Pagu’s ‘Inhalable’ Fried Rice Worth Eating on Repeat for One Critic

Fried Rice to “Eat on Repeat”

The Boston Globe’s Devra First offers a starred review of Pagu, Tracy Chang’s two-year-old restaurant in Cambridge’s Central Square. Her menu “throws a net around Spain, Japan, Taiwan, and of-the-moment American food culture and pulls it comfortably snug,” First writes. There’s a “beautiful” bluefin tartare that packs “a double-punch of Japanese citrus,” along with tempura-style Brussels sprouts and a lobster roll on brioche that’s colored “a striking charcoal” from squid ink. Chang also brings her former pop-up dish to life at Pagu: Guchi’s Midnight Ramen has “good broth, good noodles, good pork: It is exactly the sum of its carefully made parts,” according to First. She also recommends the fried rice and the smoked purple yam ice cream. Overall, Pagu gets a three-star “excellent” review (out of a possible four).

“Enormous” Chicken Parmigiana

Marc Hurwitz visits Village Bar & Grill in Everett for the Dig. The menu includes influences from Portugal and Brazil, and highlights include a flame-grilled Portuguese chourico plate, with charred sausages. There are also codfish cakes, marinated steak sandwiches, tripe stew, and grilled octopus. The steak tips are “excellent,” he writes, with “tender and moderately lean meat in a zesty marinade, charred nicely on the outside.” There’s also a massive chicken parm plate and New York-esque thin-crust pizza.

• Pagu: Named for the Chef’s Dog, Where Dishes Deserve to Have Their Picture Taken [BG]
• First Look: Village Bar & Grill in Everett [Dig Boston]