The Greatness of Small Plates

Before the RC heads out for Round 1 of Restaurant Week, I wanted to finish playing catch-up with the last couple of restaurants I've recently visited. If I don't, it's seriously going to bug the crap out of me forever and ever. So, read on as I pimp out a tapas bar on Newbury and bitch out Todd English.


Tapeo Restaurant and Tapas Bar - It is what it says it is. A restaurant and tapas bar located on Newbury Street, Tapeo brings a very warm Spanish charm to the below-street level space it inhabits. The menu is an amazing assortment of tapas fritas and tapas calliente, with an array of choices for both the veggie and meat-eater alike. We ordered the Filloa de Verdura (a seasonal vegetable crepe), Pollo al Ajillo (garlicky chicken) and two items off the special menu - a chive gnocchi with a chunky beef and tomato sauce and a hot eggplant dish with some kind of melty cheesy filling. Extremely fattening - extremely PHENOMENAL.

While the menu is mouthwatering, the sangria is transcendentally thirst-quenching. Tapeo provides the option of either a Red or Cava sangria (the "cava" is a sparkling version made with champagne). I ordered the red and thoroughly enjoyed both of my filled-to-the-brim glasses.

The dessert menu boasted of an almond flour cake with coffee cream, a flourless chocolate cake, and of course the "Ubiquitous Flan" - their words, not mine. I was also tempted by the rice pudding with crackle glaze and berries, but as there was rice pudding AND berries sitting in my fridge at home, I would have felt more than a little foolish paying the $7 (though I'm sure their's would have been AMAZING).

I've also JUST THIS SECOND discovered that every Thursday, Tapeo offers $5 tapas along with a FREE COCKTAIL. I have a feeling the serves at Tapeo and I are going to become very close.:D


Kingfish Hall - Can you put a restaurant on notice? Well, even if you can't, guess what? I JUST DID.

Seriously Kingfish, what's up? I had always heard such great things about you, but the one day I decide to give you a try you act like the cafeteria at my old middle school rather than an actual dining establishment. Were you having a bad day? Did the chef throw a hissy fit and storm out of the kitchen right as I was placing my order? Had the refridgerators failed and all the food went bad? I mean honestly, I've had better service at chain restaurants like Au Bon Pain or Bolocco.

Let me break it down for you: A couple girls from work and I decided to go out for lunch. We had never had a Compliance Ladies Luncheon at Kingfish before, so we decided that day was the day (it was also cold as F and we didn't feel like walking more than a block). Like all other places these days, Kingfish was pretty much deserted. Things went smoothly as we were seated, given our menus and placed our drink orders. It all went downhill from there.

I was tempted by the gumbo, but I thought I'd try and NOT consume all of my calories for the day in one sitting. Now I readily admit that I'm not afraid to ask for substitutions or alterations to my meal, but I've never been as completely SHUT. DOWN. as I was at Kingfish. Every question or request was all: VETO!

I would have gotten the oven-roasted cod, but did not desire the cauliflower gratine it came with - so I asked if I could have just plain cauliflower.

VETO

Alright, so the cauliflower was made into the gratine sauce the night before and there isn't actually any fresh cauliflower back in the kitchen. Fine. Moving on - any broccoli?

NO.

Green beans?

NO.

Asparagus, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, zucchini, spinach, anything that's ever been classified as a vegetable ever?

Non. Niet. Nein.

You don't have carrots you can just steam up even though I see baby carrots on that woman's plate the next table over?

Nope.

You have mashed potatoes, but you can't give me just a plain baked potato? There are NOOO potatoes left over from all that mashing?

No and No.

SRSLY??? I'm a reasonable person. I understand the a lot of the food is prepped the night before for the lunch rush. What I don't understand is the apparent lack of ANY fresh vegetables ANYWHERE in the kitchen.

SO, after that ordeal I finally gave up and ordered the Maple Glazed Salmon.

It was salty.

It came with braised kielbasa (it was alright, but not good enough to eat more than a couple bites), sauerkraut, fingerling potatoes and a grilled apple. That apple was the best part of the whole damn plate.

Just what-the-eff-EVER Kingfish. See if I frequent your mediocre-ass establishment again. My friend had no problem with her Wasabi Crusted Tuna, so maybe it's just me.

I should have just splurged on the gumbo. Rambling On...

Unabashedly Accomplished

I AM VICTORIOUS!

I have triumphed (kind of) over the yoga pose I thought I'd never be able to conquer. So SUCK IT CROW!

And what makes it even more amazing is that, when I was finally able to do it, I hadn't even DONE yoga in months. Over the past year, I've had classes with two very different instructors, but I was never able to get the support from placing my knees on the backs of my forearms that would enable me to pick my feet up and balance.

For those of you who don't know, this is the Crow (or Bakasana) pose:


A couple weeks ago, I finally felt like I was ready to get back into yoga. The class schedule had changed for the winter, so I found myself going at a different time with a different instructor. Towards the end of the session, she had us go down into a squat, sinking in deeper with each breath, pressing our knees out wide. And from THERE she brought us into Crow - thumbs and forefingers turned in to form a triangle, hands spread shoulder width apart, legs slights straightend so knees hit the back of the forearms.

Now I was away from yoga for almost 4 months and, for the first time, I GOT AIR. Sure, it was only for like a bazillionth of a nanosecond, but both my feet were OFF THE GROUND and IN THE AIR.

After 6 months and 2 different instructors, I had never been close to even FEELING confident enough to lift my feet. So for all those yogis who haven't been able to master crow - whether they've been doing yoga for a month or a year - it's not you, it's the instruction. It seriously makes a world of difference.

And just to add to the awesome, my friend Tyrone and his g/f have entered a video in Macy's Keeps America Cooking Contest. Together they "explore Boston's famous Haymarket make Tilapia fillets in spicy tomato curry."




It looks DELICIOUS. So go rate and vote!

And yeah, this is totally turning into more of a lifestyle blog, rather than just a restaurant/food blog. *shrug* Whatevs. Rambling On...

oh how the trendy have fallen

Recessions are awesome!

Why?

Because the hour plus wait at trendy South End restaurants has virtually disappeared. No more "Oh, we don't have anything available at 8, but we can seat you at 5:30 :D"

Now it's more like "Oh, party of four with no reservations on a Saturday night? Right this way! let me show you to your table! :DDD"

Such was the situation when a couple of friends and I went to Azure (located within the Lenox Hotel) for a girl's dinner out a couple weeks ago. I had called that afternoon to reserve a table (just in case), but I totally needn't have bothered. You could practically see the tumbleweeds rolling across the near empty expanse of the restaurant. There were maybe only two other tables that were occupied.

We each decided to stick with wine before and during dinner. I ordered an Albarino (a Spanish white I'd never tried before), and it quickly became one of my new favorite things. To me it falls somewhere between a Pinot Grigio and a Reisling - it's kind of light (like the Pinot), but fruity (like the Reisling)

For my entree, I ordered the Roasted Blackfish, which was served with Charred Tomato Salso with Tagliatelle pasta. Knowing I was starving and would most likely eat every ounce of food put in front of me, I thought it would be a good idea to tweak my order, just a tad. I used to be wary of asking the waiter to specialize my order.

Now? Not so much. Now I almost always give my waiter ample warning for the amount of obnoxious he or she is about to be hit with.

That's another thing about this recession that makes dining out much more enjoyable - the staff seem so much more accomodating and eager to please. Case in point, me basically creating my own dish from scratch at Azure:

"I noticed that brown rice was used on another dish - could I substitute that for the pasta?" - Sure!

"And could I also get a side of steamed haricot vert that actually comes with the salmon?" - No problem!

I'd never even heard of blackfish, but some pre-dinner online research told me that, despite the name, it was actually a white fish. I found it to be hearty like a bass or swordfish, and really enjoyed it together with the tomato salsa.

For dessert we split a vanilla bean creme brulee, that came with almond cookies, and a chocolate fudge swirl bread pudding, which really looked more like a muffin, and had more of a cakey texture than traditional bread pudding. They were both ridiculously delicious.

Suffice it to say, the meal was AMAZING. (and $25 cheaper, thanks to my Restaurants.com discounted gift certificate).

My friend had been shooting glances at the guy working behind the bar all through dinner, so after we paid our bill we innocently moved our party over to the bar and situated ourselves at one of the corners. Quick note: Any bar that serves Black Cherry EFFIN Vodka automatically gets 4 stars from me.

But to try something new, I ordered a Mango Mule, made with vodka, mango puree, ginger beer and lime juice. I can honestly say I've never tasted another cocktail like it. It was good, but for the first half the ginger kind of completely overpowered any hint of the mango. It was as if the bartender had grated fresh ginger into my drink and immediately served it to me. By the time I reached the halfway point, the ginger-flavor had settled down, allowing the mango to come forth. The combination of the two was actually quite nice and refreshing.

By 10:30 a few people started trickling in, most likely the overflow from the group lined up outside of City Bar, the entrance of which is located next door through the lobby of the hotel. But it was obvious that had this been six months ago, there would have easily been 10 times the people dining or getting drinks at the bar.

So while this recession may completely suck for the restauranteurs, it's never been better for those looking to enjoy a nice night out without the nice long wait. Rambling On...

We Begin By Back-Tracking

First official post! And since I decided to create this blog as a kind of personal supplement to Our Restaurant Club Blog, I thought I should begin with a quick recap of the establishments with which we've graced our profound presence.

First up: Union Bar & Grille

This restaurant is consistently named "The Best (insert accolades here) of Boston", and they probably deserve it every time. But honestly? The only thing I really remember about that meal was the Vermont Maple Bread Pudding, made with Walnut Praline and served with Vanilla Bean ice cream. It was amazingly out of this world. Yes, the decor was classy and clean - light walls with white table cloths and black leather boothes, they servied oysters on the half-shell and it was all very old-school Back Bay... but there was french toast in dessert form! It's obvious that everything else would pale in comparison.

Next, is Eastern Standard

To start, Eastern Standard is a very large, very open space. The ceilings are extraordinarily high, the bar is ridiculously long, and by the end of the evening the entire place was buzzing with 9 to 5ers celebrating their Friday. We were seated at a large round table by the windows, not too far from the enterance. Maybe the place has amazing acoustics, I don't know - but with all of those people and all that activity around us, I had no problem holding a conversation with the person across the table from me - and that's saying a lot when at some places you can barely hear the person next to you.

An odd but interesting thing about Eastern Standard's cocktail menu, is that instead of listing the ingredients put into most of their drinks, the cocktails are given a kind of whimsical description. Their Blueberry Thrill is described as "Summer Lust & Gale Force", the Absynthe & Old Lace as a "Flapper's Delight", and the Pegu Club (which a little Googling found to be an NYC jazz club) is a "Pillar of Pax Britannica". We had heard through the grapevine that the bartenders were incredibly talented and could figure out which cocktail would suit you best just by asking what type of spirit you preferred, and it was later revealed that our waiter had the exact same talent! Much to our delighted surprise, he went around the table asking us what we liked and giving us his informed recommendations. I ended up ordering a Belle de Jour - an "Elixir of Lemon, Benedictine & Grenadine". It tasted like a mimosa (light on the orange) with a splash of pomegranite, and it was phenominal. Club member Kerri ordered a margarita on the rocks, but it was too strong on the homemade mix and too light on the tequila - but that was the only drink mishap of the night.

As for the food - I'd never had pureed fish before, but I discovered that it's pretty damn delicious. Especially when deep-fried and served with spicy ketchup, as is Eastern Standard's Salt Cod Fritters appetizer. They were even presented in a small wooden crate stamped with "Cape Cod Fritters" that I wanted to put in my purse and take home with me. They also had a Butterscotch Bread Pudding that rivaled the greatness of Union's. It may have been served with Cinnamon ice cream, but I can't be sure.

Obviously there were some great things about Eastern Standard, unfortunately none of them had anything to do with my main course. I ordered the Glazed Salmon, which was served with a few fingerling potatoes and green beans, and while the dish did have an interesting cilantro-type pesto drizzled on the bottom, the amount of salt bordered on overwhelming. It seemed to be a common theme around the table.

At the end of the evening, we came to the consensus that for you to enjoy a night out at the Standard, alls you need to order are cocktails and desserts - and maybe an app or two if you're hungry. And really, wouldn't you rather your meals consisted of just those courses anyway?


UNION BAR AND GRILLE
1357 Washington Street, Boston, 617-423-0555

EASTERN STANDARD
528 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, 617-532-9100 Rambling On...