Sam Sifton likes his restaurants a little on the classy side*

What's the difference between Sam Sifton's ricci rhapsody and Vice mag's Chick-Fil-A sammich soliloquy? About eleven dollars. Sifton:

The very first item on the menu at Marea is ricci, a piece of warm toast slathered with sea urchin roe, blanketed in a thin sheet of lardo, and dotted with sea salt. It offers exactly the sensation as kissing an extremely attractive person for the first time — a bolt of surprise and pleasure combined. The salt and fat give way to primal sweetness and combine in deeply agreeable ways. The feeling lingers on the tongue and vibrates through the body. Not bad at $14 a throw — and there are two on each plate.

Vice:

Despite valiant attempts by Culver’s in the upper Midwest and In-N-Out on the West Coast, Chick-fil-A is hands-down the greatest fast-food chain in America. Its standard-issue no-frills chicken sandwich—a fried boneless chicken breast, pickle, and smear of mayo on a bun—ranks somewhere between finding a crisp $100 bill in the pocket of a coat you rarely wear and getting your first blowjob. It’s that good. The waffle fries are no joke either.

Vice may be overstating the case, but Sifton's review is the kind of 3-star review that has an I want to go to thereness to it that many of Bruni's did not. Sifton is not in Biff terrain just yet, but the reviews are fun to read. *Play us off, Confederate Railroad:

Comments

[Derek]

"I want to go to there."

[Sorbet Trio]

"It offers exactly the sensation as..." -- is that English now?

[Marco]

"THIS recession is over" @$28 for manila clams and $36 for Branzino. Oh, and the honey onyx behind the bar.

[Skeen]

Not sure I get the analogy. Surely if you're kissing an extremely attractive person, you feel (1) anticipation, and (2) pleasure (MAYBE, if the person also has some kissing skill). But, "surprise"?

[Skeen]

Oh, I just got it. For Sifton the surprise is that he's getting kissed back.
SNAP!

[Derek]

BURN