Pete Wells Falls for Sammy's Roumanian; Reviews for Huertas, Meadowsweet, More

Yesterday Ryan Sutton gave two stars to Keith McNally's new Bowery bistro, Cherche Midi, and Robert Sietsema gave three stars to Chinatown's Pho Vietnam 87. Now here's a roundup of the rest of the week's big reviews:

Pete Wells files a wildcard review on Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse: "The fried kreplach are grenades of dough with a tiny core of chopped meat that tastes like dough, too. The latkes are flavorless and textureless, but not weightless. Better than either, the kishke could stand some gravy and some salt." But the food is not the point. He gives it one star. [NYT]

Tejal Rao is impressed with the tasting menus at the tiny Take Root: "Each dish seems to push you to examine only a few ingredients very closely -- and enjoy them thoroughly. Take the creamed corn cooked in its own sweet, starchy juices, paved over with rounds of raw, bitter dandelion leaf that hide a dab of the spicy Italian pork spread known as nduja." Two stars. [Bloomberg]

Zachary Feldman reviews the pintxos at Huertas: "A jumble of bacon, corn, tomatoes, and oil-soaked croutons glows with the flowing yolk of a fried egg, all sweet cream and smoke. Fried calamari explodes from between slices of too-crisp bread, but the bocadillo kicks into overdrive with fried slips of lemon and silky squid-ink mayonnaise." [VV]

Michael Kaminer visits Polo Dobkin's new restaurant, Meadowsweet: "signatures like the masterful plancha marina ($32), a humble-looking plate of pristine scallops, seppioline, head-on shrimp, piperada and aioli, feel confident and relaxed. Masterfully grilled and minimally embellished, they're the work of a chef who's doing what he wants - and doing it well." Three stars. [NYDN]

Steve Cuozzo ranks seven different vegetarian tasting menus. On one of his favorites, Del Posto: "High ground came in two mid-meal pasta courses. Luna piena, a giant raviolo, was filled with Castelmagno cheese and shaved black truffles. Wholewheat tonnarelli bore a crackling chili spark and complexions of rosemary and bonito." [NYP]

THE ELSEWHERE: Shauna Lyon loves breakfast but not dinner at Dimes. Ligaya Mishan dines on Ethiopian food at Abyssinia. Gael Greene is not that impressed by Miss Lily's 7A.

THE BLOGS: Andrew Steinthal gives the Nomad Bar a 7.8, and The Pink Pig enjoys a meal at Montana's Trail House, Chopsticks + Marrow dines on Indonesian chicken and rice in Astoria, NYC Foodie checks out Marta, NY Journal calls the $55 prix fixe at Huertas an "astonishingly good deal," and Chekmark Eats has a good early meal at Tuome.