Devra First Gives West Bridge Three-and-a-Half Stars

New Kendall Square spot West Bridge earns an impressive three-and-a-half out of four stars from Devra First for the Globe. She praises a variety of dishes for the "sum of the parts" where the individual bites are good, but it's the whole dish together that "takes you somewhere new," particularly the crispy pig’s head with pickled rutabaga and mustard aioli. One tiny paragraph lists a few things that were lacking - some of the desserts and plain vegetable and grain dishes - but this is buried in the midst of praise. "I would be happy to eat at West Bridge regularly," she concludes. "I think you would be, too." [BG]

For the Dig, "high maintenance schmuck" Shayna Curran reviews Amsterdam Falafelshop, pleased that the DIY toppings bar "totally caters to [her] prissy, picky, highly customized ass." And the brownies are good, even if they're not special: "Sit at the right table...and there might be some pot leafs smiling at you while you lunch. But Mary Jane décor aside, Amsterdam Falafelshop only provides “virgin” brownies to complement your meal. Which are pretty friggen’ tasty, even without the green stuff." [DB]

MC Slim JB gave the exorbitant long-cooked beef pho a try at Empire Asian Restaurant & Lounge for STUFF Magazine. At $26 for a small bowl or $46 for a large, he concedes that it "will draw eye rolls from your food-nerd friends who haunt Dorchester Vietnamese joints." But it may just be worth it for the "rich stock with proper accents of charred aromatics, thin rice noodles that require vigorous stirring to finish cooking in the steaming broth, and thin-sliced rare tenderloin and meltingly tender oxtail with a wonderful hint of star anise, plus mung-bean sprouts, daikon, fresh mint, holy basil, and chopped bird chilies to add by hand." [STUFF]

Corby Kummer reviews the massively revamped Clio for Boston Magazine; be sure to click through to ogle at Kristin Teig's excruciatingly gorgeous photographs. Unfortunately, the visual appeal of Chef Oringer's El Bulli-influenced cuisine doesn't always translate to an exceptional dish. "Some of the flavors come together in the surprising, subtle ways of cuisine practiced on a higher and more-refined plane. But not everything works: The smears can seem silly, the number of sauces excessive, the textures not quite suited to the main ingredient." Kummer concludes that Clio is unpredictable but "always interesting." [BM]