Pete Wells Serves Up Two Stars for Bowery Newcomer Rebelle

Pete Wells has mixed feelings about Rebelle, the new restaurant from wine master Patrick Cappiello, and Branden McRill of Pearl & Ash, and chef Daniel Eddy, an alum of Paris's critical darling Spring. He gives high marks to the monkfish and roast chicken:

A long strip of bird under a crackerlike roof of skin. Absolutely everything about this plate seems to have gone right, down to the golden, papery slices of potato fused in butter-fried unity.

But, he's frustrated by the upselling of plates and isn't exactly enamored with the giant industrial space: "At times Rebelle reminds you less of a brasserie on Boulevard du Montparnasse than of a strip club on Queens Boulevard, especially when you start hearing classic pole-dancing hits of the 1980s." The smart and gently priced wine list helps make up for these faults. Wells gives it two stars.