Each Friday, A Guy In New York publishes “This Week in NYC Reviews (TWIR),” with quick links to New York City restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers.
Also see our roundup of Michelin 1, 2 and 3 star restaurants with links to reviews …
This weeks TWIR is lighter than usual because we’ve been spending a lot of time working as a volunteer on a U10-U15 girls invitational soccer tournament. We apologize if we missed your review, but look for a regular TWIR next week.
For a roundup of DC restaurant reviews from DC food bloggers and media, see This Week in DC Reviews at Hobnob Blog …
NYC Restaurant inspection results online

• If you want to know how hard some wait staff work, read this from Waiter Rant …
• Augieland gave 444 againijrillian stars to Cru … “The fish was fantastic, the pheasant was perfect but the best part was the asparagus with the veal. Sweet and fresh and unlike any other I had.” … (previous reviews: Veal Cheeks (TWIR, February 24, 2006), Augieland (TWIR, February 17, 2006)) … web site, 24 5th Avenue, at West 9th Street, 212-529-1700 [MenuPages | NYT | NY Mag | openlist | Gayot | Citysearch] … and 630 bestozillian stars to Taim for the “Best Falafel I have had in NY” … 222 Waverly Place, 212-691-1287 [MenuPages | NY Mag | Citysearch]
• CityRag is “totally addicted to the heavenly pizza made with vodka sauce from” Lazzara’s … web site, 221 West 38th Street, 212-944-7792 [MenuPages | NY Mag | openlist | Citysearch]
• Salli Vates says Cheeks Bakery “sells delicious goods which are made exclusively with organic eggs and rBst-free milk“… web site, 378 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-599-3583
• Peter Meehan says El Centro “has some significant shortcomings on the menu, including its tacos and many of its seafood dishes, which seemed dashed off with unintegrated flavors” … but the “dishes that kept me going back for more were the posole and any version of chilaquiles with meat.” … 824 Ninth Avenue, at 54th Street, 646-763-6585 [NY Mag | Citysearch]
• Andrew & Karen’s web log ate at A Voce and “on its third official night in business, we found it to be kink-free” … “Lamb Shank Tortellini [:] It may have been the lemon that provided the ‘je ne sais quoi’ that put the dish over the top.” … web site, 41 Madison Avenue, at 26th Street, 212-545-8555 [Citysearch]
• Big Apple Dining Guide also went to A Voce … “Service was perfect. I can’t believe how well this place is running after just a week or so of being open. [And] the food was delicious as well” … “the Lamb Shank Tortellini [was] very good. The warm tomatoes were incredible as they popped and melted in your mouth” …
• Irene Sax reports that at Yuva Frontier Indian Grille “The music is Western, the cocktails strong, and the small room pleasantly dark” … “the real action is in the tandoor” … “Rack of lamb cut into chops, drenched in yogurt and cooked in the tandoor stayed miraculously rare. Salmon fillet was bright pink in the center, charred on the outside and totally blah in flavor.” … “the naan was wonderfully charred and chewy, so hot that we could barely pull it apart when it came fresh from the oven.” … “prices mount rapidly when you order from a steakhouse-like menu, where everything is à la carte. It hurts to pay $5 for a bowl of rice that was not enough for the four of us.” … 230 East 58th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, 212-339-0090 [MenuPages | Citysearch]
• Mona’s Apple “can’t really rate” Salt as she “was abnormally polite that night, and did not insist on trying everything that came to the table” … ” appetizer was the slow roasted eggplant, beet tartare and blue cheese fondue … eggplant and beet combination worked really well and the blue cheese gobs meshed it all together. The eggplant was perfectly cooked and maintained a soft but not soggy texture. I think I left a squeaky clean plate.” … “entree was the grilled Newport steak with mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Both dishes were excellent.” … web site, 58 Macdougal Street, between Prince and Houston Streets, 212-674-4968 [NYT | NY Mag | openlist | Gayot | Citysearch]
• Frank Bruni gave a Satisfactory rating to P.J. Clarke’s On The Hudson … “It does nothing spectacularly well. It does some things badly.” … “16-ounce rib-eye or that 36-ounce T-bone, both slightly charred, very juicy and just fatty enough when I tried them.” … web site, 4 World Financial Center, near the intersection of Vesey Street and the West Side Highway, 212-285-1500 [MenuPages | Citysearch]
• Twenty Bucks A Day finally had dinner at Queen’s Hideaway … “Arriving on our table roughly concurrently were peanuts, boiled with what looked like dried red chiles. My girlfriend exclaimed her excitement and explained that boiled peanuts are a southern roadside staple. I’m pretty sure I like the Fenway ballpark peanuts better, but I suppose that’s what the Waffle-House-IHOP line will do for a relationship.” … “oyster casserole ($16), which promised to include artichoke hearts, chestnuts, and leeks [was] good, particularly the oyster parts, but [the] rest seemed a bit mush-like.” … “I was more impressed with my pulled pork dish ($17) – it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that the proprietor had smoked it herself, and it was served in two amazing crepe-like cornmeal cakes, making these the best dry enchiladas I’ve had, possibly ever.” … 222 Franklin Street, near Green Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 718-383-2355 [NYT | NY Mag | Yelp
  | Citysearch] … and didn’t quite make it to Hadramout … (previous review: Robert Sietsema (TWIR, December 16, 2005)) … says Corner Bistro “is unlikely to please your neat freak friends” … but has, “hands down, the best burger I’ve ever been served in a restaurant.” … “the Bistro has thus far slain the legendary Shake Shack, the well-regarded Burger Joint, the less-regarded mini-Burger Joint, the also-miniature burgers of Schnack, Roll N’ Roaster’s old-time fast-food-style sandwich, the faux-Californian Blue 9, the late and lamented McHale’s, the eponymous Goodburger…plus probably dozens of places you’ve never heard of in cities across the nation.” … web site, 331 West 4th Street, 212-242-9502 [A Hamburger Today | MenuPages | NYT | NY Mag | openlist | Gayot | Citysearch] … 172(d) Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-852-3577 … but ended up at Yemen Cafe instead, where he had “an admirable rack of baby lamb arrive on the side of my salta. It wasn’t roasted in your grandmother’s style and served with mint jelly, mind you, but the meat was falling off the bone and flavorful without being skanky” … “Better was my roommate’s ‘special Yemeni fateh,’ a stew made with diced lamb and day-old pita” … but “The best part of the meal was absolutely the pita bread” … 176 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-834-9533 [zabihah | Village Voice | Citysearch]

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Did we miss your favorite review?

Let us know: aguyinnewyork [at] gmail.com … we’re especially interested in hearing from NYC bloggers …

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