• Mat Schaffer gives Somerville’s Pulse Cafe a pleasant B, noting that even though it’s vegan, the food has a broad appeal: “Vegans and nonvegans alike can dine here without feelings of deprivation.” [Herald]
• Devra First has one and a half stars for Rowes Wharf Sea Grille, which is not the seaside fish restaurant of her hopes and dreams: “The restaurant offers cod-filled corn empanadas with lemon-caper tartar sauce; roasted Maine lobster with corn pudding; caramelized jumbo sea scallops with black quinoa and red kuri squash sauce… . This is far from seafood in the rough. The dishes promise polish. Sometimes they deliver. Too often, sides are boring and bland; fish is overcooked.” [Globe]
• Robert Nadeau has a scant one star for Nico, damning it with some very faint praise: “The food is generally overpriced and over-cheffed, but here and there a home-style dish shines through. It is possible to eat well at Nico by choosing carefully, and the staff is hospitable. So there’s that.” [Phoenix]
• Cheap Eats drops by Benevento’s in the North End, where “appetizers and pizzas are the strong points.” [Globe]
• MC Slim JB tries Newton’s Lee’s Place Burgers and finds a specimen that’s “big without seeming excessive, juicy as all get-out (that wrapper is a necessary place mat), and pretty as a food stylist’s work. If I have one reservation about its deliciousness, it’s the all-sirloin patty, leaner and less beefy-tasting than chuck, but also healthier and lighter: the dreaded gut-bloat so common to chain burgers never arrives.” [Phoenix]
