Reviews for Fatty 'Cue, La Mar Cebicheria, St. Anselm

Sifton signed off yesterday with a nod to his favorite spots, including a special shout out to Frankies 457 in Carroll Gardens, and the interim (or full time) critic doesn't start until next week. So, now, the rest of the city's critics have a thing or two to say:

Ryan Sutton likes what he sees over at the new edition of Fatty 'Cue on Carmine Street: "Manhattan’s ‘Cue is tastier, tamer and marginally more mature than the Brooklyn first-born...A bowl of clams ($23) sports a sublime level of balance, a tightrope walk of sour yuzu, fragrant curry, spicy chilis and fatty bacon. That’s your signature Pelaccio dish here, the work of an Original Gangster who takes America’s low, slow, oak smoke cookery and mixes it all up with the prickly, puckery, fermented flavors of Southeast Asia." [Bloomberg]

Steve Cuozz is no fan of the decor or the service, but he sees some serious potential in the food coming out of the kitchen at La Mar Cebicheria, awarding it two and a half stars: "...most entrees justify $19 to $39 tabs. Halibut (sudado) was steamed to a delicate consistency in peppery, aromatic broth. Aji amarillo (yellow) sparked creamy chicken stew aji de gallina...La Mar has work to do. A $34 lamb entree arrived cold. Fat-kerneled Peruvian corn, which doesn’t travel well, pointlessly pops up all over the place." [NYP]

Tables for Two is wowed by Williamsburg's St. Anselm: "the juicy pink pork chop tastes delightfully of the bourbon in which it was brined; the tender, gamy lamb saddle marries perfectly with a dollop of tangy mint yogurt; and the inexpensive hanger steak, cooked medium rare, is a bloody steal." [New Yorker]

Adam Platt awards two stars to the new West Village version of Zak Pelaccio's Fatty 'Cue: "...Fatty ’Cue devotees can take refuge in old favorites, like slabs of glistening, deckle-cut brisket...These dishes don’t have quite the same raffish, messy charm that they do when they’re devoured among hordes of revelers at a cramped, smoky bar in their natural Williamsburg terroir...But the Manhattanites at my table agreed that this was not necessarily such a bad thing." [NYM]

THE ELSEWHERE: Julia Moskin loves the flavorful aged steaks on offer at the East Village's newest steakhouse Prime & Beyond, Robert Sietsema feasts on noodles at He Nan Flavor in Chinatown, and Lauren Shockey tries the cheese plate at Beecher's Handmade Cheese.

THE BLOGS: Serious Eats calls Danny Meyer's Untitled the Greek Coffee Shop of our Dreams, The Immaculate Infatuation boys hate Isa, while The Pink Pig has a rave for it, Brad's Blog loves the experience at pricey Romera, NYC Food Guy deems Red Farm's soup dumplings superior to Joe's Shanghai's, Eat Big Apple thinks Frankies 570 is the right fit for Hudson Street, and NYC Foodie agrees.