Today's review roundup includes: Bouley, Chibitini, Per Se, V Steakhouse.
NYTimes Restaurants Frank Bruni gives Bouley three stars (120 West Broadway; 212-964-2525):
The kitchen excels at tender flesh, especially fish. I had lobster that flirted, to just the right extent, with being undercooked. I had black sea bass that had been slow-roasted to moist perfection and served in a bouillabaisse that was seasoned, surprisingly and deliciously, with vanilla.
None of the entrees or appetizers were an out-and-out failure, but most fell short of fantastic, and a few puzzled me. Kobe beef has so much to offer on its own; why muddle that by choosing the funky, idiosyncratic flavor of Asian celery for a purée beneath it? The Parmesan dressing that accompanied a nicely cooked piece of skate overwhelmed it.
About the desserts at Bouley, there can be little complaint, especially not from chocolate lovers. One of the best concoctions by Mr. Bouley and the pastry chef, Alex Grunert, is a chocolate brioche pudding, although it gets fierce competition from the "chocolate frivolous" and the "sweet pleasures," both of which invite hazelnuts to multitiered or multifaceted chocolate extravaganzas. They weave a decadent spell.
But Bouley as a whole does not create or sustain the kind of rapture that the very best restaurants do. It wobbles, as absent-minded and careless at times as the man who toppled the lamp. It feels like an echo, or like embers: pleasant, warm and inviting, but without a crucial flame.
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