Pete Wells Awards Just One Star to David Santos's Louro

For this week's review, Pete Wells files on David Santos's two-month-old West Village restaurant Louro. The critic loves the spirit of his Monday night tasting menu dinners, and he likes the chef's playful style of cooking, when it works:

One minute he might be on his way to Italy, frying tiny, perfectly delicate semolina gnocchi on one side until they look sun-tanned, then surrounding them with cream with black truffles. A topping of extraordinarily thin onion rings helped make the dish one that traveled around the table until it was gone.

The next he is somewhere between Germany and Japan, pairing sea urchin and a sauerkraut variation made with the spice blend togarashi. The hot and salty pickled cabbage brought depth to the urchin, often used more for swoon than substance.

Frequently and successfully, Mr. Santos is in Portugal, where his parents were born. His fish fritters with paprika aioli are improbably light; his shrimp in piri-piri sauce is the best I've tasted.