The Early Word on James Hotel's David Burke Kitchen

David Burke's first downtown restaurant, David Burke Kitchen, opened two weeks ago in The James Hotel. Located in the hotel's basement where the only glimpse of daylight comes from the windows that line the top of the restaurant, the restaurant serves a menu of classic American market-driven cuisine with Burke's patented twists. Is his sense of whimsy played out? To the early word:

The Great News: Some commenters suspect this fellow Eater reader is a shill. We'll let you be the judge: "Went last night and it was so much more fabulous than I thought. Great food and really unpretentious. Yes, in a basement, but there's huge windows starting like seven feet up with vaulted ceilings, so you're looking at the street level, and it's really cool..." [Eater Comments]

The "Too Much Food" News: Chowhounder Spiritchaser files this generally positive review. "We started with a "Snack" of chipped cheese, olives, and honey. Basically exactly how it sounds, it was a nice way to take the edge off our hunger. I started with the ants on a log which was bone marrow cut length wise with snails, garlic, and parsley with some toasts to go along with it. It was excellent, get it again in a second. GF (vegetarian) started with the Sheeps Milk Camembert Ravioli sans lobster. It was a very nice presentation and a good size for an app. GF said it was very good. I had a rabbit dish with king crab sausage on a bed of risotto. It was very good but not what I expected from the menu, or the waiters, discription. It was also, IMO, too much food. GF had a risotto the kitchen modified to be vegetarian and she really enjoyed it. She mentioned they might want to put it on the menu all the time it was that well done. Very very knowledgeable Sommelier, spoke to us at great length about Italian wines. Service was a little herky jerky, slow for the initial waiter intro but the Manager was very good at checking on people and interacting. I thought the space was very nice, maybe call it modern rustic. Looking forward to going back because there were several other dishes I had my eye on." [CH]

The "Excellent, Potentially Biased" News: Since this Menupages review was filed before the restaurant officially opened, one assumes it may have been for friends and family: "The food is very creative, unique and delicious. For starters the Cracked Cheese plate and the jars are perfect to munch on while you are going through the menu to pick your entree. For an appetizer the Bison tartar is absolutely delicious as well as the Pretzel Crab Cake. For entrees the chicken is so moiste and tender, the veal is perfect and the duck was just right. But anything you order from this menu you will not be disappointed at all. I can't wait to go back and try the other dished I have not tried." [Menupages]

The Mostly Good News: Yelper C. L. "I really like this place. We had a table of 8 for brunch. It had a country house feel in a classy way. Great spicy bloodys w a carrot and a cpl olives. we ordered half the apps to sample. Great Bison Tartar and the Salmon Pastrami were the best. I had the Hanger Steak for brunch....big portions, especially the fruit pancake that two friends split. The only thing we were'nt crazy about was the Fried Chicken and Waffles...too much breading on the chicken. Definitely worth checking out. Service was good, friendly staff.......Enjoy." [Yelp]

The "It's Not Worth It" News: A commenter named KevinJWalsh on Gothamist feels there is "Lots of plate and not a lot of food for those prices." [Gothamist]

The Twitterific News: @itsChuonfood posts a positive tweet "David Burke Kitchen was fantastic, gotta love the hospitality over there!" @BolsGenever tweets "This wins for the most inventive Bols Genever cocktail of the week: The Good 'n Plenty at David Burke Kitchen in NYC." @soapboxology has a short but sweet tweet of praise. "Cheesecake Lollipops @ David Burke Kitchen. Yum!" @pparseghian sees a wonderful dish she had, in her sleep. "Still dreaming about Ants on a Log and Short Ribs with Cavatelli." [Twitter]
—Jackie Goldstein & Gary Wong