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" A weekly roundup of the most entertaining, intelligent, weird, funny, obnoxious, curious, and noteworthy passages from people who make their living critiquing food.  City: Phoenix Publication: Phoenix New Times Restaurant: The Stockyards Writer: Michele Laudig &amp;quot;For a place that calls itself &amp;#039;Arizona&amp;#039;s Original Steakhouse,&amp;#039; I wouldn&amp;#039;t expect a lot of surprises \u2014 nor were there many.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Even more out there were the calf fries, something you just don&amp;#039;t see on menus around town. What are those, you ask? Think of meatballs in the most literal way. That&amp;#039;s right, they&amp;#039;re deep-fried testicles \u2014 chunks of them, actually, because whole calf balls are pretty big, from what our waiter told us.&amp;quot;  City: Denver Publication:  Westword Restaurant: Cafe Aion Writer: Laura Shunk &amp;quot;Dakota Soifer&amp;#039;s chicharrones, seasoned with a dash of chile oil and salt, are crispy puffs that crack between the teeth and dissolve on the tongue almost instantly, leaving behind nothing more than the sweet smokiness of pork.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Kirkpatrick, who manages the bar and beverage program, is a skilled carpenter, and he crafted almost everything in the room. He scavenged beetle-killed wood for the massive bar and then covered it in reclaimed industrial metal, creating a focal piece that facilitates social gatherings without obstructing the flow. He cut the tables to a precise height, hoping to encourage guests to linger for hours.&amp;quot;  City: Washington, D.C.  Publication: The Washington Post Restaurant: Adour at the St. Regis Writer: Tom Sietsema &amp;quot;Not a spoonful of the warm and nutty, cool and citrusy dessert is left after I have my way with it.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;A square crab cake, perked up with a slaw of green papaya, is more clever than delicious.&amp;quot;  City: Sacramento Publication: Sacramento Bee Restaurant: Andy Nguyen Writer: Blair Anthony Robertson &amp;quot;Lamb chops, wild boar, venison, quail, duck, turkey, salmon, halibut, chicken, turkey, bone marrow and steak after thick, juicy steak.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Andy Nguyen was pretty much a regular Vietnamese restaurant, and a successful one, until a divorce, a life-altering quest, a meeting with the Dalai Lama, a shaved head and, five years ago, pretty much a spiritual cleansing of the restaurant.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Oh, and then there&amp;#039;s the gong that sounds when your order is ready.&amp;quot;  City: Boston Publication: Boston Phoenix Restaurant: Coppa Writer: Robert Nadeau &amp;quot;Wild arugula with Fiddlehead Tomme, lemon, and fennel ($9) sounds like it has more vegetables than it does, because Fiddlehead is a brand of cheese made in New Hampshire.&amp;quot; City: Dallas Publication: Dallas Observer Restaurant:  Hector&amp;#039;s On Henderson Writer: Mark Stuertz &amp;quot;Like ingesting fish oil, &amp;#039;date night&amp;#039; sounds like an obligatory palliative \u2014 a contrived episode of ardor after routine and familiarity have bludgeoned romance.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Hector&amp;#039;s is a blank slate, a parched tongue of grey minimalism thirsting for color. The remedies are scant.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;In the vestibule a voluptuous young woman in a classic dress and simple pumps fluffs her hair before a mirror. She is Hector&amp;#039;s pianist-vocalist Betsy Stelzer. She begins haltingly, fearing a clash with appetizers perhaps. Her voice slowly seeps into the room. She loosely hits a pitch and bends away from it in exhausted weaves \u2014 as if she had spent the afternoon sobbing herself into a drought. You&amp;#039;ll never hear a more oddly soulful rendition of Led Zeppelin&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;D&amp;#039;yer Mak&amp;#039;er.&amp;#039;&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;An artless lump of runny, cold, white truffle-whipped potatoes nests nearby. The meat is dry and stiff. The tomato glaze is cold. No kiss tonight.&amp;quot;  City: New York Publication: New York Times Restaurant: Prime Meats Writer: Sam Sifton &amp;quot;[T]he restaurant accepts no reservations, which can wreak havoc on the evening schedules of visitors who come from beyond walking distance to eat there. You can see these people standing on Court Street nightly, staring through the plate-glass windows at a dining room packed with brownstone bohemians, third novelists, people with Web sites, with good art at home. They look slightly pained, these visitors from afar wondering about the life choices they made that put them in Chelsea or Park Slope or Montclair, and not down here in Carroll Gardens, this little Italian village off New York Harbor where life is obviously perfect.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Have a Manhattan made by one of the whiz kids back behind the bar, some mustachioed chemist with tattoos and an understanding of bitters that rivals a rabbi&amp;#039;s knowledge of the Talmud, then some brilliant oysters, fresh and clean and cold, tasting only a few hours out of the waters of Cape Cod or the Gulf of Maine.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;The staff is exceptionally well trained and efficient, a crew of handsome men and women dressed as if ready to ride horses back home to Bushwick, where they trap beaver and make their own candles. And a meal in the restaurant proceeds with all the jollity and good manners of something scripted by Laura Ingalls Wilder and scored by the Grateful Dead.&amp;quot;  City: Hartford Publication: Hartford Courant Restaurant: McLadden&amp;#039;s Irish Publick House Writer: Carole Goldberg &amp;quot;Our unflappable waitress happily granted our request for eight separate checks.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/reviews/a7593/interesting-restaurant-reviews-052810/>