Reviews for Perry St., Manzanilla, Carbone, and More

Ryan Sutton awards two stars to Jean-Georges and Cedric Vongerichten's Perry St.: "Snapper sashimi, firm as steak, sparkles with lemon, olive oil and spicy bird's eye chilies. Oyster mushroom carpaccio with avocado, on the menu since 2005, still looks and tastes like a brilliant vegan pasta; just a whisper of jalapeno tickles the palate. And while scallops, shrimp and clams boast serious maritime flavor by themselves, Cedric emboldens them with green curry." [Bloomberg]

As noted yesterday, Pete Wells finds that Manzanilla has an uneven menu. On the dishes that don't work: "The whites of quail eggs, cold and runny, made a promising kale salad deeply unappealing. The sharp tang and tiny curds of a layer of goat cheese canceled out the smooth sweetness of a foie gras terrine. Beet-orange sauce and tomatillo gazpacho were lost on a platter of two varieties of raw oysters, neither very flavorful. If the menu hadn't said so, I'm not sure I would know that the bland log of white meat that broke into wet splinters was chicken." One star. [NYT]

For his farewell review, Jay Cheshes awards five stars to Carbone: "The enormous menu, which opens as wide as The New York Times, reads like an encyclopedia of red-checkered classics. But co-chefs Torrisi and Carbone have made such dramatic improvements, you'll barely recognize anything. You've never had a Caesar salad like their tableside masterpiece, a beautifully dressed, nuanced variation on the classic, amplified with warm garlic-bread croutons, two types of anchovies and three types of cheese." [TONY]

Robert Sietsema recommends sticking to the classic New England-style seafood dishes at Kittery in Carroll Gardens: "The clam platter ($19) features entire bivalves (not just strips) fried crisp in flour and cornmeal. They're so profuse and rich you can nudge them one by one onto your dining companions' plates and still have plenty for yourself. The irregularly cut fries, with little bits of crisp skin here and there, are admirable, too, but what threatens to upstage everything else is the wonderful tartar sauce—its effect enhanced by a substantial wallop of raw garlic." [VV]

Adam Platt awards one star to Harlow and no stars to Bill's Food & Drink. On the latter: "We eschewed the $65 foie gras in favor of the $45 lobster fra diavolo, which was an oily mess. The steaks tasted like bad London broil on my first visit, but they're better now, although to procure the best ones (the porterhouse, the rib eye), you'll have to fork over a total of $183." [GS/NYM]

Stan Sagner gives two stars (out of a possible five) to Porteño in West Chelsea: "Polenta Porteño ($12), a heaping bowl of creamy grits studded with crisped morsels of blood sausage, has all the makings of a winner. That dish sadly languishes - to be delivered only after it has acquired the leathery skin of a long neglected bowl of oatmeal. Ensalada de Calamares Chamuscados ($11), a seemingly straightforward composed salad featuring charred squid, can be impeccable one night and scorched to near-cinders the next." [NYDN]

THE ELSEWHERE: Shauna Lyon of Tables for Two likes Mehdi Brunet-Benkritly's unusual creations at Chez Sardine, Tejal Rao approves of Richard Kuo's work at Pearl & Ash, Ligaya Mishan gives a big thumbs up to The Library at the Public, and Gael Greene finds some hits and misses at Greenwich Project.

THE BLOGS: Stang & Steinthal give an 8.2 rating to Gajyumaru on the Upper East Side, NYC Foodie loves his meal at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Chekmark Eats has a great time at Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya on the LES, the Pink Pig has a solid vegetarian meal at Table Verte, the Food Doc files a report on the Zahav late night dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar, Blondie & Brownie love the lunch deal at Motorino, and NY Journal thinks that the kitchen at Manzanilla is turning out great food right now.
· All Coverage of Reviews [~ENY~]
[Perry St. by Krieger]