lam zhou: great dumplings and pulled noodles; cheap: five of us ate for $34

144 E Broadway @ Pike St & East Broadway

212-566-6933

gotham bar and grill: review

Forget trying to get a lunch reservation here. Luckily, it's easy to sit at the bar. Plenty of room if you get there around noon. This is restaurant week, the bartender warned us, so the bargain hunters would be out in force. They were. We ordered from the regular menu. Restaurant week is like an outlet mall: cheaper stuff for cheaper prices. Or, as I like to say, "It tastes like chicken."

We split the soft-shelled crabs as appetizer. Perfection. With a nice accompaniment of chopped vegetables. I had the seafood risotto which was also perfect: shrimp, calamari, in soupy but delicious risotto. The seafood salad was beautiful and was also delectable.

They had bargain bottles of wine for restaurant week, so we got a Verdicchio for $30. It was decent and very cold.

For dessert, just get the chocolate cake. It's been on the menu for 30 years according to the bartender. It's warm, bitter, powdery and the almond ice cream that goes with it is heavenly.

Service was friendly and efficient. Our bartender is a veteran of Minetta Tavern. We traded stories.

Grade: A+

Gotham Bar and Grill

12 East 12th Street

212-620-4020

motorino: review

I've been coming to this place long before it was Motorino.

For a while it was Una Pizza Napoletana, a one-man pizza show by a guy with a lot of tattoos. The guy meant business.

Luckily, the new owner, Mathieu Palombino, is just as serious.

If you like small, tender, charred Neapolitan pizzas, these are just about the best it town, neck and neck with Roberta's and Luzzo's (which has been around a long time and is just a block away).

Motorino and Roberta's have slightly puffier and blistery dough. Luzzo has half-melted mozzarella and a "finer" crust. They're all A+ pizzas.

Motorino is a great place for lunch. For $12 you can choose from four great pizzas and get a nice salad. It's a great deal.

Grab a glass of Gragnano, a Lambrusco-like, fizzy, sweet, low-alcohol wine, and you're all set.

Their tiramisu is excellent, but you won't have room.

Only gripe: wine servings are small and not cheap ($9, $10, $11). But a man's gotta make a living.

There's another outpost of Motorino across the street from Peter Luger in Williamsburg.

Grade: A+

Motorino

349 E 12th Street

(212) 777-2644

upland: review

The "likeability factor." That je ne sais quoi that makes you happy at one place and unhappy at another without being able to put your finger on it. Upland is likeable. The room is square, which somehow always appeals to me. The banquettes are green and clean and new. They sat me at my table before my dining companion had arrived (I could tell you stories about Franny's, an unlikeable place, but I'll spare you).

Wine choices were excellent: a Beaujolais rosé...new to me. Our bearded South American waiter was extremely attentive without being pushy and without hovering. The chicken liver pasta was somewhat disappointing (get the cacio e pepe...it looked amazing). The burger was very good, a lot like mine: two thin patties, soft bun, American cheese. Fries were great. Desserts were excellent: an affogato and a strawberry concoction.

But the food did not matter so much. The people were interesting; the atmosphere was pleasant, bordering on jovial; it was pouring buckets outside.

Grade: A

Upland

345 Park Avenue South

212-686-6345