robert nadeau

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Review: Think Tank Bistrotheque

The owners have some very good ideas about food and drink — Southeast Asian treats are cool, and craft cocktails go better with them than wine does — but they have also produced some decisions that make the rest of us scratch our heads.
Southeast Asian treats among some head-scratchers
By ROBERT NADEAU | August 19, 2011

Review: Red Lantern

Red Lantern's menu (and the design of the giant room) hedges its bets — there's a decent sushi bar, a drinking bar with sports on the TVs, a flurry of hot-pot tables, and some serious steaks.
Nostalgic fusion with so much for so many
By ROBERT NADEAU | August 12, 2011

Review: Posto

Some places, no matter how good, manage to fly under the radar. And the recent trend of restaurateurs opening a pizza place, establishing a reputation as a lower-priced, "On the Cheap" joint, and then upscaling into a full-tilt sit-down spot (see: Nebo),
Top-notch Italian that's under the radar no more
By ROBERT NADEAU | August 05, 2011

Review: Trina's Starlite Lounge

Trina's Starlite Lounge is not so easy to describe. It's noir — as in dark (they only put in windows a couple months ago). It has craft cocktails, but not classics; draft beers, but only six taps; 17 bottled beers, but that's including Miller High Life,
Unorthodox goodness shining through the dark
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 08, 2011

Review: Aragosta Bar and Bistro

Sensing, the previous restaurant in this Battery Wharf hotel/condo development, was locavore and high-church French, but too subtle. Aragosta proposes to solve that problem with a more robust cuisine focused on the most local of all ingredients: seafood.
A robust Italian take on locavore cuisine
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 01, 2011

Review: Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House

The good news — especially if someone else is paying — is that everything at Del Frisco's is pretty good, the view is incredible, and the service is relaxed.
A waterfrom steakhouse worth the price
By ROBERT NADEAU | June 24, 2011

Is Boston’s toughest restaurant critic going soft?

Holy crap. For foodies who read our pages, it must look like a streak of DiMaggio-like proportions. First came Basho: a rare four-star review from...
By Carly Carioli | July 15, 2010

Stoddard's Fine Food and Ale

Some of the great ones do it by instinct, but William Ashmore, owner of Stoddard's (and Ivy across the street) appears to be someone given to second thoughts, maybe nots, and serial inspirations.
Boston's gastropub world has a new champ
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 02, 2010

Review: Basho Japanese Brasserie

Weirdly situated in the Fenway, this large restaurant from the owners of Back Bay's Douzo conveys an immediate sense of space well apportioned, with the minimalist fascination of the best haiku.
A tasty fusion of new and traditional Japanese fare
By ROBERT NADEAU | June 25, 2010

Bombay Club

As we were on our way home from dinner at Bombay Club, Mrs. Nadeau said, "We didn't try any curries — we missed that."
A favorite local Indian eatery finds a new home
By ROBERT NADEAU | June 11, 2010

Review: Jerry Remy's Sports Bar & Grill

The baseball record books show that Gerald Peter Remy, in 10 major-league seasons, hit a total of seven home runs. On my first visit to his Boylston Street bar and grill, I was ready to declare the restaurant home run number eight.
Another victory, what a surprise
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 29, 2010

Coppa

One of the strange features of the Great Recession is the incredible complexity of down-market maneuvers.
A complicated conception with a delicious finish
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 28, 2010

Sichuan Gourmet

I’ve been miffed for some years that Boston’s suburbs had all the best Sichuan restaurants.
Traditional Sichuan flavors to reawaken your jaded palate
By MC SLIM JB | May 28, 2010

Bergamot

I guess the experimental-chef thing isn’t over, after all. At least not at Somerville’s Bergamot, the chosen sobriquet of which is “progressive American cuisine and a warm neighborhood setting.”
A perfect complement to Somerville — or, for that matter, anywhere
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 21, 2010

Russell House Tavern

For a place with major, major foot traffic, Harvard Square has proven to be a tricky spot for restaurateurs.
Tastes good, looks great — no gimmicks necessary
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 14, 2010

Buddachen

The Web site says “modern Asian bistro” and the other description they’ve put out is “ultra trendy modern Asian cuisine.”
Jae’s grill is reborn with pan-Asian zen
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 07, 2010

La Galleria 33

As you go deeper into the North End on Salem Street, the pretense drops toward the levels of old, pre-gentrification “Little Italy.”
A new, old-school-style addition to the city’s longest-thriving dining district
By ROBERT NADEAU | April 30, 2010

Woodward at Ames

The Woodward is the slightly quieter upstairs of the Woodward Tavern, a high-concept downtown café-bar based on the idea “Ben Franklin meets a supermodel.”
Ben Franklin meets a supermodel? Go with it — it works.
By ROBERT NADEAU | April 23, 2010

South End Buttery

South End Buttery started with cupcakes and coffee, but opened up a dining room below street level two summers ago, and has since gradually taken on more serious cheffery.
From Viennoiserie to veal: a local bakery grows up
By ROBERT NADEAU | April 16, 2010

American Craft

If American Craft was a brand-new restaurant, I still would be an enthusiast. But it’s even better as is, because it’s the end result of a story of hard knocks.
Brewed to perfection
By ROBERT NADEAU | April 09, 2010

Barlow’s Restaurant

It’s not unusual for this column to have a different opinion of restaurants than the column in the Boston Globe — I favor a flatter bell curve.
When in doubt, ask for a second opinion
By ROBERT NADEAU | April 02, 2010

Red Lentil Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant

By now everyone knows Red Lentil is dog-plays-the-piano good. It’s the best all-vegetarian and lots-vegan restaurant Boston has ever had. The question before us is: is it actually good -good?
No meat? No problem.
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 26, 2010

Symphony 8 Restaurant & Bar

Everyone wants to have a gastro-pub with comfort food, but you have to be able to cook a little bit to sustain one. It also helps to draw a clean draught beer, maintain a quality wine list, and sweep the floor.
Time to face the music
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 19, 2010

Food Fight

I don't think food critic Robert Nadeau knows very much about fine dining and what it means to cook good seafood.
Letters to the Boston editor, March 19, 2010
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 19, 2010

Arbri Cafe

I loved the Café Apollonia when it opened in this space in 2004 as what was then Boston's sole denominated Albanian restaurant.
Albanian food returns to former Italian territory
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 12, 2010

The Daily Grill

You can tell that the Daily Grill isn't from around here, because it describes itself as "modeled after the great big city grills of the '30s and '40s."
A newcomer earns its keep
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 05, 2010

Conga's

The first clue to a fake restaurant is a phony name. Conga's isn't owned by an Afro-Cuban dance rhythm, and doesn't serve drums. Instead, it has a Spanish and South American menu cooked by Central Americans for Thai owners whose previous Japanese restaur
Faking it, just not quite making it
By ROBERT NADEAU | February 26, 2010

Bistro du Midi

Bistro du Midi purports to serve "authentic Provençal" cuisine, but Midi actually refers to all of southern France.
Fine, but not necessarily French
By ROBERT NADEAU | February 12, 2010

Skara Grill

Having longed for an all-out Greek dining room in metro Boston since, well, almost since the Phoenix was reviewing plays by Euripides and protesting the Peloponnesian War, I finally hit Dionysos in Cambridge about a year before it closed in 2007.
Satisfying a Grecian yearning
By ROBERT NADEAU | February 05, 2010

Post 390

Another week, another gastro-pub. Okay, Post 390 technically bills itself as a Back Bay "urban tavern," and is bigger and glitzier than most, but it has the same combination of comfort food with a twist, a few bits of high cheffery, serious drinks, and
Walking a narrow path to success
By ROBERT NADEAU | January 22, 2010

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