Nagrant Calls GT Prime a Resounding Success; Sula Thinks Dixie is a “Mixed Bag;” More

GT Prime is a "reinvented steakhouse" but it’s also a "success by any standard," according to Michael Nagrant. Unlike traditional steakhouses, the menu offers a wide variety of shareable plates, such as "rocking" bigoli in a "super-savory" Bolognese and a scrumptious mac & cheese topped with crisp pork belly and charred broccoli florets. The meats section features a luxurious $110 Carnivore platter housing 4 oz. cuts of bison, beef tenderloin, rib eye and Wagyu strip. It’s a "wine flight in meat form" and "the attention to detail on each of protein is staggering." Finish with a "gooey and decadent" chocolate marquise that’s "delightfully executed" and you’ll walk out on cloud nine. [RedEye]

Dixie is a "mixed bag" as "dishes of powerful deliciousness share menu space with true head-scratchers," writes Mike Sula. The new Southern restaurant from Lillie’s Q boss Charlie McKenna is full of duds, such as Nashville hot-style sweetbreads "wallowing in a thick, mucilaginous sauce" that "approaches something like Elmer’s glue." Thai snapper crudo is "overpowered" by watermelon granite and lemon-poppyseed dressing while an otherwise excellent Wagyu tartare has its "deep flavors" diluted by tomato water poured atop. It’s not all bad though—a Middle Eastern-leaning dish of carrots with boiled peanut hummus and a plate of "tender" cornmeal dumplings in a "wonderfully acidic" creamed lima bean sauce show off the restaurant’s potential. Better yet, at the rear of the building is a small bar, 1952 ½, offering conventional snacks and a pleasant list of antique bourbons and cocktails worth seeking out. [Reader]

Elizabeth Atkinson thinks Leña Brava impresses with "dish after delicious dish" of raw and flame-cooked bites. The menu, which is broken into fire and ice sections, features standouts like a "hearty and warm" shortrib as well as a "bright and acidic" ceviche of baja hiramasa yellowtail, green chile adobo and veggies. A wood-oven tart for dessert is a "fitting ending to your meal, contrasting cold with heat," while the staff is on point and "very well-versed on the menu with suggestions and ample answers to questions you may have." [TOC]

22-year-old prodigy Jonah Reider is making the most out of his one-month stint at Intro. The chef, who rose to fame operating a pop-up out of his Columbia University dorm, shows "good sense of flavor balance" on "unfailingly harmonious" dishes. On the eight-course tasting menu, there are "playful nibbles" of oyster accented with red currant and black peppercorn, and a phyllo pastry filled with goat cheese and red chard. Venison tartare, a "superior creation" tossed in a mushroom reduction that adds a "wonderful umami undercurrent," is also a highlight, while a pre-dessert sweet-cream panna cotta topped with figs and gooseberries is a nice segue into the finale—a whole berry galette. Reider’s residency runs until Oct. 15^th and Phil Vettel says it "might prove useful some day to be able to say you had his food back then."

Vettel also snags a seat at pop-up restaurant Claudia and finds it to be a fascinating dining experience. Chef and owner Trevor Teich hosts multi-course dinners twice a month and produces an exciting array of dishes. It starts with a bento box of snacks that includes foie-gras torchon, wrapped in tuna and topped with dots of ponzu gel, with a "pitch-perfect combination of flavors and textures." Next comes an arrangement of crabmeat, lemon, pickled seaweed caviar and gold leaf that "play[s] joyfully together," followed later by two venison courses: a "beautiful" tartare and "perfectly cooked" loin pieces with heirloom carrots, caraway crumble and red-cabbage puree. Dinner concludes with a "so good" bite of blue cheese panna cotta topped with apple gelee and poached apple slices. [Tribune]