Today's review roundup includes: Hue, Pier 116, Pearson's Texas Barbecue, The Biltmore Room, El Maguey y La Tuna, Lever House Restaurant
NYTimes Restaurants William Grimes reviews Hue (91 Charles Street); :
. . .By my second visit, it became clear that I and my guests were sitting in the dining room for reasons that set us apart from every other customer in the place. We were studying the menu, exclaiming over this appetizer and frowning over that one, savoring the good and criticizing the not-so-good and, in general, acting as if we were actually in a restaurant. Everyone else knew that the appetizers and entrees were theatrical props, that the cocktails were at least as important as the pho bo and that no one over 30 belonged there.
Quite a few of the props are edible. Hue, unlike many feverishly social restaurants, does care about the food, although it undercuts the Vietnamese idea by attaching an adequate but distracting sushi menu that is long on super-duper rolls involving alien concepts like goat cheese and very short on simple sushi and sashimi. There is something to be said for the dragonlike eel roll, a choo-choo train of barbecued eel chunks with avocado and crab meat that snakes its way across the plate, but in the end it is far more rewarding to zero in on the Vietnamese dishes.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Spring rolls; barbecued eel roll; Vietnamese meatballs; stir-fried bok choy and chayote; wok eggplant; clay pot curry chicken; crispy whole fish; tamarind-glazed salmon; coconut stewed banana; and fried coconut ice cream.
NYTimes $25 and Under reviews Pier 116 (116 Smith Street (Dean Street), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn):
The menu is brief. I'd start with the steamers, or the avocado smash ($5), guacamole by another name, tangy and full of lemon, garlic and salt. Creamy New England clam chowder ($2.75, $5) is a mite too creamy and a bit underclammed, while the garlicky Caesar salad ($5) wears its dressing like a slicker.
Pier 116 excels at fried seafood, no small achievement. Most restaurants in New York that offer fried clams, even expensive specialists like the Oyster Bar at Grand Central, can't seem to do it right, offering you a tough or rubbery mess that would test even the most powerful jaws. But Pier 116 gets its fried clams ($9) almost perfect, with delicate breading and that sort of nutlike clammy flavor that connoisseurs of fried clams often seek but rarely find. Served on a hot-dog roll (easy to discard), with cole slaw and excellent house-made potato chips flavored with Old Bay, they almost justify Pier 116 by themselves. If the clams weren't enough, a special of a fried oyster po' boy ($8) did the trick. The oysters, like the clams, were fried flawlessly, yielding a delicate crunch before practically melting in the mouth.
BEST DISHES Steamers; avocado smash; fried clam roll; oyster po' boy; ice cream sandwich.
NYPost on the opening of Pearson's Texas Barbecue (E. 81st St., between Third and Lexington Aves) :
This time out the British barbecue king who made his unlikely leap from hairstylist to pit master 20 years ago has teamed up with Queens Pearsons' owner Ellen Goldberg and restaurateur Ken Aretsky to install a smoker able to handle 600 pounds of meat.
"We're concentrating on real Texas barbecue, which means that we cook with the influence of wood," says Pearson, who uses green (fresh) hickory exclusively in the smoker.
"I want it to be very clean, hot air that's generated from a wood-burning fire."
. . . Chickens and meats cook for "long periods of time," about 12 hours at 200 degrees for a 12-pound brisket smoked sans spices, the way he learned in Texas.
North Carolina-style pulled pork goes into the pit with skin on and "probably about 10 hours later, it should come right off the bone," he says.
NYPost Steve Cuozzo reviews The Biltmore Room (290 Eighth Ave., between 24th and 25th Sts):
The Biltmore Room's suavely exoticized fusion menu unfurls a culinary magic carpet of spiced sensuality. The setting is little short of sensational. The question is: Will gifted but peripatetic chef Gary Robins stay long enough to justify my three-star leap of faith?
. . . Robins is best known for Asian-inflected American cooking at Aja, Match Uptown and Mi. His menu tosses in North African and tropical touches. He makes fusion seem effortless and unself-conscious, and his triumphs are sheer heaven.
Citysearch reviews El Maguey y La Tuna (321 E Houston St):
Authenticity depends on the dish and, to some extent, who's tasting it. But the spicy pork tacos--on corn tortillas with salsa fresca--and the coctel Acapulco (shrimp cocktail) come awfully close to the inimitable ones found on the beaches of Mexico--no saltines, though. Mole lovers will find a deep, thick, chocolatey version here--nicely spiced and blanketing tender chicken. Both the carne asada and the enchiladas verdes are good choices, and two salads--one with grilled cactus, another with avocado and cilantro dressing--standout; both are quite large and sharable. And don't miss the fresh guacamole with plenty of cilantro.
Citysearch reviews Lever House Restaurant (390 Park Ave):
Dan Silverman's down-to-earth New American cooking brings welcome gravity. Shining starters include orange-scallion marinated fluke tartare fragrant with ginger; crisp-fried lobster claws dipped into transcendent tartar sauce; and greenmarket genius, like pickled peaches with seared Sullivan county foie gras, and fresh, Romano-tossed beans. Entrees are surprisingly elemental, from roast lamb with minty fava-arugula salad, to well-prepared risottos, to grill highlights including sirloin with crisp-and-braised artichokes, and rare tuna with beet-ginger chutney. Desserts are worth the splurge: Deborah Snyder impresses with seasonal, American-centric sweets like fig-cake with sweet corn ice cream.