Reviews for Wong, Catch, Kutsher's, Tertulia and More

As mentioned earlier, Pete Wells dropped his first review as full time New York Times restaurant critic yesterday with a two spot for Asian fusion newcomer Wong: "At Wong, he has kept his freewheeling palate and his nuanced instincts for building contrasts, but the starting point tends to be Asia, which means that his cooking at Wong, at its strongest, resembles nothing else in town." [NYT]

Ryan Sutton throws some praise in between the barbs in his review for MePa club restaurant Catch: "Impossibly beautiful spindle-legged waitresses and waiters totter in and out of view in this Red Lobster for hedge funders. Such frills help explain why you’re paying $78 for your Cantonese-style crustacean...Garlic and ginger perfumed the barely cooked shellfish. Delicious." [Bloomberg]

Robert Sietsema sounds surprised to be so impressed by Kutsher's in Tribeca: "The miracle of the menu is that it resolutely stays within the canon of Jewish-American vernacular food, lovingly revamped by chef Mark Spangenthal. Rather than trailing jelly, gefilte fish is no longer the terror of the Passover table, but compressed pucks of nicely textured fish with a memorably mild flavor...The matzo-ball soup ($11) is close to perfection..." [VV]

THE ELSEWHERE: Lauren Shockey finds unbearable noise but delicious food and a touch of elegance at Alain Allegretti's La Promenade des Anglais, Dave Cook samples all manner of Peruvian food for his Under review, and Tables for Two loves Tertulia and feels as if it's been there all along.

THE BLOGS: Eat Big Apple enjoys some seriously solid food at oft-overlooked Aureole, The Food Doc checks out what Ryan Skeen is up to at Pera Soho, Chekmark Eats confirms that Cafe Gitane is just as good as ever, The Pink Pig finally dines at Osteria Morini and finds it "very pleasant," Eating in Translation heads out to Sunset Park to try Maine Lobster House, and Feisty Foodie encounters some overly cheesed burgers at Schnipper's.