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The Dutch, So Hot Right Now, Dazzles Restaurant Critics
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 6, 2011
Modified Jul 6, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 6, 2011
Modified Jul 6, 2011
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Andrew Carmellini's SoHo insta-hotspot The Dutch gets not one, not two, but three major reviews this week and—though faults can be found with the service, the noise and the cramped seating—the "American cuisine" there is reportedly worth writing home about. "So here is where you want to be right now, all of you who care about good food and the theater of eating it," The Times's Sam Sifton purrs in his glowing two-star review. The restaurant has the atmosphere of "A Balthazar for Generations X and Y, a “21” Club for post-Reagan youth," and even the "clunkers" in the food department soar to "better than decent" heights. It is a scene, but "it is exciting."
Not enough Dutch love for you? Well, Time Out New York's Jay Cheshes says in his four-star review that the restaurant "seems destined to join the ranks of those neighborhood classics" Balthazar and Blue Ribbon. And "like the diverse crowd" it attracts, Carmellini's food "is eclectic: His rollicking menu reflects our increasingly free-form eating habits with loving homages to Chinatown, the barrio, Little Italy and the full range of midtown, from its oyster bars and old chophouses to its taquerias and noodle-shop dives." Not that Cheshes is complaining! "The Dutch is the kind of place where you can confidently pair cool matchstick asparagus tossed in Thai basil, peanuts and fish sauce with an all-American rabbit potpie steaming under a showstopping dome of crackerlike crust. That all of it tastes good—and, somehow, works well together—explains why even 10pm reservations remain so hard to come by (walk-ins are encouraged)."
The Voice's Lauren Shockey wasn't totally enamored of The Dutch but she still liked "the year's most hyped restaurant" as the "food deserves the fanfare." Though not all of it. Shockey didn't dig Carmellini's "lackluster steamed black bass in a lemongrass curry broth ($29)" and found that the "Veal pizzaiola ($36) garnished with fried artichokes came up short, too—surprising given the chef's pedigree." But no matter, when that rabbit pot pie (which seem to be the food photographer's favorite in this restaurant) is so good, and so good at making your neighbors envious.
Don't think that Carmellini is the only big chef opening up this summer, though. Daniel Boulud's sixth Manhattan restaurant, Boulud Sud, has opened off Lincoln Center and got itself two big positive reviews this week. "Boulud Sud is everything Bar Boulud is not: Quiet and comfortable," writes Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton in his two-star review. The restaurant "serves one of New York’s finest Wagyu steaks" and the "rabbit porchetta is so creamy, tender and rich that it’s a de facto substitute for foie gras." The space, he says, is conducive to conversation and has a charm, even if it is "the type of joint that would have looked fashionable in the 1970s, just like the some of the graying crowd here, slurping harira for a spicy kick in the can." And? Don't bother with the mushy pasta.
New York's Adam Platt also enjoyed his time at Sud, awarding it three-stars and hailing the chef's stab at "that tired old world of olive tarts and rust-colored faux-Provençal fish soups" as long overdue. Not to mention comfortable. “This is awfully civilized,” Platt's mother exclaims while examining the menu. Some of the adventurous dishes don't quite work ("the deconstructed, finger-size version of vitello tonnato") but no matter when other dishes sing. Also, we all must apparently try "the grapefruit givré" which is an "icy treat made with grapefruit sorbet, a luminously pink frozen grapefruit shell, and a topping of lace-thin halvah."
Over at the Post, Steve Cuozzo catches up with David Bouley's latest, the TriBeCa "kaiseki extravaganza" that is the "three months old and four years late" Brushstroke and gives it three stars. "Chef Isao Yamada’s interpretive modern-Japanese menu is marvelous," he says, even if "a meal comes with more caveats than the fine print on prescription-pill ads." Who cares when "Yamada coaxes extraordinary effects and heart-stopping flavor chords from ordinary-sounding ingredients—among them, seaweed, mustard and dashi, the bonito-flavored stock so elemental in Japanese cooking."
Not enough restaurant reviews for you? No problem! Robert Sietsema digs the Sri Lankan fare at Chelsea's Banana Leaf and The New Yorker's Tables for Two, like everybody else, enjoys the pizza at Roberta's in Bushwick.
Tagged
boulud sud
brushstroke
midweek special
review roundup
the dutch
Garth Johnston
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