Mayer’s Tavern
Simple goes spectacular at the revival of a once fight-prone local haunt that now draws the culinary-centric angling to be seated in front of whatever chef Rob Marzinsky is dishing out.
Un-Chained, Part 2
Our essay on the detrimental nature of chain restaurants, “Wrench in the Food Chain,” spurred a squall of comments and questions. What’s carried forth is an interest on your part in finding alternatives to chain dining. So, earlier this week, we offered suggestions for non-chain eat-outs in the Mexican and Asian realms. Today, in the second part of our mini-series, we showcase the new generalists, some that spin comforting common fare, others that delve into a concept with precision and passion.
Un-Chained, Part 1
Our essay on the detrimental nature of chain restaurants, “Wrench in the Food Chain,” spurred a squall of comments and questions. What’s carried forth is an interest on your part in finding alternatives to chain dining. We offer ideas today and will again in our Restaurant Revue column posting Friday, June 7.
Mesob
Take a meal off from hyped trends and settle into a lesser-known destination that, with great care and calm, feeds body, mind and soul. It’s exemplary Ethiopian, with lessons in cooking and eating that endure.
Poke Burritos
Score one for the home team, a couple who devised a local joint that aims to please and serves an amalgamation of standards – some fused, some refreshed, some left to their as-born devices.
Ottoburger
When the irresistible scent of burgers grilling nearby throws you off your planned dinner game, consider caving into your craving with a patty housed in a different breadstuff.
Cornbread
Soul food fast-casual style comes with tell-tale hints of long, slow-cooking or deft frying in well-turned-out classics that invite lingering.
Angry Archie’s
Street food favorites in the seafood genre anchor the menu of this brick-and-mortar incarnation of a popular food truck, including some that toe the line with skill. But technical lapses in a couple of should-be stalwarts show the kitchen crew needs to run a tighter ship.
Tio Santos
Basics thrive under the watchful eyes and experienced hands of the couple who tend this mom-and-pop Mexican. They are the angels of details, the guardians of traditions to be cherished.
A2B Indian Vegetarian Restaurant
The scope is vast, the selections myriad and many at this popularity contest winner that springs from a many-branched family tree in India. The reigning caliber of its dishes? Roundly good, but rarely great.
Tasty Moment
Decidedly superior soup dumplings and quite a bit more headline the menu at an expansive and chronically crowded Chinese spot in the eye of a storm of eateries in a plaza anchored by Hmart.
Destination Mexican
If you’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo, go not where the vapid guac is flowing, but where highly skilled chefs do for their food what Mother Nature did to make Playa del Carmen.