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On The Cheap

Review: Staff Meal

A new high-water mark for Boston street food
A few years ago, Boston's street-food universe was tightly limited in scope, ambition, and geography. There was little to see beyond a few trucks and carts peddling so-so hot dogs, burritos, and American-Chinese fare, mostly in Downtown Crossing and around the MIT campus.

By: MC SLIM JB | May 11, 2011

Review: Boston Kabob Company

Middle Eastern served with a side of sex appeal
A few doors down from the Brighton Music Hall, there's a new Middle Eastern food stop grilling kabobs with sex appeal.

By: ARIEL SHEARER | May 06, 2011

Review: Bon Me Truck

A new food truck delivers the Vietnamese street-food goods
Boston long owned a reputation for being hostile to food trucks: getting licensed to offer meals on wheels meant braving a daunting tangle of municipal red tape.

By: MC SLIM JB | May 02, 2011

Review: Pikaichi

Real ramen returns to Allston
Recall your halcyon college days, wandering the brick-laid corridors of knowledge. By bricks, I'm referring to crinkly packages of Top Ramen, diet of the Precambrian, pre-kitchen culinarian.

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | April 22, 2011

Review: La Frontera

Your own mom should cook so beautifully
An old adage says, "Never eat at a place called 'Mom's,' " which of course is not a snipe at actual mothers, but the folly of marketing a restaurant as somehow capable of channeling the love, care, and multi-generational lore that the ideal of mom's cooking represents.

By: MC SLIM JB | April 13, 2011

Review: Sticky Rice Café

Strong soups and tasty Thai in West Roxbury
At Sticky Rice Café in West Roxbury, the atmosphere is perhaps more conducive to takeout, though there is room to eat in.

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | April 08, 2011

Review: Roast Beast

If you're going to do one thing, you might as well kill it
Running a restaurant that offers essentially one product is a high-wire act: it can be breathtaking, but you're working without a net, and if you falter . . . Food nerds like me root heartily for such places, having endured too many restaurants with long menus and no memorable dishes.

By: MC SLIM JB | March 31, 2011

Review: Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese

Paradise by the dashboard light
Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese joins the ranks of Boston's newfound fleet of food trucks, capricious cousins to brick-and-mortar spots.

By: LINDSEY CRUDELE | March 25, 2011

Saus

Belgian street food that's good with both kinds of sauce
Of all the rabid regionalists whom I fear encountering in a dark alley, it's the poutine people I dread the most. Cornered, you swear on a squeaky curd never to confuse the exalted junk food with disco fries, and the last words you hear before it all goes dark are, "When I was in Montreal . . .

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | March 24, 2011

The Wholy Grain

Another gourmet bakery/café curries the custom of busy South Enders
Some restaurants are haunted by ghosts; it can be hard to like a new place that took the spot of a bygone one you loved (sorry, Joe V's). The Wholy Grain, a new South End bakery/café, has ghosts of a different kind: it used to be the "social club" where the notorious local mobster Philip "Sonny" Baiona conducted business for decades.

By: MC SLIM JB | March 09, 2011

Sugar Baking Co. & Restaurant

Delicious breakfast; just don't weigh yourself afterward.
The old A. Borschetto bakery sign remains inside Sugar Bakery and Restaurant in Roslindale, a joint venture by the owners of the Real Deal Deli and the Rox Diner, serving sit-down breakfast and lunch.

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | March 07, 2011

Review: Tawakal Halal Cuisine

The eclectic, beguiling cuisine of Somalia makes its Boston debut in Eastie
So upon hearing that Boston's first Somali restaurant has opened, food nerds should seek out Tawakal Halal Cuisine, hidden above the Victory Pub in Orient Heights, where their geeky determination will be amply rewarded.

By: MC SLIM JB | February 23, 2011

Deli-icious

TCB meets TLC
In addition to generously sauced, slightly greasy sandwiches, Davis Square sandwich joint Deli-icious doles out an ample supply of New England–themed warm fuzzies.

By: MICAH HAUSER | February 16, 2011

Romantic Valentine's Day dining on the Cheap

Because romance needs great food, not a $15 glass of crummy sparkling wine
Want a lousy place to celebrate Valentine's Day? Try a fine-dining restaurant. These frugal alternatives will make for memorable dates nights throughout the year.

By: MC SLIM JB | February 09, 2011

Blue Asia

Pan-Asian cuisine with complimentary manga
Allston's Blue Asia presents an engaging study in textures, wonderful comfort food served in a welcoming atmosphere.

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | February 09, 2011

Review: Darul Kabab

Outstanding Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi fare in an unlikely setting
The latest evidence for the encouraging trend of Indian-restaurant diversity: the debut of Darul Kabab, a Cambridge spot that features halal Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Northern Indian fare, prepared by a chef from Delhi.

By: MC SLIM JB | January 26, 2011