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East Village EU v. Brussels EU

Joshua Stein · 04/11/07 11:27AM

When New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni walked into the troubled East Village restaurant EU recently, he entered a fractious arena, one rife with history, short on harmony and big with promise. Beset by liquor license woes, chef woes, a flood, EU seemed born under a bad sign. But with a new chef and all liquored up, EU was emerging finally from its dark period and the question on everybody's mind was: Would Bruni stick a no-star nail into the coffin? He didn't. Brundle, in a rather generous review today, hailed chef Akhatar Nawab's menu but bemoaned the general unevenness of the experience, "its atmosphere can be infectiously lively or insufferably chaotic." So Bruni one-starred it. But how does EU the restaurant compare to its namesake, The European Union?