Bon Appétit May Love Marea, but Steve Cuozzo Doesn't Love Much of Anything

By Rebecca Marx Wed., Aug. 18 2010 at 1:53 PM

Categories: Food for Thought, Marx

Here's proof that something once made Steve Cuozzo sort of smile.

Marea may have made Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants in America list, but technically, it's not all that new. It's more than a year old, a detail that would no doubt add fuel to the fire of Steve Cuozzo's latest rant.

This time around, the Post's dependably (and delightfully) cranky critic has turned his attentions to 2010, and how much it sucks for new restaurants. More specifically, he writes, "2010 is the worst year for new restaurants since Ice Age investors opened the first mammoth house."

Actual restaurants, he continues, have been replaced by concepts; "weirdness" is the year's only discernible trend; and burger joints, pizzerias, and banh mi shops are carrying us all straight to hell, past such disappointing spectacles as Ma Peche, Bar Artisanal, Faustina, and Pulino's. "Chefs are losing their moorings as they chase elusive glory beyond the kitchens that made their reputations," Cuozzo writes. "Never have they seemed more adrift, like coked-up jazzmen of yore who might or not show up for a gig on any given night."

He does reserve some measure of admiration for Maialino, ABC Kitchen, the Mark, Tamarind Tribeca, and Annisa, and holds out some hope for post-Labor Day "big-league openings." One suspects, however, that more than a few of them will provide ample fodder for future invective.

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