Restaurant Critic Roundup: 'Exuberant' And 'Compelling' Cooking At New York Restaurant Estela

This week in restaurant news, critic Michael Bauer reviews San Francisco restaurant The Palace. "The restaurant still has the feel of an old-time diner/steak house," he comments. "The chairs are blond wood with arms, like the kind used in a hospital waiting room in the 1980s. The kitchen is open, as are the windows overlooking the very urban corner. A black metal gate blocks off the front door on Mission. The way in is now through a side entrance around the corner, which looks like a service entrance."

In New York, restaurant Estela can only be criticized for the magnitude of people that come to dinner, says critic Alan Richman. "But Mattos's cooking is so exuberant, original, unconventional, and compelling, I don't know how you can keep them away. I don't even know what to call his food. Maybe contemporary, but that's so yesterday. I don't think it's Uruguayan. I've been there, and I never ate anything as extraordinary as this."

Near Los Angeles, restaurant Connie & Ted's "conjures Rhode Island on the West Coast," says critic Jonathan Gold, "be it with clams of all kinds, lobster cooked just right, or oysters treated with reverence."

As always, the ratings range from stars to bells to beans, but every review offers specialized insight into the food, atmosphere, and service of eateries in each city's dining scene and the critics eating at them.

Restaurant Critic Roundup: 8/21/2013

Click here for The Daily Meal's "Top Chefs Review — and Rate — America's Food Critics."

Tyler Sullivan is The Daily Meal's assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter at @atylersullivan.