Cafe Sushi Nets 2.5 Globe Stars on Strength of Omakase

Cafe Sushi, just outside Harvard Square, has been the darling of industry-types for some time, but now Devra First discovers it for the Globe. Cooked food is "fairly average" and the standard sashimi selection "tastes as you'd expect it to taste anywhere," but second generation chef Seizi Imura garners 2.5 stars out of 4 for his "exquisite, palate-expanding" omakase menu. The $60 menu is "fairly priced" and even "vegetarians are treated unusually well." "Cafe Sushi deserves to be counted among the best sushi restaurants in town." [BG]

Arlington's Retro Burger & Ice Cream is fine if you stick to "the two items in its name" according to the Globe's Glenn Yoder. The restaurant, recently transplanted from West Yarmouth, "isn't trying to reinvent the wheel." The burgers have "big, greasy patties" and come in either 9-ounce or 5-ounce ("Not Man Enough") sizes.A grilled chicken breast is "laced with gristle," and fries were mostly a flop, but the Richardson's ice cream is "top notch." The place is "family-friendly" so no beers here.[BG]

Newton Center's Sycamore is yet another suburban bar visited — and loved — by Luke O'Neil. In his Thursty column in the Metro, O'Neil calls it the "template" for a neighborhood bar. Bartender Scott Shoer "present[s] high end ingredients in an approachable manner." The Grey Lady cocktail, made with Berkshire gin, Cocchi Americano, and rhubarb syrup is a "breezily botanical, lightly sweet sip," but it was an off-menu drink of rye, Antica Formula, Maraschino, and more that "will blow your socks off." [Metro]