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MC SLIM JB
MC Slim JB is a Boston-based restaurant critic and freelance food and drinks feature writer. A New England native, he lives (as he has most of his life) in Boston. He has written for Boston Magazine and Maxim Magazine. For more of MC Slim’s work, visit his blog.
Latest Articles
To spot the great diner, check out the bread
Your typical cheap-eats reviewer spends a lot of time in diners: they're America's original inexpensive quick-service restaurants, and most are a step up from modern fast-food franchises.
Filling an odd hole in Allston’s restaurant scene
Allston, as has often been noted here, is a cheap-eats wonderland, boasting scores of fine inexpensive restaurants serving cuisines from all over the world.
Fresh flavors and super-friendly service in an indie neighborhood restaurant
I've always felt a little sorry for Brighton; it's a lovely residential neighborhood, but seems short on decent places for a quick bite.
A veteran Back Bay restaurant expands to the South End
The edge of gentrification can present some close-minded folks with a barrier to finding good cheap eats.
Kicking off the New Year right with fine traditional Mexican
Exploring a new restaurant is like baseball: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it isn't available. My Taquería Jalisco rainout was a Tuesday, its regular day off.
Some New Year's resolutions for budget-minded diners
Reviewing a new budget-priced restaurant every week gives me scant time for reflection. (I'd call it a treadmill, but that sounds both dreary and healthy — the opposite of the reality.) Year-end is an exception, so I pause to offer a few resolutions on behalf of Boston budget diners.
A good year to dine 'On the Cheap,' for many reasons
In the wake of the Bush Recession, it's been gratifying to spend 2009 noting how many good budget-priced restaurants Boston has.
A winning way with the humble ground-chickpea croquette
I've added a new entry to my growing catalogue of "stupid reasons why I waited too long to try some restaurant": the unlikely name.
Mumbai street-food novelties and worthy fusion cuisine
The phrase “fusion cuisine” inspires dread in me — I’ve been served too many misconceived culinary mash-ups over the years, usually European sauces awkwardly force-fit onto Asian foundations, or vice-versa.
A solid Italian-American trattoria with dynamite pizza
Friends are always asking me for my latest cheap-eats "discovery." But amid a million food blogs, 24/7 food television, and amateur-review Web sites like Chowhound and Yelp, I'm rarely the first to sing a good restaurant's praises.
Cantonese roast meats and much more
Constrained by a small word count, I often choose restaurants with relatively short menus. I correctly took Vinh-Sun to be a Cantonese "BBQ" specialist, a retailer of roast pork, whole suckling pigs, ducks, and chickens. But it's also a spanking-clean Chinatown restaurant serving a broad Cantonese and Hong Kong menu.
Nice surprises in a warm, pubby package
They say there's no accounting for taste, though most folks will agree that if your tastes and mine are similar, then we both have good taste. This occurred to me as I scanned the jukebox at Charlestown's Tavern at the End of the World, a neighborhood bar/restaurant just outside Sullivan Square.
Eggs, coffee, and salty conversation
Some meals can bring you back vividly to your childhood, perhaps because your sense of smell and long-term memory are centered in adjacent areas of the brain.
A worthwhile old-time roadside-stand experience
Boston has hundreds of food blogs, with new ones appearing every day.
Soul-satisfying, authentic Azorean specialties — oh, and sub-shop fare, too
Despite frequenting East Cambridge, I’m abashed to admit I overlooked the Snack Bar for years.
Good Italian-American pies and cheap drafts: any questions?
My old boss liked to say that people are happiest when reality exceeds their expectations.
A gifted new chef prompts a rare critical reassessment
With so many worthy unreviewed restaurants out there, it’s difficult to re-review a place the Phoenix has already covered.
An oasis of fresh Turkish and American food in the Financial District desert
Dozens of lousy fast-food chain outlets dot the Financial District. (If I worked there, I'd frequent Chinatown for lunch.)
That increasingly rare bird: the honest-to-goodness old-time diner
The modern truck stop typically sits in an interstate-adjacent service area with a parking lot that can accommodate scores of big rigs.
Old-school, groaning-platter Italian-American meets authentic Italian in Eastie
I often chat up local chefs about their favorite restaurants, usually over drinks at late-night watering holes.
