Mid City: Metropolis is an ode to New York that’s hard to pin down
New York Magazine’s Matthew Schneier reviews Marus Samuelsson’s downtown “love letter to New York”, Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson at the Perelman Performing Arts Center.
The restaurant, which opened this past November, offers dishes meant to reflect New York City’s diverse communities such as “Flushing style” oysters in XO sauce and “blanketed franks”. The kitchen is run by Ed Tinoco, a “New Yorker repatriated after a long stint in Chicago overseeing one of Grant Achatz’s temples to gonzo gastronomy, Next” according to Schneier, while Onika Brown heads up the sweet side of the menu. Cocktails include an apple martini made with cheddar-infused vodka.
The result, according to Schneier, is a mixed bag: the oxtail and dry-aged duck were winners, while other items. like the whole branzino and the abovementioned martini, felt like “theater”.
Chef Kat Turner's Cozy West Adams Cafe Highly Likely Comes to Highland Park
LA Magazine’s Jeff Miller checks out chef Kat Turner’s new dinner menu at her Highly Likely Cafe, which opened in the Highland Park neighborhood in late 2023.
This is the second location of the beloved cafe, which is loved as a place where locals gather for coffee and a friendly workspace. The new restaurant’s dinner service starts at 5 p.m., asking diners to shut their laptops and enjoy offerings such as a burger topped with Parmesan peppercorn sauce and tarragon salmon. There’s also a new cocktail program.
Miller reports that Turner and her partners are currently looking for new spots to expand their growing restaurant family.
Anelya Taps the Heart of Ukraine
Chicago Magazine’s John Kessler brought a Ukrainian friend to Anelya, the new restaurant from Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim.
Kessler reports that the restaurant has become much more than an eatery since it opened in October 2023: “It has become a meeting place for Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans. Clark and Kim sought out Ukrainian workers, taking the time to train those with no restaurant experience. The flowing emotion here, more than shared trauma, is about heritage asserting itself in a time of duress,” he reports.
The food and drink, notes Kessler, are a mix of hyper-regional dishes and items common in both Russia and Ukraine. There are verenyky dumplings filled with potato, sturgeon meatballs in tomato sauce, and banosh (a polenta-like dish served with smetana, a tangy Ukranian sour cream).
Kessler concludes that Anelya is more than a restaurant. “It’s kind of a work of agitprop. Maybe even a work of art.”