Critic Roundup: Narcissa Gets Village Voice Love

This week in critic news, Pete Wells sang the praises of the elusive Peter Chang, writing: "The United States has any number of very skilled Chinese cooks. It has far fewer who put their skills in the service of the imaginative leaps we expect from major chefs. By the end of my dinner in Short Pump, I had no doubts that Mr. Chang is one of them."

Elsewhere in the Washington area, The Washington Post's Tom Sietsema had mixed feelings about Latin-inspired meat spot Toro Toro. His steak lacked "beefy succulence, and a companion of dull creamed spinach topped with a stiff web of Parmesan."

Alan Richman dined at Asiate at Columbus Circle's Mandarin Oriental, where he greatly enjoyed the food, but was even more taken with the sky high views, writing: "Dining high above removes you from the immediacy of life. You are free to look at anything you wish, up or down or even within yourself." 

Zachary Feldman of The Village Voice gave high marks to John Fraser's new farm-to-table Narcissa at The Standard: "At Narcissa, he continues to mine his emotional depths, excavating influences from his experiences cooking under Thomas Keller and in France. It's an approach that complements the time-intensive caretaking of rotisserie cooking."

Restaurant Critic Roundup: 4/16/2014

Adam D'Arpino is the Restaurants Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDArpino.