Four Beans For Shaya; Kin Makes Fusion Cool Again

Brett Anderson jumps back in the critic game this week, with a FOUR BEAN trip to Behs Group's modern Israeli dreamland Shaya: "Your first and most difficult task will be to refrain from filling up on the hot, freshly baked pita bread that arrives soon after you sit down - and never stops coming until you cry uncle. Steam-swollen and blistered just-so, this bread is both temptress and nemesis. As an example of hot-oven dough-mastery, it is equal to Domenica's pizza." [NOLA.com]

Helen Freund heads to Brennan's for a taste of Slade Rushing's update on classic Creole: "Octopus a la Creole is reminiscent of a Catalan fish stew... deeply smoky and satisfying — a cold-weather dish that somehow feels appropriate year-round." [Gambit]

Ian McNulty hits up Kin in Gert Town, the tiny restaurant that's making fusion cool again: East meets West with an "American foodie bravado," a "variegated palette of distilled, brewed, fermented and steeped sauces and oils"  and what "feels like a test kitchen, which brings thrills but also some caveats." Order the "creamy, cumulus whips of burrata ($12) in a soy dashi broth, with the acid rush of cherry tomatoes." BYOB, now open for lunch with a ramen menu. [Advocate]