Today's Review Roundup includes: Cavo, San Domenico, Caracas Arepa Bar
NYTimes Diner's Journal William Grimes reviews Cavo: Sounds like I might need to make the trek out to Astoria to take care of my recent and separate shrimp and Greek food cravings. 2 for 1!
The food is a modernized, knowing interpretation of Greek cuisine, which can assume dreadful forms in many of the neighborhood's restaurants. Cavo aims higher than steam-table Greek, and the menu language presses the point, with references to "barrel-aged feta cheese" and "Greek extra-virgin olive oil" in a simple but well-made summer tomato salad. . . . One of the best entrees features the largest shrimp I've ever laid eyes on, skewered on a sprig of rosemary and served in a deeply concentrated tomato sauce with giant cannelini beans and powerfully flavored olives.
This week Grimes also reviews San Domenico: I'm already full and I only read the review!
The pastas at San Domenico simply shock the competition. They are incomparable. Some seem almost unfair, like the giant dome-shaped ravioli stuffed with a soft egg yolk and drowned in truffle butter. The waiter might as well hand you a crisp hundred-dollar bill. Tiny ravioli stuffed with sea urchin, creamy and briny, find the perfect complement in a mildly peppery tomato sauce that enhances rather than obscures the saline, ocean flavors of the pasta.
A few threads of orange zest release a sharp citric jolt that animates a dense tangle of squid-ink tagliatelle wrapped around small cuttlefish. The disarmingly simple risotto of zucchini and mint needs to carry a warning sign. Butter and Parmesan cheese make this thick, oozing porridge a one-dish meal. Only the influence of pure, cool mint makes it possible to push the fork forward one more time.
NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews Caracas Arepa Bar: What's an arepa? A pouched corn tortilla which "combines the virtues of the of the soft corn tortilla and the pita."
The arepas are offered with 17 different fillings, and the appetizing aroma of the grilling corn dough makes patience difficult. Finally the steaming arepas come — two are a full meal — so hot you can barely hold them, each in its own plastic basket. Like sandwiches, arepas are eaten with the hands, though plastic cutlery is available if you like, as I do, to reduce the girth a bit.
The arepas are superb, with a subtle corn flavor that is amplified by the various fillings. Almost all the combinations I've tried are excellent, like reina pepiada ($3.50), a chicken-and-avocado salad that is a Venezuelan classic, and guasacaca ($4.50), a sort of Venezuelan guacamole made with avocados, lemon juice and olive oil. I loved the domino ($3.75), earthy black beans and shredded cheese, which melts and combines with the arepa. Black beans are also the basis for de pabellón ($4.50), with shredded beef and sweet plantains. La bonita ($3.50), is made with a creamy tuna salad. All of the arepas benefit from a squirt of mild, vinegary hot sauce.
Review Roundup is updated every Wednesday and Friday