Go On with Your Bad Self, Mr. Bowien

The end of the year is a time when food critics weigh in on all that happened in the restaurant industry over the last twelve months. In place of a review this week, New York Times critic Pete Wells wrote "12 Restaurant Triumphs of 2012." "At the end of my first year in the restaurant critic’s chair," he writes, "the New York dining landscape still looks like a wonderland to me." The list of 12 restaurants is arranged as a countdown, described as "a cardiogram, with each spike in the chart denoting a restaurant that made my heart race this year." Among the excitement-inducing restaurants are Gwynnett St (12), Calliope (11), Blanca (10), Pok Pok Ny (7), Atera (4), and The Nomad (3).

Landing the number 1 spot is Danny Bowien's Lower East Side smash Mission Chinese Food. "For its bravado, its inventiveness, its low prices, its attempt to ease the suffering of those waiting at the door by tapping a small keg of free beer, and its promise to give some of its earnings on each entree to a food bank, Mission Chinese was the most exciting restaurant of the year."

The free beer while you wait, the donation of .75 cents from the sale of every entree to the Food Bank for NYC, and the low price point at Mission Chinese (with the exception of the cumin lamb breast [$16] and the veal breast a la orange [$24], nothing on the menu exceeds $13), are part of the formula at a restaurant that has quickly established itself as an exciting venue for those seeking a delicious, affordable, vibrant, unique take on Sichuan cuisine in a room unlike no other in the city. "No other restaurant I reviewed this year," Wells explains, "left me feeling as exhilarated each time I got up from the table."

A Glowing Star for Calliope

[gothamist]Pete Wells is impressed with the French spirit at Calliope in the East Village.  The restaurant is run by Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson; "The couple, who met while working at Picholine, share kitchen duties."  Prior to opening Calliope, Korsh was the executive chef at the Waverly Inn.  Iverson has Prune on her resume and Eric Anderson, an owner of Prune, is a partner in Calliope.

Rabbitt is an integral part of the restaurant's menu.  Wells explains, "You’d have to spend a week in Paris to taste rabbit cooked in as many ways as it is served at Calliope."  Kidneys, saddle, and a ragu make up the "cotton-tailed roster," all of which portray the synergy that exists between Korsh and Iverson's cooking.  The two had practice working together not just at Picholine, but in California as well.  The couple owned Restaurant Eloise together and only closed it at the end of 2009 to head east.

The food falls flat in some instances in a room that, although has taken a design cue from Keith McNally, re: "tiles, tin ceilings, scarred mirrors and glass doors," is loud and "can make conversation an ordeal."  The overall glowing review leaves behind only one star, but it's made clear Calliope has a stronghold on the bistro tradition.