3 Stars for Kyo Ya

In his gratuitous 3-star-review of Kyo Ya, Pete Wells boasts of the restaurant's exclusion from technology.  You won't find Kyo Ya on OpenTable, the restaurant doesn't have a website, and if "Kyo Ya has opinions about bankers or fracking, they remain untweeted."  In other words, until the Times mentioned Kyo Ya, it wasn't exactly 'Ko difficult' to experience the kaiseki menu that's only offered to 10 people a night.

The title of the review is "Seasonality's Master Practioner," referring to chef Chikara Sono's seasonal sensibilities and the respect for the seasons that Japanese cuisine is centered upon.  "It is easy in New York now to believe that eating ramps in April makes you an expert in seasonal cooking. As a meal at Kyo Ya will show, this is a little like believing that eating a tuna salad sandwich makes you a marine biologist."

A Shining Moment for Gwynnett St.

Gwynett St. opened on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg last November.  Justin Hilbert is the chef and he worked with Wylie Dufresne at WD-50 back when Alex Stupak was still around.  His food, and a vision from restaurant proprietor Carl McCoy, have resulted in a glowing two star review from Pete Wells.

4, 3, 2, 1, 0 Stars for La Mar Cebicheria

Gaston Acurio is something like Peru's Mario Batali.  His restaurant chain La Mar Cebicheria has locations in San Francisco, Bogota, and Mexico City.  The eighth location opened in the former Tabla space on Madison Square Park last September and it seems like Pete Wells wished it never happened.  Amongst plenty of complaints is the fact that "nearly every chair had a winter coat draped over it, giving the room all the elegance of a church-basement bingo game."

North End Grill Fires Up Two Stars

This week, Pete Wells heads to North End Grill, the newest addition in Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.  Floyd Cardoz is the chef.  He and his spice rack used to run the kitchen over at Tabla, before it shut its doors in 2010 after a 12 year stint.

No one is too pleased about the restaurant's location.  And despite a couple hiccups in the form of the dull room and lamb that seems to be an afterthought, Wells still finds much to revel in and awards two stars.

Two Stars for Chef Mads Refslund's Acme

Acme is the Cajun-turned-Nordic restaurant on Great Jones Street.  Mads Refslund is the chef and he's very locally minded.  He's also half of the chef team that opened Noma, the 44-seat restaurant in Copenhagen that San Pellegrino has dubbed the best in the world for the past two years.  (If you're lucky enough to have a reservation at Noma, don't pull a no-show).

Mads was present for the beginning of New Nordic Cuisine, an ideal that restricts kitchens to ingredients that can be grown, caught, or locally foraged.  "My whole philosophy is to tell the story of where you are," he says.

Mads Refslund is a man of his word.

Lights Out at Romera

Dr. Miguel Sanchez Romera closed the doors to his fantastical neurogastronomical underground lair in the basement of The Dream Hotel after service this past Saturday.

The effort was not lacking in Chef Romera's food on offer at Romera.  But, with a staggering $245 prix fixe for twelve courses, the clientele was.  The place got a tepid one-star review from Pete Wells and received some backlash from Frank Bruni. 

Romera's six month stint comes to a close as the Dr. bids adios to his Romerian mosaics.

Pete Wells + RedFarm = 2 Stars

Pete Wells is a big fan of dumplings.  At Red Farm, the new(ish) market driven Chinese restaurant in the West Village, he gives them and the rest of the menu two stars.

Redfarm is the wok work of restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld and chef Joe Ng.  Joe Ng doubles as executive chef at Chinatown Brasserie on Lafayette Street.

So that makes Ed, Joe, and the dumplings the face of the restaurant, right?

Update on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 4:22PM by Craig Cavallo

Chinatown Brasserie closes and Andrew Carmellini takes on new lease.  Owners plan to reopen in the same neighborhood under a smaller roof sometime this fall.

Pete Wells had a "Bumpy Night at Roberta's"

Pete Wells was none too pleased on a recent trip to Roberta's.

Apparently Pete's server wasn't doing the ol' check back on the night he dined there.  His salad came without a fork and his garganelli with squab ragu 'tasted strange.'

Roberta's forgot the Jedi mantra... "May the force fork be with you."