The Grill Coasts Through Review Season With High Honors

Cuozzo angles for insiders at The Grill

Steve Cuozzo wraps up the review season for The Grill in his “insider’s guide to the new Grill at the old Four Seasons,” proclaiming that Aby Rosen and Major Food Group have “rescued the storied venue from its mausoleum-like air and liberated it for the living.” He says the rebirth will “win over doubters” who either hated the place as well as those who feel that “no reboot could measure up.”

In a rare demonstration of purple prose from Cuozzo, he declares the restoration “has made the venue gleam with revelatory energy” and a buzzy dining room creates “a cheery thrum that was missing back when David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger were running the world over $40 baked potatoes.” Prime rib is the “superstar,” there are some gems tucked into the expensive wine list, and while the service is “friendly,” Cuozzo didn’t love the “over-rehearsed history lectures.”

As for the prices? The Grill’s “masters-of-the-universe menu. . . doesn’t have to break the bank,” since many plates are large enough to split.

Patty Diez

Diners still phone it in

The New York Times explores the rise and plateau of OpenTable: Though it “seats more than 23 million diners a month in 43,000 restaurants across the globe,” “...Neither OpenTable nor its competitors have yet loosened the telephone’s grip on reservations, roughly two-thirds of which are still made by phone, according to Yelp, which once partnered with OpenTable and is now a rival.”

As for the competition, it’s catching up: Reserve “has better restaurants,” and Resy, having snagged Le Bernardin, Augustine, and Union Square Cafe, has become a reservations heavyweight.

One more nouveau slice joint

Sauce opened walk-up window LES Pizza in April, offering thin-crust pizza for an after-hours crowd. Since that opening, owner Adam Elzer and Shane Covey have rolled out a Noho spinoff at Sweetwater Social which backs onto Bleecker. Bowery Boogie reports a menu of thin-crust personal pizzas salads, and sandwiches. The partners bought Sauce from Frank Prisinzano last year.

Is nine old?

It may be for restaurants like No. 7 Sub and No. 7 Restaurant, Tyler Kord’s spots celebrating a birthday on Tuesday, September 5. Visit the 7 Greene Avenue location (where the dining room has been recently renovated) from 6 to 10 p.m. for $4 tacos, $2 fried chicken, and $1 oysters. In the meantime, the restaurants are closed from August 28 to September 4.

Labor Day Lowcountry boil

Plan for a tasty mess of a Lowcountry boil in the garden at The Standard (25 Cooper Square) in the East Village on Monday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that’s $62 a person. This version includes head-on shrimp, corn, potatoes, and smoked sausage. There’s also a ribs and hushpuppies first course and banana cream pie for dessert. Drinks are extra, like the $30 buckets of Standard Brauhaus or $8 frozen drinks.

In honor of the Lowcountry boil, check this out: