NYC: Review Roundup

This week's Review Roundup includes: Rocco, Rocco, and more Rocco!, Dumonet at the Carlyle, Assenzio, Trattoria Anna Maria, Snack Taverna, Joe's Ginger Restaurant, Hue, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, and 100 Under $25.

NYMetro reviews Rocco's, as in reality tv's The Restaurant:

In the tradition of “home-style” Italian restaurants, the menu—printed daily on pink sheets of paper, complete with news from the DiSpirito clan—is as busy as a phone book. I counted 67 items, not including side dishes and desserts, and even though I made three visits, my fellow diners and I barely made a dent in it. The first wave of food came from the “fritti” section, and contained pleasingly crinkly fried baby artichokes, nondescript strips of calamari, and a pair of fat, tasty zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and herbs. Next were the “al forno” items, which included a plate of dried-out clams oreganata, a stuffed artichoke drowned in water, and Uncle Joe DiSpirito’s sausage and peppers, which seemed to have been left in the oven for about an hour too long. On the other hand, Mama DiSpirito’s meatballs were tasty, as always (you’ll find the same version at Tuscan), and so were the plates of broiled quail drizzled in red-wine sauce, and the crisply baked shrimps flavored with lemon.

And NYTimes' William Grimes on Rocco's:

It's all very straightforward, two-fisted and uncomplicated. So why on earth did they have all that trouble on opening night?

And if you still want more, there's Gideon's blog, and a very long thread at egullet.com.

NYTimes Restaurant, Grimes on Dumonet at the Carlyle:

The feeling is different now, more relaxed and spontaneous, and less a caricature of high-class service circa 1955. It has transformed the dining room. I began looking forward to my meals at the Carlyle as a kind of escape into the high life, as though I had been asked to dinner by a rich, eccentric uncle. Luxury with an antic touch — that's the new tone at the Carlyle, and it suits the place right down to the ground.

NYTimes $25 and Under, Eric Asimov reviews Assenzio:

Pastas win points for avoiding the obvious. Assenzio offers unusual winners like gnocchetti in a piquant tomato and wild boar ragù ($12.95). The gnocchetti are slender pasta shaped almost like drill bits. Potato gnocchi ($11.95) are soft and pillowy, but the creamy sauce is a little too thick. For a lighter meal, thin trenette pasta ($12.95), faintly imbued with lemon, is tossed with fresh sardines and orange slices, an effect as refreshing as an ocean breeze.

NYMetro's Openings & Buzz: Trattoria Anna Maria, Snack Taverna, Joe's Ginger Restaurant, Hue, Vosges Haut-Chocolat.

Snack Taverna:

New chef John Fraser puts his own sophisticated spin on Snack’s signature rusticity, topping stuffed grape leaves with pulverized almonds and saffron, embellishing pastourma (air-dried beef) with dried-fig vinaigrette, and pairing zesty grilled sausage with pear spoon sweets.

Joe's Ginger Restaurant:

To alleviate the mayhem at the Pell Street address of Joe’s Shanghai—an hour’s wait for a table is not uncommon—the owners have opened Joe’s Ginger Restaurant a mere soup dumpling’s toss away. For now, at least, most dishes on the nearly identical menu are a couple of bucks cheaper at the new spinoff. A bamboo basket of the slurpy crab-and-pork-stuffed steamed buns that made Joe’s famous, alas, goes for the full $6.25.

NYMetro Cheap Eats: 100 meals under $25 -- "Cheap" and "Under $25" are loosely and generously defined here. I think The Village Voice's Siestema does a better job of this with his "100 Best and Cheapest" Lists. Here's his Latin restaurants list, Asian restaurants list, and the "Inexpensive" restaurants list.

Review Roundup is updated every Wednesday and Friday

Comments

[Mary Merritt]

I think "The Restaurant" is a joke. This isn't a reality show, this is just a show created for this celebrity chef in NY. I've never seen so many mistakes made, cold food, unhappy customers in all my years of business which is over 28 years. If you want reality come to Boise and visit my cafe around 3am on the weekend. You'll see reality and what a real restuarant is like. This show offends me greatly. Also check out Insomniac on Comedy Central, the Boise show, we're on it! You'll get a real taste of reality!

[Alaina]

I'm no restaurant biz expert, but I have the same impression -- it's more television than restaurant driven.

[Tina]

I think he is a joke. Rocco needs to get his head out of his a**. Rocco thinks he is a pretty boy, I thought he was a chef. he needs to treat his employees better, they can make or break him. Giving the bartender that scooter was wrong and the shi* he did to the kid with the broken arm was wrong and that kid should get an attorney. And people of NY what the hell is wrong with you! Don't you listen, read ? I can't believe you go to a place and give them money for cold, bad, late, wrong ordered, underserve, overcharged and poorly served food.
Rocco you need help and not from your mother. watch a rerun, your wearing her down.