Reviews for Tenpenny, The Dutch, Walle, Lyon, and More

The Times' Sam Sifton takes a week off from the New York reviewing circuit to check out the doings in London, but there still are plenty other raves and takedowns this morning:

Steve Cuozzo wants to like Midtown Chinese newcomer Walle, and does indeed enjoy many of the dishes, but concludes it's "not playing with a full set of fortune cookies": "The appetizers have improved since the miserable ones we had a month ago. Even so, Walle has an unmanaged feel...Red wine was warm enough for a foot bath. Waits between courses ran to a half-hour. A supervisor shouted at waiters. Busboys persistently tried to pour tap water into glasses of $8 sparkling." [NYP]

Ryan Sutton loves the food, dislikes the space at Midtown's Tenpenny: "It feels less like a restaurant, more like an anonymous brick and wood pub that happens to serve food. But that food happens to be excellent...This is the kind of place that would be declared the next Torrisi if it were located in a shiny Mulberry storefront. It’s not and probably accounts for why Tenpenny isn’t as full as it should be." [Bloomberg]

Robert Sietsema encounters a few standouts among the disappointments at Brooklyn bar Dean Street: "There's a Caesar salad, because nearly everyone wants one these days. Dean Street's is fine, except, in service of artful stacking, the romaine leaves are left as uncut as Michelangelo's David—so eating it becomes a knife-sawing chore, with dressing flying everywhere...A gastropub must provide an ass-grabbingly good burger. Here, Dean Street delivers magnificently." [VV]

The Robs award three Underground Gourmet stars to Astoria's new coffee shop/fancy grilled cheese shop Queens Kickshaw: "...the concept works. The Westchester-roasted pour-over coffee is terrific...And then there are those grilled cheese sandwiches, assembled on Balthazar Bakery bread by chefs so intently focused on their mise en place you’d think they were auditioning for Thomas Keller." [NYM]

THE ELSEWHERE: Lauren Shockey discovers mostly excellent Turkish fare at Midtown's Bi Lokma, Jay Cheshes awards four stars to lovely newish French spot Lyon, and Gael Greene swoons over The Dutch.

THE BLOGS: Serious Eats gives a B+ to the duck lunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar, Life with Food and Drink found the empty Bahr Che charming but awkward, Eat Big Apple enjoys a brilliant meal at Boulud Sud, Immaculate Infatuation discovers some great breakfast dishes at Buvette, New York Journal gives WallE 1 1/2 stars overall, The Pink Pig enjoys Rouge et Blanc and finds it very intriguing, and Gotham Gal still adores Torrisi Italian Specialties.