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Restaurant Reviews

Zocalo Cocina Mexicana

Just as it was in Brighton, for better or worse
I wasn't crazy about Zocalo when it was in Brighton, but others were. Now it has reopened near Back Bay Station, and the food and drinks are much the same.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | December 01, 2010

The Foundry on Elm

A big room that seamlessly balances the best of bistro and comfort food
The best moment at Foundry on Elm, despite excellent food and drink, may be when you first walk in the door.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 23, 2010

Deuxave

Flawed deconstruction, no matter how you pronounce it
Maybe it is all relative.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 17, 2010

C. Tsar's

The former Ariadne goes back to basics
It can be very good when a fine chef moves downmarket, adding focus and financial discipline to pure talent.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 10, 2010

Umami

A fusion bistro finds its crowd
Umami is a confusing name for a bistro with touches of Asian fusion, especially in Brookline, where there seems to be a sushi bar for every 15.3 residents.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 03, 2010

Review: Ariana

A winning take on fantastic ancient cuisine
This fine new Afghan restaurant makes it official: the odd-numbered side of Brighton Avenue between Harvard Avenue and Linden Street has so many good ethnic restaurants that you could eat out in a different country every week and never even cross the street.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | October 27, 2010

Anthem Kitchen + Bar

Half bistro, half sports bar, all quality
The original Anthem (RIP, 2007) was half bistro, half sports bar, all competent in a way that made it the best oversize restaurant ever between the Department of Mental Health and the variously named Boston Garden.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | October 20, 2010

Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

A winning return back to the old corner
Never mind the juicy back story here — just order the "country fried chicken wings."

By: ROBERT NADEAU | October 13, 2010

Al Wadi

An oasis of outstanding Middle Eastern cuisine
A wadi is a dry creek — until it rains, and then it becomes an oasis.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | October 06, 2010

Restaurant Review: Market

Chef Outhier's spiritual son misses the point
As the auteur of multiple restaurants on three continents, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has avoided many of the traps for unwary superstar chefs, such as overpriced pizza, videos of himself at the front of the restaurant, or a signature line of frozen entrées.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | September 29, 2010

Rafiki Bistro

A neighborhood bistro for Cambridge's crunchy side
We'll get to the "socially responsible" cuisine, the organic rum and vodka drinks, and the Whole Foods mix of health and gourmet at this bistro, which is remarkably relaxed for all that right thinking.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | September 23, 2010

Restaurant Review: East by Northeast

Modern, minimalist Chinese cuisine
There are a lot of ways to look at Chef Phillip Tang’s mod variations on the Taiwanese-American food of his youth — Chinese tapas, small plates, locovore noodles and dumplings, tea-house nouvelle, dim sum gone upscale and gone wild.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | September 16, 2010

Reviewer's notebook: Tavolo and Sanette’s Karoo Kafe

Much more than pizza in Dorchester, and South African delights in Provincetown
Tavolo snuck under my radar because Chris Douglass, then well-known for Icarus, had made his first Dorchester move with Ashmont Grill, an admitted bistro.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | September 13, 2010

Review: The Haven

Giving the Scottish their long overdue credit for cuisine
How is a Scottish gastropub different from the Irish kind we know so well in Boston? Is it like Trainspotting versus The Commitments ? Well, sort of.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | September 01, 2010

Hot Pot Buffet

Embrace the pot and enjoy the party
I don't much like any of the international versions of boil-your-own food — fondue, shabu-shabu, Mongolian hot-pot, Taiwan, Thai, Vietnamese — but if you must, this is the right way to do it.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | August 25, 2010

Review: The Gallows

The South End gets a killer gastropub
I think this gastropub thing is keeper, if we can just find it a more appetizing name. And the Gallows, while its kitchen can execute, also needs a better name.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | August 20, 2010

Sichuan Gourmet

A tale of two dinners
I thought I knew all about Sichuan food, back from when Joyce Chen and Peking on Mystic introduced what was then called "Mandarin-Szechwan" food to the United States via greater Boston.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | August 12, 2010

Noche

Solid appetizers and late-night menu, just too conservative for the Theatre District
Despite a year of planning, Noche still needs to find its niche. As it is, it seems to be rattling around in the big-shoes-to-fill of its predecessor in the space, Icarus, one of the first fine South End bistros.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | August 04, 2010