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Restaurant Reviews

Review: Vapiano

A dining hall with food not worth fighting for
In a year of bad restaurant ideas done surprisingly well, Vapiano is a mediocre idea done disastrously.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | May 25, 2012

Review: Thelonious Monkfish

Sure-handed sushi, all jazzed up
The name bit flipped all the cats and kitties and the squares and the cubes, but it ends up jive; don't jibe with the vibe.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | May 16, 2012

Review: Sabzi Persian Chelow Kabab

Persian classics and outstanding kebabs
From the point of view of fine dining, a key benefit of America's foreign interventions is the stream of incoming refugees and immigrants with slow-food-cooking skills.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | May 11, 2012

Review: First Printer

Southern success via strong statements
First Printer is located on the site of the former home of Stephen Daye — reportedly the first printer in British North America — and commemorates the craft with a wall of old type cases and some framed historic newspapers.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | April 23, 2012

Review: Vito’s Tavern

A sports bar grows in the North End
This column often deals with good ideas gone wrong. Vito's Tavern, in yet another proof of subatomic symmetry, is a cascade of bad ideas gone largely right.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | April 10, 2012

Review: The Cottage

Cal-Mex meets New England in Chestnut Hill
So what makes a one-star restaurant?

By: ROBERT NADEAU | March 28, 2012

Review: Area Four

All-day delights near Kendall Square
Area Four's Web site describes it as "Coffee, Bakery, Bar, Oven."

By: ROBERT NADEAU | March 14, 2012

Review: Pho Hoa

Another worthy take on Vietnamese beef and noodle soup
Dorchester's Pho Hoa offers quite a lot on the menu besides the eponymous soup, and no one should miss the roasted quail appetizer

By: ROBERT NADEAU | March 12, 2012

Review: Trade

Ride the energy and go with what works
What works at Trade is the hard part: transforming a difficult industrial space on a street without foot traffic or parking into a lively dining room that lightly alludes to the mercantile past of Boston's Waterfront area, and invites the chatter of the marketplace.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | February 22, 2012

Review: Q Restaurant

A New Kind of Hot
You be careful what you ask for, and I'll be careful what I write.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | February 15, 2012

Review: The Salty Pig

A small-plate menu that goes full boar
A number of restaurants have failed in this odd multilevel space, stuck in a kind of cultural canyon between the Copley Place mall and the Tent City apartment complex.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | February 01, 2012

Review: Catalyst Restaurant

Some wonder sprinkled amid the uncertainty
So you have this very high-end chef, William Kovel, running a fancy hotel dining room, Aujourd'hui at the Four Seasons.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | January 25, 2012

Review: Papagãyo Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar

A skillful take on 'fake' Mexican
Papagãyo is the last of a group of tequila bars that has opened in Boston in the past couple of years, and I would not be overly sad to close the book.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | January 19, 2012

Review: Blue Nile Restaurant

Tasty new flavors from Ethiopia
Either this is the best Ethiopian food in Boston, or the whole scene has advanced greatly since the last time I got to review in this genre.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | January 09, 2012

2012 in Dining: More resolutions for restaurateurs

Challenging Boston's restaurant scene to a year that tones down the bacon, ramps up the desserts, and comes up with a new word for "gastropub."
Memo to new restaurants: follow the 10 pieces of entirely new advice below and I will keep that hungry/friendly feeling come typing time.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | December 28, 2011

Celebrating 2011 in dining, all over the place

The year in restaurants
This past year was so simple. It was the year of the gastropub, and if you didn't paint the ceiling black and put the menu or the beer list on a blackboard, you were old school.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | December 21, 2011

Review: Sweet Cheeks

All-American barbecue with a subtle, steady touch
What happens when a name chef decides to open a barbecue joint?

By: ROBERT NADEAU | December 14, 2011

Review: Storyville

Jazzing it up with old-school cocktails
There must be some readers out there who remember the original Boston Storyville, a jazz nightclub.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | December 07, 2011

Review: Artisan Bistro

Not the old Ritz, but still very useful for many needs
Pretending that the Artisan Bistro wasn't inside the Boston Common Ritz-Carlton, I would say this is a pretty good gastropub with an emphasis on food and unusually good service with a few old-school trimmings.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 22, 2011

Review: The Brahmin

Gourmet bits in Back Bay, never mind the history
The Brahmin is a useful restaurant with a bad name.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 16, 2011

Review: Temazcal Tequila Cantina

Terrific Mexican with a waterfront view
I admit, I'm a food nerd, and there are things that I miss because they aren't on the plate.

By: ROBERT NADEAU | November 07, 2011

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