Today's review roundup includes: Jacques-Imo's, Itzocan Bistro. [Shortest review roundup ever!]
NYTimes Restaurants Amanda Hesser reviews Jacques-Imo's (366 Columbus Avenue; 212-799-0150):
Jacques-Imo's (the name is a play on Jockamo, the Mardi Gras character in the song "Iko Iko") is Jacques Leonardi's second restaurant. His first, Jacques-Imo's Cafe, is in New Orleans. Mr. Leonardi, who is from upstate New York, cooks traditional New Orleans cuisine. That is, steaks that are respectable only when topped with oysters and hollandaise; tomatoes that are not worth their salt until they are fried; and crème brûlée that is stingy unless served in a pie dish.
Mr. Leonardi's food is hearty, plentiful and aggressively seasoned. You will not go home hungry but you might go home thirsty for water. And you might be deaf from shouting over the music.
. . . Chicken with béarnaise and acorn squash with coconut curry can be had, but I found the best dishes were those that were unapologetically Southern. A pork chop stuffed with beef and shrimp could feed a family of four and is pleasantly juicy, spicy and awash with, well, Meat Magic. The shrimp creole is aromatic and nicely textured, like a highly seasoned porridge, and the blackened redfish is moist and peppery — "Blackened Redfish Magic" — a long flat fillet with no disruptions.
These are the best. Many of the other dishes are just too much — all substance, no style.
Perhaps the best dish is the Key lime pie. It comes from Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and I admire Mr. Leonardi for accepting that Steve Tarpin really does make the best Key lime pie, Mason-Dixon line or no.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Jambalaya; gumbo; fried chicken (dark meat); swordfish with Jack's voodoo mojo sauce; blackened redfish; corn macque choux; sweet potato pie; Key lime pie.
NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews Itzocan Bistro (1575 Lexington Avenue; 212-423-0255):
Mr. Bello's cooking is quiet and engaging. He takes the bistro repertory and adds Mexican touches that tweak the dishes in unexpected directions but do not overwhelm them. Nor does he settle for easy choices. He'll offer a chayote gratin, but no French fries. Typical of Mr. Bello's gentle approach is an appetizer of steamed mussels ($8), subtly different in their spicy broth of tequila, lime juice and serrano chilies. A disk of goat cheese ($6) is warmed and plopped down on a bed of greens, but its spicing of epazote and jalapeños adds a delicious nutlike flavor that makes it hard to stop eating.
Perhaps the least Mexican dish of all was a special of half-moon-shaped shrimp ravioli ($6) in a creamy white wine sauce. Perhaps I imagined a little burst of chili heat? I'd eat this anywhere, unlike a duck confit and mushroom quesadilla ($7), which bogs down with gluey Brie.
Main courses are almost all winners, and modestly priced, too. It's hard to imagine a better roast chicken ($14) than Itzocan's, crisp and juicy with a tangy tomatillo sauce and potatoes mashed with corn, and I can't remember enjoying a piece of filet mignon ($16) as much either. This cut, normally tender but dull, was full of flavor and made even better by its deep, complex red-wine-and-chipotle sauce.
BEST DISHES Steamed mussels; mushroom and huitlacoche cake; pumpkin and shrimp soup; shrimp ravioli; roast chicken; filet mignon; seafood pozole; pineapple crème brûlée; chocolate-pear tart.