Pete Wells Finds Bar Bolonat on the Upswing, Plus Raves for GG's, Awadh, and More

Eater's critics are off this week, but here's a roundup of the rest of the weeks big reviews:

Pete Wells weighs in on Einat Admony's West Village Israeli restaurant, Bar Bolonat. Despite some early falterings he finds much to like, and improvement all around: "One of Bar Bolonat's most likable dishes since the unsteady early days has been the lemony grilled baby artichokes with a creamy band of pistachio yogurt under a pale-green powder of dukkah. That blend of chopped nuts and herbs can get tired if it sits around too long, but Bar Bolonat's is extremely fresh, the pistachios still sweet and bright green." He gives it two stars. [NYT]

Zachary Feldman reviews GG's, Nicholas Morgenstern's new East Village pizzeria: "Nearly every pizza I ordered at GG's was a home run. The "1986," an ode to the magical championship season for Hellen's beloved Mets, sports spicy soppressata, pickled peppers, and tangy fennel agrodolce. Recalling Frank Pepe's clam-topped pies in New Haven, the "Capo the Great" marries littlenecks, cockles, and razor clams with mushrooms, rosemary, whole cloves of garlic, and lemony garlic confit on a white pie." [VV]

Joshua David Stein loves Awadh, an upscale Indian restaurant on the Upper West Side: "The galouti kebab begins as a leg of lamb, trimmed of all fat. It is then minced six times, until it has an almost paté-like quality. Tenderized with papaya paste and spiced with a masala Mr. Anand imports from Lucknow, the meat is then slowly cooked in the nawabs' other great innovation: dum pukht." Four stars. [NYO]

The Underground Gourmet is impressed by Vic's, the farm to table Italian redo of Five Points. On chef Hillary Sterling's pizzas: "Hers are distinguished by featherlight crusts with credible cornicione and significant blistering; on the textural scale, they fall somewhere between a cracker crust and la vera pizza napoletana, minus the soggy center. She does a classic margherita of bright and vivid flavor and a unique prosciutto and ricotta, speckled with poppy seeds and spiked with horseradish."

THE ELSEWHERE: Ligaya Mishan dines on moles at El Atorodero in the Bronx. Hannah Goldfield is disappointed by the very dated Shun Lee West. Gael Greene mostly likes Cosme, but complains of the portions.

THE BLOGS: The Pink Pig loves Cosme, Chopsticks + Marrow heads to New Haven for a pizza tour, Goodies First eats noodle soup at Uncle Zhou's in Queens, NYC Foodie visits Bowery Meat Company, NY Journal finds Cherche Midi predictable but good, the Food Doc runs down his friends and family preview of the new Ko, Chekmark Eats dines at Ivan Ramen, the Infatuation has an interesting if not perfect meal at Semilla, and Restaurant Girl gives Cosme yet another rave review.