Food Coma

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  Long-Cooked Beef Pho at Empire Asian Restaurant & Lounge

  23 July, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  A food-writer pal of mine once archly suggested that there are only five types of fine-dining restaurants in Boston. He was being satirical, but barely — the longer you dine out here, the easier it is…

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  Tortilla Española at Tres Gatos

  09 July, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Thumbing their noses at the ongoing recession, worthy new restaurants continue to open at a brisk pace in Greater Boston, leaving restaurant critics with a high-class problem: not being able to get to…

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  Egg in a Jar at West Bridge

  25 June, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Not very long ago, Kendall Square became a desert every weeknight, as thousands of nearby office workers fled the area at the stroke of six. Who could blame them? The neighborhood had barely any worth…

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  Celtic Salad at Tonic

  11 June, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  The restaurant business is tough and unforgiving, and it doesn’t always reward pioneers or innovators. Locals complain that their neighborhood’s restaurants and bars are too much alike, yet a newcomer…

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  Portuguese Fisherman’s Stew… Fall River Style at Happy’s Bar + Kitchen

  01 June, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Michael Schlow can do anything he wants. That apparently is the lesson of Happy’s Bar + Kitchen (1363 Boylston Street, Boston, 857.753.4100), his new casual restaurant near Fenway Park that combines e…

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  Grilled Lamb Chops Tonnato at Nix’s Mate

  20 May, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Hotel restaurants are a useful mainstay of urban life, offering convenient meeting places for a drink or a bite. A few even offer extraordinary food: think Clio and Uni, L’Espalier, and Island Creek O…

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  Nam Prik Ong at Thai North

  03 May, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Any food nerd worth his garum knows that amazing restaurants are often found where immigrant chef-owners are cooking mainly for their fellow ex-pats. These places serve traditional cuisines in all the…

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  Uyigur Lamb at Moksa

  22 April, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  The food and drink in Cambridge’s gritty Central Square has evolved remarkably in just a few short years to include several highly regarded indie restaurants and an outstanding cluster of craft-cockta…

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  The Ploughman’s Platter at Saloon

  05 April, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  Some bars evoke a bygone time; some are too obviously fake-retro. Which makes the illusion at Saloon, the new craft-cocktail bar downstairs from Foundry on Elm, all the more impressive.

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  Joint Sampler at Suya Joint

  23 March, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  The Boston restaurant scene is rich in the cuisines of the Americas, Europe, and Asia, but anemic when it comes to Africa. We enjoy a smattering of fare from the North (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egyp…

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  Steak Salad at The Hawthorne

  09 March, 2012 | Feed | MC Slim JB

  It’s been a fecund year for Boston’s top-flight bars: veteran bastions of cocktail craft have been bursting open like ripe milkweed pods and sending downy seeds drifting to new soil. Cradles of barte…

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  Roasted apple salad at Strip T's

  13 February, 2012 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK Every year or so, a new place emerges as a sort of food-nerd El Dorado: a spot off the beaten path in a humble setting with no famous names, little media attention, and the informal, …

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  Chicken and Waffle at Brick & Mortar

  30 January, 2012 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK Nothing eases flirtation quite like a well-made cocktail. But as every experienced imbiber knows, drinking on an empty stomach is a common source of regret later in the evening and t…

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  Lomito Al Cabrales at Kika Tapas

  16 January, 2012 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  PHOTO: Joel VeakCambridge's Kendall Square and the neighboring Area IV have dramatically blossomed as dining and drinking destinations. Their handful of veteran restaurants were recently joined by a f…

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  Steamed Local Hake at Vee Vee

  26 December, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK This year was a surprisingly robust one for fine dining in Boston: the Seaport and Area IV emerged as sizzling destinations with a score of brand-new restaurants. We visited all and …

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  Spit-roasted lemon-sage chicken at Firebrand Saints

  12 December, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK Cambridge's Area IV and its surrounding streets got so hot in the fine-dining arena so fast that STUFF had trouble keeping up. Earlier this year, we reviewed veteran the Blue Room a…

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  Grilled squid and fried tentacles at Trade

  28 November, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK When your first restaurant is an award-winning, critically praised commercial success, it must be tough to say no to investors waving pots of cash at you to open another place. But t…

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  Paella Mixta at Estragon Tapas Bar

  14 November, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK When Julio de Haro opened Estragon Tapas Bar (700 Harrison Avenue, Boston, 617.266.0443) in 2008, he hired a young chef whose take on Spanish small-plates cuisine leaned a bit creati…

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  BBQ’d Pork Shoulder Sandwich at Abigail’s

  31 October, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK As a new restaurateur, you face a Sisyphean task that begins the moment you decide to open a restaurant. You have to convince investors that you have the concept, location, and team …

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  Corn Ravioli at Catalyst

  17 October, 2011 | Food Coma | MC Slim JB

  Photo: JOEL VEAK One of the Boston restaurant stories of 2011 has been the ascent of two new dining hotspots, the Seaport and Area IV. I'm glad the Waterfront's new restaurants have improved our opti…

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