The Bluebird Bistro sends veggies and carnies into the heights of ecstasy. The Plaza s new Buca di Beppo puts the kitsch in kitchen. Tamale John DiCapo makes sure Jim s Famous Hot Tamales never die.
Diners load up their plates like there's no tomorrow, but some of the stuff is barely edible.
Granted, the fried shrimp was crispy and hot, but there's something disconcerting about spooning up your own serving of cocktail sauce into disposable plastic cups. Equally disturbing were the chewy macaroni and cheese and the greasy, salty fried chicken. Dessert offerings were less than memorable too. At Calypso, the napkins are paper, beverages come in plastic tumblers and the service, if you can call it that, is perfunctory at best, starting with the downright crabby cashier at the entrance. She treated each patron stepping up to her register with such ill-concealed contempt that I wasn't sure whether I was walking into a restaurant or in front of a firing squad.