The Other Critics

62 Restaurant & Wine Bar Is a Perfect 10; El Paisa’s Best for Brunch

• Devra First treks north to Salem to visit 62 Restaurant & Wine Bar. She loves it: It’s ” currently serving some of the best modern Italian food to be found in the area.” Um, just watch out for the “hooded coven” performing “sacred rituals” in the parking lot. Less frightening is the confit pork belly, whose flavors “flit across your tongue.” [Globe]

• East Boston’s El Paisa blends Colombian and Italian flavors, where brunch is a “madhouse,” and for good reason. Behold a lavish buffet, whose star is a chef flipping customized, “perfectly cooked” omelettes stuffed with mushrooms, tomatoes, chives, jalapenos, and cheese. Dinner is less successful, where “entrees don’t live up to the expectations set by the appetizers.” Seafood paella is topped with a “disappointingly bland yellow sauce.” [Globe]

• In Stuff, MC Slim JB profiles the whole steamed fish in ginger-scallion sauce at Chinatown’s Peach Farm. “I suggest that if you think you’re an accomplished, intrepid foodie type and haven’t been to Peach Farm for whole steamed fish in ginger/scallion sauce, you’re still playing at Level 1,” he declares. You’ll sup alongside “big families of Chinese ex-pats at round lazy-Susan tables,” reveling in the glory that you’re part of “that select group that really knows where to find the best seafood in Boston.” Which might not be quite so select, now that this review is out. [Stuff]

• MC Slim sticks to the same ‘hood in the Phoenix, reviewing the cutely named My Thai Vegan Cafe, which impresses with fresh, made-to-order soups and a “vibrant,” herbaceous green curry. Noodle dishes also offer “broad appeal,” and the price is right, too. [Phoenix]

• It’s four stars from the Phoenix’s Robert Nadeau for Jamaica Plain’s Tres Gatos, populated by a “smart, young crowd.” He savored a “truly heartfelt tribute to Spanish tapas, with some modern Catalan and Basque influences here and there.” Albondigas come with a red sauce that “just won’t quit,” and grilled bavette steak comes complete with a quibble-proof “just-slightly-smoky eggplant puree.” [Phoenix]

Boston’s Brittany Jasnoff approves of the Brahmin on Stanhope Street, “that awkwardly situated byway behind Back Bay station that’s been home to a string of failed culinary endeavors.” Here, small plates are a “strength.” Grilled white asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham, with a creamy lemon vinaigrette, is a “smart combination of flavors and textures.” [Boston]

62 Restaurant & Wine Bar Is a Perfect 10; El Paisa’s Best for Brunch