The Other Critics

Menton Gets First’s First Four Stars; Basho Satisfies

• Devra First gives Menton her first ever four-star review: “Chef Barbara Lynch has quenelles of steel. The girl from the Southie projects wants a four-star restaurant. She believes it can be done, in this neighborhood, in this economic climate. There must be a formula, and she determines to master it. Study, emulate, one-up. Grant every wish. Grant it before it is even made.This is the secret.” [Globe]

• Mat Schaffer gives the “seductively sleek and satisfying” Basho a B: “Honestly, the menu’s so deep you risk drowning.” [Herald]

Khayam gets four stars from Robert Nadeau, in a review that opens with oddly faint praise: “This isn’t the best Persian food I’ve ever had, but it doesn’t have to be — Persian food is that good.” [Phoenix]

• Cheap Eats risks Porter Square residents’ ire by drawing attention to Tampopo: “It constitutes a Holy Grail of fooderati (and perhaps this column): the out-of-the-way hole-in-the-wall where the owner makes the food, and one charming waitress takes care of everyone.” [Globe]

• MC Slim JB drops by Canteen, which “puts the brakes on the worst aspects of the fast-food eatery, yielding results that are a bit pricier, rather more sustainable, and much, much tastier.” [Phoenix]

Menton Gets First’s First Four Stars; Basho Satisfies