Wells Calls Montmartre Most Improved Restaurant of '13

This week New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells awards two stars to Montmartre, the restaurant from Gabe Stulman and chef Tien Ho. Wells calls it the "most improved restaurant of the year so far," praising the change of course Montmartre adopted after its renditions of old-school French dishes — the initial focus of the menu — didn't end up doing so great. After the team decided to bring in more of Ho's Asian and global influences into the menu, things improved:

...the effect was transformative, as if National Grid had finally turned on the gas. When I returned to Montmartre in May, Mr. Ho was tilting an impressive French boudin toward China by blending it with five-spice powder and surrounding it with a black vinegar reduction and a spicy-tingly oil of dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Boudin's livery richness can start to taste flat over the long haul, but the Asian trick of playing blood against fire made each new bite as powerful as the first.

Wells does find some misses on the menu and feels that the wines are expensive and the dining room too cramped, but he writes that "Montmartre's French fusion has more conviction than the straight-up French food of many other New York chefs."

· A Clearer Long-Distance Connection [NYT]
· All Montmartre Coverage on Eater [~ENY~]