• Craig LaBan thoroughly endorses Fork’s latest chef Eli Kulp with an enthusiastic three bell review. Calling Kulp “a serious talent,” he boldy states that the chef’s arrival makes the 15-year-old restaurant “something even better.” The huge helpings on the chef’s sharable feast plates, like the “enormous Wagyu short rib,” LaBan writes, “should not be missed.” “Stunning pastas,” like the “incredibly earthy” burnt-grain pappardelle and tortelloni filled with gently smoked pumpkin help put the restaurant on track for “four-bell potential.” But the desserts and their “overly obsessed with savory intrusions” need work. [Inquirer]
• At Collingswood newcomer Indiya, Adam Erace finds chef-owner Vipul Bhasin’s cooking “bloomed with vivid, lusty, legit flavor.” Dishes like “crunchy, tender, chile-blushed” ragda patties were “delicious,” and crispy lump crab cakes, “laced here with fennel, cumin, cilantro and coconut and served with tangy, sweet tomato chutney,” were “worthy of Jersey’s best seafood restaurants.” The chicken Chettinad had him “happily sweating and reaching for points of warm, tandoor-blistered garlic naan to sop up the gravy.” All told, the restaurant strikes an “uncommon balance of fresh, compelling food and serious value.” [Courier-Post]
