Frank Bruni compares Elizabeth to its desserts in his one-star review: "they're undeniably amusing, and they go down pretty easy in the end." [NYT]

Another paean for Convivio, today from Steve Cuozzo: "This is a restaurant that makes you glad to live in New York." [NYP]

Paul Adams likes Convivio too, but with more restraint. He's iffy on the seafood dishes, but praises the $59 prix fixe as a good deal. [NYS]
Related: First Look: Convivio

Delicatessen is too much scene and too little substance for Danyelle Freeman, who seeks solace in its burger but finds it only "serviceable at best." One star. [NYDN]

Frank Bruni finds promise in Forge, praising the echoes of Larry Forgione in son Marc's restaurants, but wishes the service and food were more consistent. [NYT]

In a more formal review, Randall Lane also calls Forge "inconsistent," noting that Forgione can cook but tends to overcomplicate his food. [TONY]
Related: Forge Tries to Raise a Second Forgione to the Firmament

Michael White's Convivio is "Manhattan's most exciting southern Italian joint," Ryan Sutton proclaims. [Bloomberg]
Related: First Look: Convivio

Having been tipped off first by a friend and then by “a popular blog,” Frank Bruni finds in Perbacco an avant-garde singularity worthy of two stars. That “popular blog” was onto something! [NYT]
Related: Modern Italian Prodigy Cooking Quietly in the East Village

Ligaya Mishan’s short review of Scarpetta may be the most compressed and eloquent description of the place to come out yet, affirming all that’s been said about Conant’s career, the meatpacking vibe, and the irrefutable greatness of the pastas. It also includes this gem of a description of Scotty Conant's signature spaghetti with tomato sauce: “a small marvel: earthy and sweet, a chiaroscuro of bright and dark notes, the tomatoes and basil achieving a kind of velvety symbiosis with the just-shy-of-tender pasta.” Yes! Bring us some now! [NYer]
Related: Southern Italian [NYM]

Forge earns itself a somewhat conflicted review from Ryan Sutton, who seems to be in love with the place, then stops to grouse about the lousy pasta and lamb that was “a study in fat,” a “greasy” veal cutlet, and “overfried” soft-shell crab, all of which “should never have left the kitchen.” But then it's all love again, and two stars. Odd. [Bloomberg]

Frank Bruni admires Matsugen's austere, meticulous approach to Japanese food: “I was riveted by the way bitter, funky and briny notes in the dish jousted. And at the end of that same meal, I was riveted by the one-two punch in a startling dessert.” [NYT]

Vongerichten and Co. won't need much more to cheer them this morning, but Steve Cuozzo also liked the place, even though he seems to have hoped he wouldn't, admitting that “It's...one-stop shopping for dishes rarely found under a single Japanese roof, and more than enough of them are fabulous enough to stifle my crankiness.” [NYP]

Yerba Buena, it turns out, is not the random Latin restaurant it looks like, Paul Adams discovers: The chef is Julian Medina, of Toloache, and the meaty, sprightly menu and snappy service are a major find. If anything, the food is too flavorful, Adams says: “lots of salty, concentrated tastes that pound on the tongue, delicious but overstimulating.” Not that there's anything wrong with that. [NYS]

In case you were wondering if Persimmon really is comparable to Momofuku Ko, here is Frank Bruni's answer: No. But it is cheap, and some dishes “riveted” him. [NYT]
Related: Kimchic [NYM]

Danyelle Freeman goes for Matsugen in a big way, granting the soba temple five stars (out of six) and calling it “an expensive restaurant that serves exquisite food for peasants.” [NYDN]

Matsugen gets five stars from Jay Cheshes, too, who goes a little further in trying to convey why cold buckwheat noodles are worth five stars: When mixed with condiments, “it all melts into a sweet, salty, silky symphony.” [TONY]

Scarpetta's Scott Conant is just where he ought to be, Frank Bruni writes: right in his wheelhouse, making three-star Italian food, all of which the critic loves. But the signature spaghetti with tomato sauce gets the words Conant has been longing to hear: “I had this dish twice, and twice it stacked up against any spaghetti al pomodoro I’ve had in Italy.” [NYT]

Restaurant Girl hits Forge and swoons over some dishes while dissing others, in a two-stars-out-of-five review that suggests that the place is still working out its kinks but is on the way: “Most dishes seem to be missing one pivotal player. It's a slightly tragic but recurring theme that unfolds over a succession of dinners.” [NYDN]

Alan Richman likes the place considerably more and sees the influence of chef Marc Forgione's famous father, Larry, a pioneer of contemporary cooking: “Here’s the news I’m sending Dad’s way: I think the kid might turn out to be a better chef than the old man.” [Forked/GQ]

Szechuan Gourmet is hot, hot, hot, says Frank Bruni, and he likes it that way — so much so that he gave the place two stars. “It’s fickle, tricky, fierce. It can light a match to your tongue, numb your lips, snap you to attention and do a job on your stomach that lasts a good long while.” [NYT]

Paul Adams gives one of his most enthusiastic reviews in a long time to Haute Barnyard newcomer Hundred Acres. Listen to this! “Hundred Acres is impressive, the kind of place where ‘seasonal’ isn't just a buzzword, but where you actually look forward to returning season after season to see what new ideas are blossoming.” [NYS]

Jay Cheshes, on the other hand, wasn't as impressed by the place. He's skeptical of the whole approach, and the food he found “pretty as a picture and mostly boring as heck.” [TONY]

Benoit misses the mark on one note after the other, but a few dishes pleased Frank Bruni enough for the place to earn a single star. Bruni suspects that Alain Ducasse's heart just isn't in the place, and he's not the only one. [NYT]
Related: Faux French [NYM]

Steve Cuozzo goes hog wild for the quirky, two-week-old Alloro, which served him five of the best pastas he's had all year. [NYP]

Sarah DiGregoiro paints the East Village's Persimmon as a cheaper, more accessible alternative to Ko. And who wouldn't want that? While admitting the place lacks Ko's “experimental edge,” her review of Persimmon's food verges on rapture. [VV]
Related: Kimchic [NYM]

Bad pasta, deafening noise … it's a two-star review for Bar Milano from Frank Bruni, the latest critic to forgive the place for what would ordinarily be fatal flaws in an Italian restaurant. Oh, and the desserts were weak too. But between the room, the entrées, and the drink program, the place somehow scratched out a second star. [NYT]

Lauren Collins is the latest (but probably not the last) critic to put the hurt on Ago, and hits all the points which we've become accustomed to hearing about – the bad food, the snotty service, the preposterous vibe. Can Ago really be that much worse than Bar Milano? Apparently so. [NYer]

Meanwhile, over at the Post, Steve Cuozzo hits Brasserie 44 at the Royalton hard, not for the food (which he really liked) but for the “losers lounge” that is the hotel lobby. Cuozzo seems to take the design deficiencies in the place almost personally: You would think that they had built over his childhood home. [NYP]

In giving both Gottino and Terroir single-star reviews, Frank Bruni probably just set the fuse to a gourmet-wine-bar explosion — which, based on this review, is a good thing indeed. We only wish it had occurred to us to call Paul Grieco “evangelistic” in his wine madness. [NYT]

Danyelle Freeman finds it hard to believe that Scarpetta used to be the Village Idiot, and also difficult to express how much she loved the food there. A whopping four-star review for Scarpetta. [NYDN]

And how about this? Robert Sietsema, who joys in decrying the failings of trendy restaurants, writes an unabashed love letter to Scarpetta as well, without ever even mentioning the spaghetti with tomato sauce, the place's crowning achievement. [VV]