This week the Times reviews the uber-expensive sushi restaurant in the Time Warner Center and declares that "Masa is the city’s greatest sushi restaurant." What it isn't, however, is the four-star restaurant Frank Bruni reviewed seven years ago. Though its food remains transporting (if not necessarily environmentally sustainable) "New York City now demands of its four-star restaurants an understanding that culture at its highest must never feel transactional, whatever its cost." So Sifton this time gives it only three stars. Maybe Masa should let diners without their whole party wait inside? Still, the sushi there "astonished."
Over at the Post, Steve Cuozzo wonders if he is dreaming or if the food at the Rock Center tourist trap Brasserie Ruhlmann "is this good." Five years in, the Cuozz finds the joint "a smartly turned-out American-French bistro menu worthy of its landmark setting." The attention to detail, he says "elevates" and chef de cuisine Jaime Loja puts out a steady menu that adapts French "kitchen discipline to Yankee taste."
Finally—it was a slow week for restaurant reviews—Lauren Shockey at the Voice heads to the new East Village outpost of Queens Thai favorite Zabb Elee where "the menu traverses a maze of sour, tangy, and piquant flavors, each brighter than the next." If you are craving the heat of Thailand's Isan cuisine (or just awesomely hot food), this vibrant (food wise, its "casual faux-colonial décor" is bland) spot seems a safe bet.
