The Critics Ate Loco Moco and Roast Beef This Week

Not ‘Just Drinking Food’

MC Slim JB visits the new Momi Nonmi in Cambridge’s Inman Square for this week’s Improper Bostonian review. It’s meant to be an izakaya, or a boozy Japanese gastropub, so Slim starts with the drinks, praising the restaurant’s joyful sake guide, Stephen Connolly, and noting that “exploring these traditional beverages is part of the fun here.” Beyond the beverages, there are crunchy yet tender edamame croquettes and a grilled tuna onigiri that has “vivid flavors of fried garlic and shallots.” Slim writes that the sashimi dishes are “gorgeous and subtle,” calling out the live scallop dish and the bronzini, which comes “topped with strips of acerbic pickled burdock root and mild jalapeño slices in a bath of soy sauce and sesame oil.” He also praises the Hawaiian poke and rock shrimp tempura, in addition to the teppanyaki loco moco, which is a “witty, gluten-free take on a burger, layering a pad of rice, grass-fed beef patty and sunny side egg and then adding fajitas-like sizzle by spooning gravy onto its hot iron plate tableside.”

A Taste of the North Shore

Marc Hurwitz visits Skampa for this week’s Dig Boston review, where he finds a viable alternative close to Boston for those craving a North Shore roast beef. There are three different sizes available (junior, large, and super), all with the meat sliced thin, slightly warm, and on a “soft and fresh-tasting” onion roll. Hurwitz writes that the barbecue sauce is rich in flavor but not overwhelming. His ideal choice, he notes, would be the super beef “three-way,” served with sauce, mayonnaise, and cheese. The sandwich can also come topped with a fried egg. If more food is needed beyond the sandwich, there are fries, onion rings, and rice pilaf, as well as other items like wings, pizza, burgers, calzones, and pastas. Sides that go well with the sandwiches include fries and onion rings, and you can also get rice pilaf with your roast beef if you’re so inclined, while non-roast beef options include wings, burgers, pizza, seafood plates, and more.

• Momi Dearest [IB]
• Skampa [Dig Boston]