The Other Critics

Schaffer Is Fired Up About Sichuan Gourmet; Anthem Revives Old Favorites

• Mat Schaffer isn’t offering stars this week but applauds Sichuan Gourmet’s Brookline location remarking that the restaurant’s “eateries in Billerica and Framingham have won critical praise for serving authentic szechwan food,” and “this latest Sichuan Gourmet follows suit.” [Herald]

• The Phoenix welcomes back Anthem Kitchen + Bar after its 2007 disappearance, concluding that the reincarnation “represents exactly what it did before: half bistro, half sports bar, all competent, delivering notable quality in a location where you don’t need to be this good.” [Phoenix]

• 5 Corners Kitchen in Marblehead is awarded three stars from Devra First, who determines that “any restaurant capable of offering a meal of total satisfaction, from start to finish, deserves plaudits.” [Globe]

• Cheap Eats takes issue with the ‘bad service’ trait common to the both faces of Chung Shin Yuang in Newton, deciding “there are really two restaurants here: a neighborhood Chinese place that’s not that welcoming, and a great Taiwanese brunch that’s a destination.” [Globe]

Schaffer Is Fired Up About Sichuan Gourmet; Anthem Revives Old Favorites