This week Sam Sifton at the Timesshares his disappointmentwith Lincoln,the ambitious and expensive new restaurantin Lincoln Center from Jonathan Benno (Per Se). In a review headlined"Because the Fat Lady Has to Eat,"Sifton awards two stars to a venture that clearly had four star dreams."That Mr. Benno can cook is hardly in question,"Sifton says."But such success in the kitchen does not mean Lincoln yet works well as a restaurant. On that score, Mr. Benno and the Patina Group still have some distance to go. They have built a restaurant that lacks a center— a restaurant in which it is possible to eat well without really having a good time...A single scallop, perfectly cooked alongside sunchokes and almonds, makes up an appetizer dish that costs $24."
The Village Voice'sRobert Sietsema is pleasedto find perfectly decent Sichuan on the Upper East Side, where he dines at Szechuan Chalet with none other than"New Orleans rock legend Mac Rebennack (a/k/a Dr. John), a notorious trencherman and spicy food appreciator... Throughout the meal, Dr. John regaled us with stories about Jerry Garcia (with whom he'd had a falling out over drugs after a gig they did together at the old Academy of Music on 14th Street) and Keith Moon (who jumped out of a window and ran down the street naked after friends tried to stage an intervention focused on his heroin use). In between stories, he mightily enjoyed a plate of shredded jellyfish in what the menu was pleased to call a sesame vinaigrette. As the keyboard virtuoso observed between bites, looking out from under the brim of his black slouch hat and clutching his gris-gris covered cane, 'This dish is bangin'."
New York's Adam Plattawards two out of five starsto chefMichael White's new restaurantOsteria Morini, where"the omnivorous, multitalented White comes full circle, back to the kind of accessible, unadorned, carefully rusticated Italian cooking that he professes to love the best. But his new restaurant, Osteria Morini, which opened not long ago among the nightclubs and lounge-lizard taco stands on Lafayette Street in Soho, isn’t just another faux taverna with pictures of jolly Italian chefs on the walls (although it has plenty of those). In classic White form, it’s a painstakingly reproduced homage—this time to the cooking of Emilia-Romagna, one of Italy’s great eating regions—replete with burnt-orange terra-cotta façade and potted cypress trees outside the door."
Writing for Bloomberg, criticRyan Sutton also weighs inon Osteria Morini."White has made a name with fancier affairs like Marea, with its seafood and pasta tasting menus; Convivio, the bastion of high-end Southern Italian and Alto, the refined take on Northern Italy,"writes Sutton."They espouse the Michelin four-course approach to dining—an appetizer from the antipasto menu, pasta, entree and dessert.Morini’s chief departure is that it sometimes espouses the old-school“one plate should fill you up... Finishing a bowl of Osteria Morini’s braised beef ravioli by yourself is like drinking an entire magnum of Barolo wine."
And Ligaya Mishan at the Times is satisfied but not blown away byCariño, the Mexican restaurant on Williamsburg's Southside opened by the staff of the now-defunct Bonita."Cariño is a genial place to spend an evening, its version of Mexican food reliable, if a trifle subdued,"writes Mishan."It is, in other words, not unlike Bonita... You can enjoy the dishes here without remembering them later. An exception is Ricardo’s guacamole ($8), made with papalo, an herb native to Mexico that has a peppery jab and a lemony afterglow. It evokes cilantro, but with more va-va-voom. Where Cariño one-ups Bonita is at the full bar, which offers nearly 50 tequilas and a smattering of mezcals. Bypass the over-sweet margaritas for a Herradura Silver ($8), with its long spearmint fade, or a minerally Gran Centenario Añejo ($12).Sip slowly and forget, for a moment, that tomorrow you’ll be back working for the man."
