Reviews for Gabriel Kreuther, Wildair, El Original, and More

Eater senior critic Robert Sietsema gives three stars to SenYa this week.  Here's a roundup of the rest of the week's major reviews:

— Pete Wells is happy that Gabriel Kreuther brought his best compositions and techniques from The Modern to his new eponymous restaurant on 42nd Street:

Here is the palm-size tart of smoked sturgeon and sauerkraut under a dandelion-colored mousseline with a gleaming black eye of caviar. There is the cushion of foie gras between two firm pieces of squab breast, trickling with red juices, all bundled up inside savoy cabbage and a papery shell of brik pastry. Both are as marvelous as I remembered. Like much of the cooking at this new restaurant, these dishes make an irresistible case for the power of classical European techniques, all the blade-flicking and stock-skimming tricks that Mr. Kreuther swings around so easily.

Wells offers special praise for the pastry work of Marc Aumont, who also spent time at The Modern. Three stars. [NYT]

— Tejal Rao also reviews Kreuther's newest this week, awarding it three stars as well: "The duck, served as a sausage from the thigh meat as well as a rare piece of breast, comes with a maze of tender, spinach-filled fleischschnecke (a coil of fresh pasta), and two Marcona almonds standing to attention in a bit of almond purée. It's garnished with duck skin cut into a perfect, pointy-edged trapezoid, red cabbage, and pomegranate seeds. It's delightfully over-the-top, and it made me realize that while some restaurants want it to look easy, at Gabriel Kreuther you're meant to consider all the hands, all the work, all the time that went into what's in front of you." [Bloomberg]

— Shauna Lyon of Tables for Two loves many of the dishes served at Wildair, the new wine bar from Contra's Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske: "One night, charcoal-gray squid-ink aioli and fried lemon slices electrified a prim plate of calamari. A generous helping of sushi-standard spicy tuna was spread across vast swaths of bread and topped with an unrecognizable frizzle of scallions, like giant Japanese bruschetta—certain proof, if you needed it, that the eighties are back and better than ever. A small portion of perfectly tender swordfish kept nice company with al-dente cranberry beans and a mild romesco, while a thick slab of breaded pork Milanese found a good buddy in an egg-laden gribiche sauce." [NY'er]

— Daily News critic Paul Schultz finds an uneven menu at Tex-Mex restaurant El Original. Here's Schultz on one major flop: "[T]he less said about the fish tacos, the better. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say what needed to be said: These tacos are just sad morsels of something that may have once been in an ocean folded into a couple equally listless tacos, with minute amounts of pickled cabbage and crema. For $18. I know it's not the Baja, but if you're not going to even try, take it off the menu." The critic gives the restaurant two stars out of five. [NYDN]

— Gael Greene has a fantastic meal at chef Nir Mesika's new restaurant Timna on St. Mark's Place: "Casablanca sweetbreads, sautéed with slivered okra with an edge of harissa, and topped with a poached quail egg and slices of grilled baguette, evoke the chef’s Moroccan heritage. A dish called 'Chinatown Summer' comes from another trade route – maybe it’s just Timna’s proximity to Canal Street that inspires a toss of glass noodles with asparagus tempura, ginger-cilantro pesto and baby radish. For us, the waitress delivers a serving spoon, as well as six sets of chopsticks. It’s almost everyone’s favorite." [Insatiable]

[Chiang Mai in Red Hook. Photo by Robert Sietsema]

— Zachary Feldman digs the Northern Thai fare that former Khao Soy chef Kanlaya Supachana is serving at Red Hook's Chiang Mai pop-up: "Among the main courses, khao soi, a hot and heady soup from which Supachana's previous venture derived its name, radiates with the same low hum of chile heat that plateaus to a tingle. A pair of chicken drumsticks hides at the bottom of your deep bowl, sunk in an aromatic, coconut-milk-based curry loaded with egg noodles and crowned with a nest of the same pasta, fried to a crisp." [VV]

— Ligaya Mishan praises the pho at Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen in Bushwick: "The broth is as crystalline as consommé, with long leaves of bok choy still on the stalk and bobbing thimbles of green onion. It's lovely in its pristine state, but even better besmirched by brisket. The meat is rubbed with salt and pepper, smoked for 14 hours over mesquite and apple wood, and carved and seared to order. It lands in the bowl with dark fringes, the bark just shy of scorched, and its juices leach into the pho along with a trace of smoke."

[Seamore's.  Photo by Nick Solares]

The Blogs: The Infatuation's Chris Stang gives an 8.5 rating to Seamore's, the Food Doc is a big fan of Bruno Pizza, Goodies First samples the "panda fries" at Due Fratelli, and the Pink Pig has an enjoyable meal at The Clocktower.