The Other Critics

The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema Loves Coppa; Bondir, Not So Much

The view from Hungry Mother.
The view from Hungry Mother.

The Post restaurant critic breezed into Boston for a few days and supped at Bondir, Hungry Mother, and Coppa, among others. Now back inside the Beltway, he’s had time to reflect upon his dining adventures. In fact, he has three reasons why he can’t wait to eat and drink in Boston again! But he probably won’t hurry back to Bondir any time soon.

Island Creek Oyster Bar offered him “distinguished hospitality,” and a server even “explained the local oysters as if she had harvested them herself.” A “sense of generosity” also marked his experience at Barbara Lynch’s Drink, and he has only good things to say about Menton next door. (Then again, who wouldn’t? Especially if someone else is paying!)

He also loved Coppa (no surprise there) and was entranced by the smoked beef tongue canape at Hungry Mother, not to mention their recipe-papered bathrooms.

But while Bon Appetit might think Bondir is one of the Best New Restaurants in America, Sietsema is skeptical. In his weekly dining chat, he called the restaurant’s cooking “slapdash, ordinary, bo-ring.” Ouch! Sietsema’s a very even-handed critic, too, so we’re inclined to take him at his word. “I could care less if, as a server told us, most of the food was sourced within an hour of the place,” he confessed on his chat. We’re hoping the restaurant was just having a bad night. (For the record, the underwhelmed scribe then made haste to Ten Tables, which he really enjoyed.)

Overall, though, he came away impressed with our level of service. Crusty New Englanders? No way. Either that, or they’re really mean down in D.C.

A Trio of Welcoming Boston Eateries [WaPo]

Ask Tom [WaPo]

The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema Loves Coppa; Bondir, Not So Much