Review Preview: Strip House

Tomorrow, Sam Sifton reviews the Greenwich Village steak parlor, Strip House. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows: Goose Egg: 200–1; One Star: 3–1; Two Stars: 2–1; Three Stars: 75–1; Four Stars 2,000–1.

Among the many restaurants overdue for a fresh look, we aren’t sure why Sifty chose Strip House. We love the place, and gave it two stars four years ago. In the Times, William Grimes gave it one star in 2000. We think he missed the mark (or Strip House got much better), but Frank Bruni’s mistakes are far more urgently in need of correction.

When there is a re-review with no intervening event (such as a move, a chef change, or a remodeling—none of which has happened at Strip House), the rating almost never remains the same. There is no point in picking Strip House out of nowhere, only to deliver the same message as Grimes did.

As Eater noted, Sifton dropped a goose egg last week on Choptank, and it surely won’t happen two weeks in a row, besides which it would be the wrong result, and Strip House isn’t important enough to demote.

That leaves a promition to two stars as the only sensible bet.