newcomer Masten Lake and enjoys the falafel at Kulushkat, Tables for Two notes that food is besides the point at Miss Lily's but admits a good square meal can be had there, and Jay Cheshes awards four out of five stars to the meat-happy Resto spinoff The Cannibal.

THE BLOGS: Serious Eats gives a B+ to Wong in the West Village, The Pink Pig is an early fan of Alain Allegretti's La Promenade des Anglais, Feisty Foodie finds the ice cream sandwich of her dreams at The Meatball Shop, NYC Food Guy delights in The Delight sandwich at Court Street Grocers, the Immaculate Infatuation boys love Frankies 570, Eat Big Apple would rather go to Toqueville than Per Se, and The Oyster Blog takes an early look at the raw offerings at Kibo.
[Kreiger]