“Maintain a Sense of Humor”
Julia Clancy provides a look at Whaling in Oklahoma in the South End for the latest restaurant review in Boston Magazine. The purposely irreverent name does something useful for chef Tim Malsow’s restaurant, according to Clancy: It helps “maintain a sense of humor.” The restaurant has a “compelling and finely tuned” beverage menu, and on the food side, although “not every dish lands,” highlights include soy-basted chicken that’s “luxuriously juicy,” as well as a pork katsu sandwich that Clancy calls a sleeper hit. On the chef’s whim tasting menu, stunners include a pair of poached scallops and fried hamachi collar. For dessert, go for the Japanese cheesecake topped with runny cheese. Clancy calls it “a bold swing of opulence so wrong it was extraordinary.” The restaurant earns two and a half stars out of four, between “good” and “generally excellent.”
Warmth and Hospitality
Marc Hurwitz visits Villa Mexico Cafe in downtown Boston for his latest for the Dig. There, he finds proprietor Julie King serving a dose of warmth and hospitality alongside top-notch Mexican dishes. Hurwitz writes that the menu’s highlights include grilled burritos, a smoky black salsa with “a sneakily hot kick,” and “mind-blowing” chorizo tacos. He also recommends the mole poblano plate with shredded chicken and the shredded beef tamales. For dessert, Villa Mexico’s tres leches cake has “a wonderfully creamy consistency,” according to Hurwitz.
• Restaurant Review: Tim Maslow’s Whaling in Oklahoma [BM]
• Still Friendly After All These Years [DigBoston]
• Whaling in Oklahoma Coverage on Eater [EBOS]
• Villa Mexico Cafe Coverage on Eater [EBOS]