Trade, Area Four Cafe, Blue Nile, Santarpio's and More

Globe food critic Devra First bestows three stars on Trade, the sophomore restaurant of chef-owner Jody Adams. First echoes a sentiment we've heard from MC Slim JB, saying that Adams' deliberation has paid off and was worth the wait. She describes the menu as "Mediterranean, with Asian touches" and notes that "the ever-present squid appetizer, beet salad, flatbreads, and short rib main course" are better here than elsewhere. Fried oysters on buckwheat waffles are "a homier version of blini and caviar" and First notes that a dull chicken confit with curried carrots thankfully disappears from the menu. [Boston.com]

Oh hello, Serious Eats. Fancy a trip up north, did you? Poster Andrew Janjigian praises the Area Four Café for its "calorie bomb" breakfast sandwich and its "brioche-like, homemade English muffin" and "blanket of oozy sharp cheddar cheese." SE calls the pour-over coffee "a draw" and dubs the craquelin, "a rarely-seen sweet bun of Belgian and Dutch origin," a "must-order" due to its "lava-like" flow of orange-zest scented brown-sugar sugarcubes. Janjigian does not make it to the venue's restaurant side. [SE]

For his review of Blue Nile in Boston Phoenix, Robert Nadeau leads with the following declaration: "Either this is the best Ethiopian food in Boston, or the whole scene has advanced greatly since the last time I got to review in this genre." Much of the review seems devoted to criticizing Boston's Ethiopian restaurants of yesteryear, though Nadeau does praise Blue Nile's azefa, "a lentil salad with a lively acidity, and the quick, transient spice of sliced-in jalapeño peppers," says that fried appetizers like the sambosa are "not to be missed" and calls the lega tibs a good dish for beginners. [BP]

In the Man Food column on Boston Magazine's Chowder, Richard Chudy tackles the lamb skewer at Santarpio’s in Eastie. Better known for its pizza, Chudy considers the restaurant's skewer a must-get pizza appetizer: "The best part are those few extra crispy bits on the exterior of the meat, which give you an extra dose of smoke and charcoal to bring a taste of summer to a chilly winter day." [Chowder]

Boston's only restaurant reviewer/midwife Sarah Kleinman offers on-the-spot video commentary of her experience at Grumpy White’s Restaurant & Pub in Quincy, where bread comes with up to an entire stick of butter. "It's also the kind of place I can eat until I feel sick," she says, before rating the restaurant 3.25 out of 5 slabs of butter. [Public Radio Kitchen]