“The Hurricane Club is by no means for everyone,” writes Sam Sifton, but “it is among the most enjoyable places to open in recent months. It is also a fine remedy for the blahs and blues of encroaching winter.” [NYT]
Related: Sifton Appreciates Manzo’s ‘Macher Flare’; the Hurricane Club Is ‘a Natural Disaster’
“Bar Basque is heartbreak in the making,” says Steve Cuozzo. “Chef Yuhi Fujinaga’s menu might not last longer than it takes to down one of the house’s irresistibly spicy, anchovy-stuffed olives.” For the moment, however, the menu is “often worth shouting about.” [NYP]
The pizza at Donatella is “fantastic” according to Robert Sietsema. The rest of the menu “has a stealth Sicilian agenda” — Sicilian fried calamari “has rarely been done so well as at Donatella.” [VV]
Related: First Look at Donatella Arpaia’s Neapolitan Pizzeria, Opening Friday
“Riverpark could be the year’s most gorgeous restaurant, at least for patrons who don’t mind things a bit corporate and adult,” says Ryan Sutton. “Chef Sisha Ortuzar gets credit for the adventurous pan-American menu.” [Bloomberg]
Related: First Look at Riverpark, Breaking New Ground in City Planning and Water-View Dining
“Brooklyn Bowl is a carnival of music, live and canned, dance and arm-waving, bowling, bar-hugging, flirting, canoodling and nostalgic comfort eats,” says Gael Greene. Among the highlights, “there’s the primal macaroni that haunted my dream,” she writes. [Insatiable Critic]
“Vandaag is a grownup sort of place,” writes Amelia Lester. “Which is not to say the kitchen is lacking in ambition.” In spite of “occasional missteps,” everything, “hit or miss, looks perfect — in an austere, aggressively contemporary kind of way.” [NYer]
