reviews

Looking for a hot new restaurant to go to for a birthday dinner, or a swanky downtown joint to grab dinner and drinks with friends? Search my reviews below, or email me if you can't find what you're looking for. Wanna get the low-down on the newest restaurants going up? Get the strong buzz. (Please note: You can freely link to my restaurant reviews, but republishing any part of them without written permission is expressly prohibited. For information and syndication details please email syndication@thestrongbuzz.com).

“Trix, by Dara Pollak”
Mixology meets bistro bar fare at Trix, a deceiving spot on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, where the walls are covered with erotic art, the windows are painted with the words “Go-Go Girls”, and the catchy cocktail names suggest a good ...
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Posted: June 29, 2011

“Brushstroke”
Many years ago, when I was a high school student in the cosmopolitan borough of Queens, I ate my first piece of sushi. Granted, it contained no raw fish. It was a cucumber roll, but it was wrapped in seaweed and I used chopsticks to transport it f ...
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Posted: June 22, 2011

“Kin Shop”
There was a fire on 11th Street in the West Village the other night. Thick clouds of dark smoke turned a bright summer sky the color of soot. As I watched the fire trucks line up on Sixth Avenue from my window booth at Kin Shop, I wondered if it w ...
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Posted: June 3, 2011

“Le Caprice”
Had dinner at Le Caprice the other night with Steven and Kathy, and it was terrific. If you are scratching your head thinking, (a) what is Le Caprice, or (b) isn't that the London transplant that got panned last year in The New York T ...
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Posted: May 11, 2011

“Asellina”
The Meatpacking District has its draws: The Highline, Jeffrey, DVF, and the Standard Grill come to mind -the neighborhood does tend to exude a certain aura of pretension. It's definitely not where you want to go out if you're looking to sa ...
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Posted: May 2, 2011

“New York Central -- A Reason To Eat at the Grand Hyatt Again”
When I was a little girl growing up in Connecticut, my glamorous Brooklyn-born grandmother would whisk me off for a weekend in Manhattan several times a year. I remember it so vividly—we’d shop on Fifth Avenue, see a show on Broadway a ...
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Posted: April 26, 2011

“Red Rooster, by Rachel Barbarotta”
It often takes a lot to convince a New Yorker to travel very far for anything, and as a New Yorker myself, I can definitely understand why. We can have entire meals delivered to our door, can get just about any type of cuisine in any neighborhood, ...
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Posted: February 25, 2011

“Goat Town”
I walked into Goat Town and thought I must certainly be in the wrong place. Could this be the same restaurant that housed Seymour Burton? Was this the restaurant that was Butcher Bay? I’d make a plastic surgery/extreme makeover analogy here, ...
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Posted: January 23, 2011

“Mehtaphor”
"Yes, Madam. I am so pleased to speak with you," the gentleman on the phone replied in an English accent licked with the rich sounds of India. "Madam?" I thought. He sounded as though he was brewing a pot of Assam tea. I had ne ...
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Posted: December 30, 2010

“Ciano”
It’s always sad to see a good restaurant go, but it happens. Time goes by, the chef may move on, the management may lose focus, the public may tire of the concept, whatever the case may be. The doors close. It may take ten years, it may take ...
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Posted: December 12, 2010