The Other Critics

Legal Harborside Caters to the Mature; Journeyman Is Worth a Trip

• Devra First reviews the swank second-floor patio at Legal Harborside (“a boutique experience, for a price”). Dishes “exhibit Asian and European influences,” while the price point (upward of $30 per plate) assures a “mature” clientele. Oddly, the restaurant’s “weakest point is the fish,” leaving First to wonder: “Is this Legal”? [Globe]

• Sheryl Julian heads to Christina’s in Newton Highlands, a Greek restaurant with very purple decor. (Apparently Christina Patsios, the owner, once wanted to be an interior decorator. Now she’ll step in and wait on you if service lags, which it sometimes does.) Beefteki gemisto is a “tiny beef football” with “wonderfully juicy” tomato sauce, and be sure to ask for the off-menu eggplant stuffed with onions and mushrooms (“papoutsaki”). [Globe]

• Robert Nadeau really enjoys Journeyman, the Union Square work-in-progress whose turbulent evolution was chronicled in the Globe. Enthuses Nadeau “the trio behind this restaurant are clearly master craftspeople in the combination of molecular and locavore gastronomy they are doing.” A pared-down menu that changes weekly offers three- and five-course options for herbivores or omnivores; when Nadeau visited, he enjoyed “amazingly synergistic” blueberry basil bubbles and an “extraordinarily decorated” plate of ricotta gnudi. The one “flop”? Dessert. [Phoenix]

• MC Slim JB gamely rounds up a slew of new openings happening this season (“recession? what recession?”), from Jody Adams’s Trade to Tiffani Faison’s Sweet Cheeks to Patricia Yeo’s Moksa. We were happy to be reminded that Kika Tapas, from the owners of Waltham’s tasty Solea, will open soon on Broad Canal Way in Cambridge. [Phoenix]

• Linda Laban, writing for Metro, gets in the first review of Jason Santos’s Blue Inc. She awards it a “blue ribbon” and says that the “gimmicks are thankfully few” at his new, “mod” restaurant on the Greenway. She’s smitten with a grilled salmon adored with peas still in the “petit stage of their lives.” [Metro]

• Brittany Jasnoff says Forum is meh in Boston’s “Short Bites.” Neighbors L’Espalier and Towne are “more interesting” than the “bland” sea bass and disappointingly un-addictive house-made cheese served here. “Deconstructed” beef wellington, complete with foie gras, redeems things somewhat. But Forum still can’t really compete in the Boylston Street “race.” [Boston]

Legal Harborside Caters to the Mature; Journeyman Is Worth a Trip