Pete Wells Awards Two Stars to Chris Cipollone's Piora

Pete Wells is happy to find that former Tenpenny chef Chris Cipollone has resurfaced at Piora, a stylish and intimate new West Village restaurant. Wells thinks that the chef is still turning out inventive and delicious food:

Mr. Cipollone has definitely traded up, and he's cooking as if he knows it. Imagine, if you can, four people fighting over carrots. It happened, and one of his appetizers was the cause. Some of the carrots were roasted in ham fat until they collapsed into their own sweetness; some had a humming spiciness locked inside them; under them was tangy white yogurt and on top, a pink drift of powder. "Ham snow," our server said. If there are Bac-Os in heaven, I had better get some religion, because this is what they'll taste like.

[Schiller's by Daniel Krieger]
Joshua David Stein awards two stars out of five to Schiller's: "One can still have an outstanding meal at Schiller's. It's simple: Order the garlic shrimp and the steak frites. The shrimp, little popcorn-size commas swimming in a pool of hot garlicky oil, are dinner's version of porn: Everyone eats it, and everyone loves it, but no one likes watching someone else consume it. Mopping up the oil with bread—remarkably good bread, actually—we are all rendered gluttons by the dish, and it is worth it." [Observer]

The Robs give four Underground Gourmet stars (out of five) to Martha in Fort Greene: "[J]ust about everything the U.G. tried was great, with nary a clunker in sight. Vegetables, in particular shine: cubes of butternut squash cooked just to the point of tenderness, bathed in a pool of rich, salty miso butter; roasted broccoli funkified with Chinese black vinegar and Korean chiles; Fairy Tale eggplant strewn with chopped hard-cooked egg and Thai bird chiles." [GS/NYM]

[Marco's by Daniel Krieger]

Daniel S. Meyer files on Marco's, the new restaurant from the Franny's team: "Where Marco's misses, it doesn't miss by much, but even a few small details left unattended can discomfit. You wish they brought bread—even if it's becoming a dated convention—especially when you're left wanting to sop up the yolky dregs of a fried egg ($11), autumn-rich with pumpkin and fried sage and brightened by pickled quince. A side of sweet, charred leeks ($9) is sunk into the blissfully briny deep by anchovies, but the long, stringy strands, wound tight like a ball of yarn, prove vexing to eat." [TONY]

[Villard Michel Richard by Bess Adler]

Steve Cuozzo gives two stars out of four to the casual dining room at Villard Michel Richard: "France peers through the tall windows via 'faux gras' terrine and country pâté ($18); the terrine is a crunchy meld of chicken liver mousse and pistachios, the pâté a potful of oven-baked, herbed chicken liver. Richard's Yankee Doodle side comes through loud and clear in country-breaded fried chicken without a trace of grease ($28). The menu needs more and better fish entrees than uninspired salmon with lentils ($34). I expected more from the cote de boeuf ($59), but it was snore-inducing." [NYP]

Stan Sagner gives three stars out of five to Bunker in Ridgewood: "If a full-on pork-a-thon is your thing, the Special Saigon Banh Mi ($8.50) might be your speed, though our table found it polarizing. A jamboree of house-made Vietnamese-style ham, sausage, bacon and paté, the jumbled whole is less than the sum of its very tasty parts. A signature dish of grilled pork loin, Suon Nuong XA ($14.50), was in dire need of a night off, however. Promised lemongrass marinade was MIA from leathery cutlets badly deprived of both flavor and moisture." [NYDN]

[Red Farm Upper West Side by Bess Adler]

THE ELSEWHERE: Gael Greene has a few great meals at Red Farm Upper West Side, Restaurant Girl is wowed by Skal on the Lower East Side, Hannah Goldfield of Tables for Two also likes the vibe and the Icelandic fare at Skal, and Ligaya Mishan finds that Skal is serving exciting and at times unusual fare as well.

[Kingside by Bess Adler]

THE BLOGS: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt likes many of the traditional Isan Thai dishes at Somtum Der, Immaculate Infatuation's Andrew Steinthal gives an 8.4 rating to Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook, the Pink Pig samples the "chori" burger at Jeepney in the East Village, NYC Foodie tries the chicken sandwich at Cafe Standard, Eat Big Apple visits both Casa Enrique and Casa Henry in Long Island City, Chekmark Eats has a solid meal at Trattoria Il Mulino, Joe DiStefano recommends the potato and brisket perogies at Knish Nosh in Forest Hills, and NY Journal has a good dinner at Kingside in Midtown.

· All Coverage of Reviews [~ENY~]