Reviews of Searsucker and Radio City Pizzeria

Al Mancini compares the food from Brian Malarkey’s Searsucker that opened at Caesars Palace with that at his original San Diego Gaslamp District location. "Plenty of dishes here are just as heavy and filled with gusto as what I remember from San Diego," he says. He recommends the eggs and bacon, braised pork butt and mahi mahi "topped with a thick, sweet demi-glace of red cherries and wine," as well as the cowboy caviar, aka "melt-in-your-mouth" fried calves’ testicles. Some dishes still need work, such as "a rather bland steak tartare that really needed either some salt or some heat," and the loin filet "topped with a so-called lobster butter that was little more than a lobster cake. (Isn’t butter to supposed to melt?)" [VS]

Jim Begley says that Radio City Pizzeria’s name "no longer does justice to its brilliant food." He looks beyond the pizzas on the menu (chef Sean Collins "proudly showcases the square-cut characteristic of his hometown on the ‘house pies,’ using a much-improved dough recipe) to explore the crudo, beef heart tartare, cold noodles with broccoli rabe and kohlrabi, and sanguinaccio with pesto cream and blood sausage. "Not your typical pizza accompaniment, right?" He also notes that RCP may have "the city’s most eclectic draft beer selection" on the 10 taps that rotate frequently. [LVW]