The “warm and low-key” Telegraph features a great small wine list, but Julia Kramer admits that it is the food that “instantly turns what could easily (and pleasantly) have been just a wine bar into a serious restaurant.” Giving the restaurant four stars out of five, she believes that most of the dishes are “effortless to enjoy.” That’s especially true of the tartines, which are “the world’s perfect wine-bar food.” [TOC]
Mike Sula admires the “thoughtful, occasionally fascinating, and pretty varied” wine list at Telegraph, even if he thinks that the prices are, “in some cases, more than double their retail cost.” Luckily, the “interesting, spare menu” is “a value.” It also features a “ballsy percentage of fairly adventurous dishes.” Some dishes miss the mark; one tartine is “unappealingly funky,” while a pillbox omelet is worse. Chef John Anderes’s “simplest plates” work best, like the “grilled chicken…bursting with juices.” [Chicago Reader]
After Tribute’s less than “auspicious start,” which included numerous delays and the firing of the head chef, David Tamarkin is “surprised” by the food, giving the restaurant three stars out of five. Though many of the dishes had a “heaviness more suited for fall,” chef Lawrence Letrero is able to create some genuine surprises. The sweet corn custard is “cool, smooth, topped with chanterelles and exhibitive of corn’s more savory edge.” Best of all is the whitefish, “with its crispy skin and hints of fennel.” [TOC]
