Restaurant review extravaganza 53

Here are some of this week’s most noteworthy restaurant reviews from across the country:

Broward-Palm Beach

Mona Lisa Coal Oven Pizza

There’s a scene in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather in which Clemenza, having just overseen the assassination of Paulie in the back of his car, says to his partner, “Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.” It figures a rough mobster like Clemenza would turn his thoughts to food immediately after whacking an old friend. Death, after all, is common. But dessert — now that’s something special. More >>

Dallas

Bailey’s Prime Plus, Park Lane

“Wow. Looks kind of like a casino,” I said to my BFF (best food friend) as we approached the entrance. “Or a strip club.” An upscale one at that. It wasn’t that the place looked sleazy–more grand than gaudy. The good news is, once we stepped inside, it turned out Bailey’s Prime Plus, Park Lane (not to be confused with Bailey’s two other metroplex locations) was sans the predictable “good ol’ boy” Dallas steakhouse snootiness. More >>

Sara Kerens

“Bailey’s steaks may be man-sized, but it’s a welcoming place for women too.”

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Denver

Phoenician Kabob

Foodies Eating Diverse and Unusual Platings (FEDUPs) is what we call ourselves. There are ten of us, plus the occasional “understudy” who is invited when not everyone can attend our once-monthly get-togethers at restaurants across the vast ethnic spectrum in and around Denver. (We have long joked that to withdraw from the group would make one a FEDEX.) The FEDUPs have made it a mission to sample every cuisine we can poke our forks into. More >>

Houston

Sarah Place

The chicken with hot peppers at Sarah Place, a Sichuan restaurant in Bellaire Chinatown, is served with a raft of bright-red dried Sichuan peppers on top. The chicken is cut into small boneless nuggets and stir-fried with slick and meaty reconstituted brown mushrooms. It is tossed in a sauce that coats the chicken and leaves a dark-orange stain on the plate. The flavor of the dish gets “curiouser and curiouser,” as Alice said on her visit to Wonderland. More >>

Kansas City

Tasso’s Greek Restaurant

It’s blasphemy to admit this, but when I recently dined at Tasso’s Greek Restaurant, I missed out on all the things that this restaurant’s devoted fans love most. I didn’t stick around for the belly dancer. I opted not to break any plates. (The $3-per-plate fee seemed extravagant to this former waiter, who broke plenty of plates in the past.) And I wasn’t remotely interested in swilling any ouzo. I was just there to eat. More >>

Minneapolis

Bin

Lowertown has officially arrived. When new wine bar Bin held an opening celebration on February 13, Mayor Chris Coleman was in attendance, so even politicians are acknowledging the importance of reviving downtown St. Paul’s long-sleepy nightlife scene. Completing the letter “B” trifecta on its block of Sixth Street (following popular neighbors Bulldog and Barrio), Bin is a dimly lit, cozy yet sophisticated hangout with high ceilings, exposed brick, an antique bar, and all used or recycled furniture, including high-top tables made from wine barrels. More >>

Fred Petters

“Inside Bin: Small plates and small prices.”

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New York

Tanoreen / Athena Express

Cheap rents, a population of wildly diverse ethnicity, and some charming storefront architecture has helped Bay Ridge grow into one of the city’s foremost dining destinations, so that today you can find well-prepared cuisines as far-flung as Sichuan, Sicilian, Siamese, Syrian, and Spartan. The enhanced speed of the N train–which comes out of Manhattan like a stone from a slingshot–has also fueled this growth, though one has to change for the R at Sunset Park’s 59th Street station to complete the trip. More >>

Orange County

Sophy’s Thai and Cambodian

Long Beach’s Anaheim Street is to Cambodians what OC’s Bolsa Avenue is to Vietnamese. And for close to eight years, one of the most successful and beloved restaurants there was Sophy’s Thai and Cambodian. But in late 2008–a year after the largest community of Khmers outside Southeast Asia finally got city officials to designate them as the country’s first Cambodia Town–Sophy’s was forced to move out. Its landlord refused to renew the lease. More >>

Phoenix

Rita’s Kitchen

I’ll go well out of my way for good food — I’ll obsess about it, complicate my schedule, or drive too far for it, and maybe even eat ramen for a couple days to afford it. Whatever. The end justifies the means. More >>

San Francisco

Enjoy Vegetarian

Practicing your religion often means changing your diet. Catholics used to divide the year into meat days and fast (or fish) days, which many Coptic Christian sects still do. Jews and Muslims give up pork, many Buddhists and Hindu castes renounce meat of all kinds, Rastafarians avoid salt, and Protestants — well, sometimes we give up good taste (have you ever tasted the food at a church potluck?). More >>

Jen Siska

“Soy on soy action: Golden knots are tofu skin stuffed with soft tofu.”

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Seattle

Maneki

On Maneki’s menu, the blue fin sashimi is called “King of Tuna”–which, if I ever start my own punk band, is now in the running for its name. It’s also something I’m going to start listing on my résumé: Line cook, sous, executive chef, food writer . . . King of Tuna. More >>

St. Louis

Sanctuaria

“We’re fully booked,” the hostess at Sanctuaria says, her smile an apology, her tone a mild corrective. You should have made a reservation. We scan the spacious, dimly lighted bar. The Winter Olympics play on flat-screen TV monitors, and the sunlight reflecting off the ski slopes casts a warm white glow over the crowded room. There are no seats here, either. Then, suddenly, a four-top readies to leave. We pounce, claiming the table even before the bartender can retrieve the previous diners’ signed receipt. More >>