Recent Dining Out reviews

Extraordinary | Excellent

Good | Fair | (No stars) Poor

TROQUET 140 Boylston St., Boston. 617-695-9463. Clio. No. 9 Park. L'Espalier. These are among the names quickly ticked off when people talk about the top restaurants in town. Why isn't Troquet more often among them? Not because of the food, which is elegant and French-inspired. Certainly not because of the wine, which is the heart of the matter here: Bottles are priced at just $10 above retail, and there are more than 40 by the glass, available in 2-ounce or 4-ounce pours. The menu makes it easy to match glasses and dishes, listing harmonious pairings. Maybe it's because the show is all in the tiny open kitchen, rather than the decor. Maybe it's because the clientele is tight-lipped - why clue people in and make it hard to get a reservation? Troquet just had its seventh anniversary. It earned three stars in a review when it first opened, and it earns them still. That kind of consistency is less common than it should be.

FULOON RESTAURANT 375 Main St., Malden. 781-388-3338. Chinese food is often lumped with pizza in our minds as cheap takeout. That does an injustice to one of the world's great culinary traditions, which is more about banquets than beef with broccoli. Fuloon offers real-deal Chinese food, featuring dishes from the eight main regional cuisines. Chef Zhang Wenxue used to cook at hotels in Beijing, and word of his cooking has spread via the Internet. The Shandong, Sichuan, and Mandarin specialties are the reason to come here - dishes such as crabs with garlic and red pepper, bean curd with special sauce, diced chicken with dates and chestnuts, and jiang pao duck. Fuloon doesn't save the good stuff for its Chinese-language menu; it's listed in English, too.

BOKX 109 Hotel Indigo, 399 Grove St., Newton. 617-454-3399. A pool with tented cabanas, a broad-chested man draped in blondes - someone just dropped a piece of Miami on Newton, and the cultures seem surprisingly compatible. BOKX 109 is helmed by several Hard Rock hotel alums, and its rock 'n' roll steakhouse vibe reflects that. The food can be uneven, but steaks are often quite good, and the restaurant brings a little flash to the heretofore flashless junction of the Pike and 95.

CLAM BOX OF IPSWICH, 246 High St., Ipswich, 978-356-9707. If there is a fried-clam epicenter of Massachusetts, it is Route 133 in Essex and Ipswich. There, four places vie for clam lovers' hearts: Essex Seafood, J.T. Farnham's, Woodman's of Essex, and the Clam Box of Ipswich. Each has its own distinct charms. But which has the best fried clams? The verdict is in: the Clam Box. It serves tender, sweet clams in a batter that is light and just crunchy enough.