The Critics Ate Crudo, Caribbean-Mediterranean Fare, and Pizza This Week

Boston Magazine’s Corby Kummer visits Bar Mezzana in the South End for a taste of coastal Italian cuisine from chef and co-owner Colin Lynch. “His generous, flavor-packed food gets at the essence of what makes people love Italy,” Kummer writes. He praises the crostini, including one topped with a thick layer of ricotta and roasted peppers, and he writes that the root vegetable salad was “like an addictive autumn trail mix.” The crudo showcases Lynch’s delicate hand, Kummer writes, and his flavor instincts come through in the pasta, though the execution is “not as good as with the crostini.” The best is the garganelli with duck ragout, and the Brussels sprouts that accompany the chicken entree are “marvelous.”

The Boston Globe’s Ellen Bhang checks out Nzuko, which serves Caribbean-Mediterranean food with a health-minded bent in Framingham. Owner Laurette Ndukwe previously oversaw L’Afrique in the South End and now serves a menu inspired by “her Haitian roots and travels in Greece,” Bhang writes. The “good-for-you fare” includes marinated jerk chicken that can be made into a wrap or served as a plate combo with sweet fried plantains. Bhang writes that the griot pork is “savory and tender,” and the rotating soups can come with “sweet crumbly” cornbread. The restaurant also offers “plenty of roughage,” including a salad with kale, tomatoes, and cucumbers that comes lightly dressed.

Harvard Square’s Waypoint receives a visit from the New York Times’s Jason Tesauro, who dives into the wood-fired pizza, snacks, and pasta. Tesauro writes that the fried smelts are crispy, the tallow fried peanuts are a clever snack, and the Royal Osetra caviar becomes fun alongside doughnut holes and blinis. The roast lamb shoulder is “umami-rich,” Tesauro writes, and the daily crudo is worth hogging for “its balance of salt, acid and buttery olive oil.”

The Improper Bostonian’s MC Slim JB eats at Area Four’s new South End restaurant. The menu features “a refined take on mozzarella sticks,” plus sweet/hot pickles, which lead into “beautifully composed vegetable dishes,” he writes. Slim praises the curried lentils and the charred greens, along with the brasa chicken, which “is big, juicy and crisp-skinned,” he writes. The main event is the pizza, of which Slim recommends the classic Margherita, along with the “home run” Wellfleet clam and bacon pie and the banh mi version.

• Restaurant Review: Bar Mezzana [BM]
• Caribbean Meets Mediterranean. Health Is on the Menu, Too. [BG]
• A Boston Area Restaurant Both Contemporary and Comfy [NYT]
• Wood Oven Love-In [IB]