Duck pizza with confit, foie gras, goat cheese and a duck egg at Bar Artisanal (Photo: Jeff Gurwin)

Jay Cheshes visits Terrance Brennan’s “budget-oriented” Bar Artisanal and gives four out of five stars. The restaurant “seems destined to survive the recession—and may finally catapult Brennan into stardom.” [TONY]

The Afro-Franco food at Ponty Bistro earns three out of five stars. Ponty “produces solid fare that should at the very least have a neighborhood following.” [TONY]

We deem Mayahuel—Phil Ward’s tequilacentric tavern—a “sublimely realized” vision, awarding it four out of five stars. Ward “particularly shines when playing with toasty mescal.” [TONY]

Frank Bruni is confused by Rye, where “nothing is quite what it appears to be.” But beyond “bits of mild nonsense and odd affectation are real merit and considerable merriment,” which get the pseudospeakeasy one star. [NYT]

Robert Sietsema dines at what “may be the first authentic Hunan restaurant in town.” At Hunan House, he enjoys every pepper-laden dish except for the preserved bean curd, which “flooded the mouth with a flavor that can only be described as dung-like.” [VV]

Ryan Sutton gives three stars to the “fancy and foamy” Aldea, which forms the basis for Sutton’s theory that “excellent, affordable food is recession-proof.” [Bloomberg]

In “Tables for Two,” Nick Paumgarten brought “The Spaniard” (we’re not sure who that is either) to the “broadly Spanish” La Fonda del Sol. The Spaniard gave “the meal an eight out of ten.” [The New Yorker]

Self-proclaimed “overfed sybarite” Gael Greene dines at the “downtown and downscale” DBGB Kitchen and Bar, which is “still a work in progress.” [Insatiable Critic]

Danyelle Freeman weighs in on Aldea, announcing that “it’s a formal-looking, but plain restaurant, with informal prices and mostly great food” and gives it three out of four stars. [NYDN]—Justine Sterling