Reviews
Review: An Indie Success Story at Lenox Sophia
I was minding my own business in a restaurant the other night when something punched me in the mouth. I didn’t see it coming: My […]
Restaurant Review: O Ya Is Still the Most Reliably Sublime Dining Splurge in Town
There’s a scene in Pretty Woman where Richard Gere whisks Julia Roberts to her first opera and, as the lights dim, ratchets up the stakes. […]
Restaurant Review: A Shot Across the Bao
Honestly, the biggest bummer about Wusong Road, chef-owner Jason Doo’s thrumming, tiki-themed ode to the sweet (also: sour) comfort-food pleasures of throwback Chinese-Americana, is that […]
Restaurant Review: A World-Famous Chef Checks into a Harvard Square Hotel
Look, I don’t know who’s calling the shots at the Charles Hotel, and frankly it’s none of my damned business. I’m just a simple food […]
Restaurant Review: The Banks Fish House Might Need a Stronger Hook
The photographs on the website and the walls of the Banks Fish House—salt-bleached boats, dark islands, fishermen proud and weather-worn—wordlessly signal home to many folks […]
Restaurant Review: Contessa Is Worth the Wait
I once got into Contessa for dinner three times in a single week. And if that doesn’t explode your brain, well, clearly you’ve never tried […]
Restaurant Review: Atlántico Is a Good Restaurant with Just One Small Catch
Michael Serpa’s tapas place in the South End isn’t a bad restaurant. It’s a good restaurant with some food problems. And if that last sentence […]
Restaurant Review: Nautilus Pier 4 Finds Gold by Scouring Global Coastlines
The nautilus, an intricate, tentacled creature with a shell like the spiraled eye of a hurricane, is a cephalopod mollusk (read: squid-like creature) that dwells […]
Restaurant Review: Brookline’s Exceptional Mahaniyom Proves That Less Is More
The fattiest cut of a pig isn’t actually the belly. It’s the jowl. In Italy they cure it into guanciale, dispensing it like over-the-top bacon […]
Dining Out: Cuban Restaurant Mariel Knows How to Have a Good Time
It’s 7 p.m. on a Thursday night. The wind is whipping across deserted Post Office Square, a Financial District parcel bordered on all sides by […]
Restaurant Review: Orfano Is a Triumphant Modern Take on Italian from Tiffani Faison
The latest Tiffani Faison production is up and running, folks, and if you’ve caught any of the star chef’s string of Fenway hits—her valentine to […]
Restaurant Review: Chef Colin Lynch’s Black Lamb Is Comfortable and Classic
The most memorable experience I had at Black Lamb, chef-owner Colin Lynch’s highly anticipated fourth project in the South End, involved shot glasses and free […]
Restaurant Review: In the Lobby of the Whitney Hotel, Peregrine Soars
In a way, Peregrine is a homecoming for chef Joshua Lewin and wine expert Katrina Jazayeri. Before they jointly opened Juliet, a European-style café-restaurant in […]
Restaurant Review: Is Rare Raising the Steaks at Encore Boston Harbor?
The stakes were high when Rare’s much-buzzed-about Kobe rib-eye arrived at my table. Though small—about the size of a playing card—at $220 for four ounces, […]
Dining Out: Zuma in One Dalton Tower
When Zuma, a swank Japanese izakaya with outposts in 14 international cities, opened inside the Back Bay’s new Four Seasons One Dalton tower in May, […]