Rao Finds Finesse and Hip Hop at The Pines; Sietsema Takes a Ramen Ride

This week, our own Tejal Rao visited Angelo Romano’s latest venture, The Pines, in Gowanus, and found “a peeling tin patchwork of wall and ceiling glow[ing] with candlelight” emerging in the aftermath of Sandy. Nourishing dishes like “hot, creamy Japanese yams” are complemented by the “down-to-earth but caring and professional” front of house team.

Also at The Voice, Robert Sietsema goes for a “ramen ride” to find out if “all the ramen places in Brooklyn suck.” He slurps his way through Yebisu Ramen, Chuko and Dassara.

At NY Mag, Adam Platt heads uptown to the recently opened Il Mulino, which “feels like it’s been a neighborhood fixture for decades.” And while “money is famously no object for Il Mulino’s loyal and deep-pocketed customer base,” the restaurant is undermined “by its own formulaic success”.

Bloomberg’s Ryan Sutton dined at Kickstarter-funded Thirty Acres, in Jersey City. Dishes like “sweet, raw scallops” would “not be out of place at Per Se” but their $12 price tag makes them a much more palatable meal.

At The New Yorker, Shauna Lyon dives into the consistently packed scene at Rosemary’s, in the West Village, and decides “there is good food to be had.” “A rewarding meal can be made of any secondi–such as the porchettina, pink hunks of pork tenderloin with accents of fennel and mustard, or the crispy baked orata with grapefruit–paired with the exemplary rosemary potatoes” for those willing to weather the waiting time.

Stan Sanger, at the Daily News, finds the “spicy and spectacular South Asian street food right up [his] alley” at Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok Ny. He suggest “enthusiastic sharing” of plates to “get even a reasonable sense of what’s on offer.”