Empellón Cocina in NYC; Four Stars For SF's Quince

Pete Wells goes to chef Alex Stupak's New York restaurant Empellón Cocina, and finds the cooking "resembles the food of Mexico the way a dream resembles life." Julia Kramer gets spotted at Balena in Chicago and spends a "considerable time at Wigs and Plus and at the makeup counter at Macy’s. I returned in disguise." (She also gave them four out of five stars.) And Michael Bauer gives four stars to the "caring, intuitive and nearly flawless" Quince in San Francisco.

New York:
New York Times/Pete Wells: Empellón Cocina, 2 stars
Village Voice/Robert Sietsema: Benares
New York/Adam Platt: Perla, 2 out of 5 stars
Time Out New York/Jay Cheshes: Back Forty West, 3 out of 5 stars
Insatiable Critic/Gael Greene: Clyde Frazier’s Wine and Dine
New Yorker/Andrea K. Scott: Wong
Bloomberg/Ryan Sutton: Empellón Cocina, 3 stars

London:
The London Magazine/Jay Rayner: Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley

Chicago:
Time Out Chicago/Julia Kramer: Balena, 4 out of 5 stars

Miami:
Miami.com/Victoria Pesce Elliott: Lolita, 2 stars

Los Angeles:
Los Angeles Times/S. Irene Virbila: BierBeisl

San Francisco:
SF Gate/Michael Bauer: Quince, 4 stars

Didn't see your favorite big-city reviewer? Let us know!