The Critics Ate Crispy Pork Belly, Escargot Toast, and Pastrami

A Growing Cultivar

Devra First’s latest review for The Boston Globe features Cultivar, from chef-owner Mary Dumont. With several separate visits since the restaurant’s opening in June, First finds that “surely, steadily, Cultivar is growing into itself.” She writes that “the easy-to-miss — but unmissable! — crispy Thai pork belly” is tender, with contrasting crispy textures and a fragrant South Asian vinaigrette, and she calls it one of the best things she ate in 2017. She describes the Hubbard squash soup as “well-balanced” and notes that the squid ink messinesi has gotten “deeper and lustier” since she first had it months ago. First calls the restaurant’s desserts “feasts for the eyes” and ultimately rates the restaurant two stars out of five.

“Comfort Food at Its Finest”

Boston Magazine’s Jolyon Helterman also reviewed Cultivar this month. He writes that chef Mary Dumont “explodes” the locavore fare, with items like escargot toast on house-made bread and seared black bass medallions topped with caviar. The plating style at Cultivar is what Helterman calls a “layered, painterly sensibility” and reflects what Eater’s own Bill Addison dubbed New Romanticism for restaurants. “There are masterpieces to be had” at Cultivar, he writes, praising the yakitori beets and the “luxuriously juicy” beef kofte. As for the roast chicken for two, Helterman calls it “comfort food at its finest.”

Eye-Catching Plates

MC Slim JB pays a visit to Our Fathers Restaurant & Bar in Lower Allston for his latest in the Improper Bostonian. He writes that chef de cuisine Jameson Poll’s “plates are rarely less than eye-catching, and his flavors are frequently sensational,” recommending the pastrami sandwich, which “gets oomph from a cardamom/coriander crust and zippy deli mustard.” Slim also says there’s “delectable grazing to be done” with the selection of small plates (like labne and hummus), and he calls the charred eggplant “intriguingly dark, texturally fascinating and deeply delicious.” On the whole, Slim recommends eating your way through the menu, writing “there’s nothing like it in the city.”

• Steadily, Cultivar Is Growing Into Itself [BG]
• Cultivar [Boston Magazine]
• Hello, Fadduh [IB]