The Critics Ate Pasta and Other Italian Food This Week

The Boston Globe’s Sacha Pfeiffer pays a visit to UpperWest. There, she writes, she “found [her] favorite new restaurant of the year.” The North Cambridge restaurant is more of a “wine bar that serves some wonderful food,” she notes. The limited menu changes frequently and includes charcuterie, cheese, tinned fish, and pasta. “Simplicity reigns here,” Pfeiffer writes. She praises the pork terrine, which is “elevated by sweet onion marmalade,” and the mushroom pate is even better and makes a “wonderful spread.” The pastas are masterpieces, Pfeiffer writes, including the porcini ravioli and an excellent orecchiette with sausage.

Sheryl Julian heads to Dorchester for Italian at Molinari’s in her latest for the Globe. Chef and owner Jeffrey Cincotta honors his roots and his grandmother, Ida Molinari, whom he cooked with years ago. The menu features Ida’s meatballs, which “are tender, juicy little rounds that come in a fine marinara sauce with a pocket of ricotta and a sprinkle of Parmesan,” Julian writes, and everything is made in-house except the bread. The chicken wings are marinated in rosemary and lemon, and the chicken parm sandwich is “a perfect rendition of this Italian-American treasure,” she writes, also praising the pappardelle and the Margherita pizza with fennel sausage.

• Endearing, Intimate, Bare-Bones, UpperWest Is the Wine Bar That Almost Wasn’t [BG]
• Beautiful Italian-American Abundance at Molinari’s in Dorchester [BG]