Foreign & Domestic

Austin Nathan Lemley and Sarah Heard seem to have made the right decision, said Matthew Odam in the Austin AmericanStatesman. Assuming control of a hit restaurant just as its creator prepares to open its first satellites in Cincinnati and Houston, the two-chef couple is subtly putting a personal stamp on the operation: “It’s a similar song, but one sung with a new voice.” Ned Elliot’s “ethereal” Gruyère-and–black pepper popovers are still here, as is his crispy beef tongue—braised, then seared, and “as good as or better now than it’s ever been.” The emphasis on whole-animal cooking has been retained as well. But “there is something very hard” about making simple dishes deeply appealing, and the new owners do that with their salad of sweet peaches and greens, and home-made pastas like the gemelli in a ramp pesto with bits of cashew, grana padano cheese, and lemon zest. The new Foreign & Domestic is humble for a destination restaurant, but “labels don’t really matter when the food is this good and this honest.” 306 E. 53rd St., (512) 459-1010