Today's Review Roundup includes: Lever House, Suenos, Chennai Garden, a tour of Ave C
NYTimes' William Grimes visits Lever House in Diner's Journal:
Entrees are divided into grilled and nongrilled dishes. Either way Mr. Silverman's love of the Greenmarket shines through, in rack of lamb with a salad of fava beans, arugula and melted pecorino, and grilled lobster tails with corn, wax beans and cherry tomatoes.
Deborah Snyder, the pastry chef, has decided that a classic of American modernism deserves classic American desserts with a modern spin, like chocolate tart with malted vanilla ice cream or a lemon meringue pie that's halfway to being a cheesecake, complete with blueberry compote.
Try to book one of the booths. I have a feeling that people-watching will be half the fun.
More Lever House at the NYTimes
NY Daily News reviews Suenos: Includes requisite mention of the electric pink interior. Recommended dishes include Mezcal Cured Salmon Terrine, Fava Bean & Drunken Goat Cheese Empanadas, Lobster & Corn Fritters, Roast Chicken & Squash Bloom Enchilada, Chile Rubbed Goat Wrapped in Avocado Leaf.
Suenos means "dreams" in Spanish - perhaps another nod to Kahlo's early-20th-century Mexican surrealism. Or maybe, after years of working at the Rocking Horse and Hell's Kitchen, the young chef and owner Sue Torres simply wanted a more calming name for her first restaurant.
Either way, like the queen of the self-portrait Kahlo, Torres marches to her own maraca at Suenos. While her inspiration and ingredients may be Mexican (with a little Carribean thrown in), her dishes are far from traditionally so. Most of her flavor fusions are so creative and colorful, they may well have appeared to her in a dream.
NY Daily News reviews Chennai Garden: "The excitement comes from the vibrant flavors of South Indian vegetarian food. Nothing is simply hot; instead, it's hot-and-tangy, or mild-and-earthy or tart-and-cooling. This array of tastes is clear in the $14.95 dinners served on trays called thalis, each holding several small cups filled with food, and each dish helping build a meal of balanced flavors."
NY Daily News tours Avenue C, Loisaida:
Bao 111 - Digital City
Cafecito
Casa Adela - Digital City, NYTimes
The Sunburnt Cow
Zum Schneider - Digital City, CitySearch, NYTimes