The Critics Ate Crudo, Caribbean-Mediterranean Fare, and Pizza This Week | Eater Boston

By Dana Hatic, December 22, 2016

Harvard Square’s Waypoint receives a visit from the New York Times’s Jason Tesauro, who dives into the wood-fired pizza, snacks, and pasta. Tesauro writes that the fried smelts are crispy, the tallow fried peanuts are a clever snack, and the Royal Osetra caviar becomes fun alongside doughnut holes and blinis. The roast lamb shoulder is “umami-rich,” Tesauro writes, and the daily crudo is worth hogging for “its balance of salt, acid and buttery olive oil.”

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A Boston Area Restaurant Both Contemporary and Comfy | The New York Times

By Jason Tesauro, December 16, 2016

There’s wood-fired pizza, lots of fried snacks and house-made pasta. But there’s also seafood, a sexy absinthe bar and sleek décor. It is a place vibrant enough for a happy hour pop-in, yet intimate enough for after-dark canoodling over caviar and cocktails. Waypoint, whose name means a stopping point in a journey, is all of these things — and a destination unto itself.

“This is the next step in my trajectory as a chef,” said Michael Scelfo, the chef and owner, who also runs Alden & Harlow, barely a half-mile away. That next step is particularly focused on seafood. His fried smelts plate with ramp rémoulade and fried lemons and jalapeños was crispy, both kinds of hot and easy to divide around the communal table during a recent visit. Tallow fried peanuts with anchovy and pickled fish peppers made a clever snack, especially when paired with the Estate Grown, a creamy house cocktail of Martinique rhum, pistachio falernum and hierbas dotted with lime-and-herb oil.

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