Reader, Digested: Old News Made New
• Mike Sula's at Urban Belly. Like those who've gone before, he swoons for the dumplings — again, the lamb-and-brandy combination gets a particularly euphoric shout-out. But the adulation stops at the dumpling line: the rice bowls are "greasy," the noodle dishes have some high notes (the pork belly ramen is singled out) but most "exhaust the palate." The widely-panned soba/scallops in blue crab broth is "an unmitigated disaster."
• Early reviews of Duchamp noted an inconsistent kitchen, but Sula finds little to dislike besides some design decisions ("bar stools that resemble torture devices," and whatnot). The menu might rely a little heavily on Thomas Keller-esque quotation marks, but the "fish and chips" (fried skate with tartar sauce) holds up, as does the very of-the-moment dessert of mini chocolate cupcakes and mini ice cream sandwiches.
• Our favorite line from Reese Witherspoon career-highlight movie Sweet Home Alabama comes when she's back home in the titular state, is out for drinks with her old friends, and notices one has a curious accessory: "You have a baby!" she says. "...In a bar!" But per Reader critic Martha Bayne, that's more or less the scene at Old Oak Tap, where "every third patron seemed to be bouncing a baby between sips of Saison DuPont." The spruced-up bar menu (sriracha wings, crabmeat club sandwiches) aims high and lands middling, the beer list is eclectic but predictable. A solid turn on a predictable formula.
[photo: yet another Urban Belly photo, because neither Duchamp nor Old Oak Tavern is represented on Flickr. via]
