Olive's - 10 City Square, Charlestown (North Station)
As you hopefully know by now, Boston's winter/spring Restaurant Week is upon us. This means a lot of activity for the progressBoston blog as I usually like to try out two new restaurants each time. For the first restaurant, I was inspired to try a neighborhood I don't venture to very often, Charlestown. It's kind of tucked away across the Charles from the North End, but the City Square section is very quaint and historic. It was here that Todd English founded his breakthrough restaurant, Olive's. Now I'm not really sure what to think of Todd; he may be a little too commercial and overrated now and judging by what I've read in the papers may have a bit of an ego. However, my only intent here is to judge his restaurant.
Ann and I were joined by our new friends Lisa and Brad for this outing. The restaurant's decor was classy and yet had a modern enough feeling that it didn't feel stuffy. One thing I did not like was how crammed everything was, especially near the entrance, with tables tucked inches away from where people were standing. The bar was likewise too small to really enjoy grabbing a pre-meal drink. Fortunately, we were seated in the more open dining room near a large window with a view of the Square and the Zakim Bridge beyond (about as good as a view as you can get in most Boston restaurants).
For my three courses, I went with the Lobster Bisque, Crispy Confit Duck, and Rich Chocolate Tart. I was very impressed with the Bisque, as I usually am. Perhaps I was spoiled by Salts, but I did not find the Duck as enjoyable as I had hoped. The "cassoulet style" was interesting, but having a duck leg sitting in a heavy sauce type thing made it hard to enjoy the flavor. Finally, the Tart was very different with caramel corn included on the plate. This I really enjoyed, but found the creme fraiche sucked all of the flavor out of the chocolate when I included even just a little dab.
I also got to try a bit of Ann's Carbonara and Pork Chop, both very good. Lisa and Brad differentiated themselves by additionally getting the Salmon Cake, Lasagna, and Cod and I did not hear any complaints. For the other desserts though, the Tapioca was overpowered by the kumquats.
Overall, it was a fine experience and worth checking out but I'm not sure it would be a first choice destination restaurant compared to some others in Boston.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Nico
Nico Ristorante - 417 Hanover St, North End (Haymarket)
A couple weekends ago, Ann and I went out in the North End in search for a late night drink and small bite to eat. We didn't have a plan and so like many Bostonians, were walking up and down Hanover St looking for a reasonably priced, able to be seated place. We ended up at Nico. Compared with a couple of the other places nearby, the menu was reasonable. Additionally, it being about 9:30 on a Saturday, the place had a pretty lively bar scene going on compared to some sleepier establishments nearby.
We kept it simple and just split and appetizer and entree between us. The appetizer was the Prosciutto and Fresh Parmagiano and it was amazing. It had an intense salty flavor that was almost debilitating but it was just also extremely tasty. For the entree, we got the Spaghetti Calamari. We had told our waitress (who was very friendly and approachable) that we were going to be sharing and she brought out the entree on two plates with portions that were essentially a meal for each of us. I'm not sure if this was because it was so late at night, but it was a nice gesture. The dish was good, but certainly not outstanding. I would like to go back and try some more of the menu to see what else they do well.
A couple weekends ago, Ann and I went out in the North End in search for a late night drink and small bite to eat. We didn't have a plan and so like many Bostonians, were walking up and down Hanover St looking for a reasonably priced, able to be seated place. We ended up at Nico. Compared with a couple of the other places nearby, the menu was reasonable. Additionally, it being about 9:30 on a Saturday, the place had a pretty lively bar scene going on compared to some sleepier establishments nearby.
We kept it simple and just split and appetizer and entree between us. The appetizer was the Prosciutto and Fresh Parmagiano and it was amazing. It had an intense salty flavor that was almost debilitating but it was just also extremely tasty. For the entree, we got the Spaghetti Calamari. We had told our waitress (who was very friendly and approachable) that we were going to be sharing and she brought out the entree on two plates with portions that were essentially a meal for each of us. I'm not sure if this was because it was so late at night, but it was a nice gesture. The dish was good, but certainly not outstanding. I would like to go back and try some more of the menu to see what else they do well.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Diva
Diva Indian Bistro - 246 Elm Street, Somerville (Davis)
I'm surprised I've waited this long to post about Diva. Perhaps it's because it's so close and familiar that I don't feel it's an event going there. In fact, because of Ann's and my newfound love of Indian cuisine, I've probably been to this restaurant more than almost anywhere else in Boston.
Our experience Friday along with Sanjay and Lauren was pretty typical of what Diva has to offer. We were going around 8:30 on Friday night so we were pretty sure it would be busy. Sanjay tried to call ahead and was told they don't take reservations but just come on over. He put our name in and we had a 30+ minute wait. Standing there, a group comes in from outside and just sits down. Confused, we ask the hostess and she's like "Oh, we had to seat them, they have reservations." Needless to say she was surprised to hear we were told they don't take reservations. Apparently we had spoken to someone else. That is my biggest complaint with Diva, you never know who you're dealing with. You always see the same characters in the restaurant, but you never really get assigned a server and it's unclear who the manager in charge is or if he really cares that things are being run well. This happened to us where our server was also busing tables so some things took a long time to come around, like our check. Like I said, typical.
Enough of that. Let's get to the good stuff. The food. It's incredible (at least for a non-Indian like myself). I don't think I've had a bad meal there. My favorites are the Tandoori Tikka and anything in their Masala sauce. Their chicken curry is also very good, but I'd say neighboring Namaskar's is slightly better. They have a fairly limited wine and beer list, but Ann really enjoys their lychee martinis. All of their breads are really good and I've had many good appetizers with several more to explore. Let's just say we never leave hungry.
Finally, the atmosphere is lively, drawing in a good neighborhood mix of young professionals and college students with Friday night being particularly busy. I must say that despite the generally lackluster service, Diva is still one of my favorite places to go in Boston with great food and reasonable prices.
I'm surprised I've waited this long to post about Diva. Perhaps it's because it's so close and familiar that I don't feel it's an event going there. In fact, because of Ann's and my newfound love of Indian cuisine, I've probably been to this restaurant more than almost anywhere else in Boston.
Our experience Friday along with Sanjay and Lauren was pretty typical of what Diva has to offer. We were going around 8:30 on Friday night so we were pretty sure it would be busy. Sanjay tried to call ahead and was told they don't take reservations but just come on over. He put our name in and we had a 30+ minute wait. Standing there, a group comes in from outside and just sits down. Confused, we ask the hostess and she's like "Oh, we had to seat them, they have reservations." Needless to say she was surprised to hear we were told they don't take reservations. Apparently we had spoken to someone else. That is my biggest complaint with Diva, you never know who you're dealing with. You always see the same characters in the restaurant, but you never really get assigned a server and it's unclear who the manager in charge is or if he really cares that things are being run well. This happened to us where our server was also busing tables so some things took a long time to come around, like our check. Like I said, typical.
Enough of that. Let's get to the good stuff. The food. It's incredible (at least for a non-Indian like myself). I don't think I've had a bad meal there. My favorites are the Tandoori Tikka and anything in their Masala sauce. Their chicken curry is also very good, but I'd say neighboring Namaskar's is slightly better. They have a fairly limited wine and beer list, but Ann really enjoys their lychee martinis. All of their breads are really good and I've had many good appetizers with several more to explore. Let's just say we never leave hungry.
Finally, the atmosphere is lively, drawing in a good neighborhood mix of young professionals and college students with Friday night being particularly busy. I must say that despite the generally lackluster service, Diva is still one of my favorite places to go in Boston with great food and reasonable prices.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Good Biking Day!
So I missed another full month of posts...
The good news is that today we got some amazing weather and I took the opportunity to get out and bike around. I went up to Tufts to play some soccer and then made a loop out to Union Sq and back. I must admit that city biking has really grown on me over the last year and a half or so and it's not so bad getting around, despite narrow streets and potholes and all.
In more transit related news, I decided to ride my bike to the commuter rail at West Medord for the first time. As I've complained about before, it is so frustrating that even though that station is only about 2 1/2 miles away it is almost impossible to get there conveniently. I must admit the ride was not too bad. It only took about 15-20 minutes to get there, which is better than waiting in the cold for the bus or riding all the way into North Station for the subway. Of course, this option is only really enjoyable when the weather is nice and today was certainly that day.
The good news is that today we got some amazing weather and I took the opportunity to get out and bike around. I went up to Tufts to play some soccer and then made a loop out to Union Sq and back. I must admit that city biking has really grown on me over the last year and a half or so and it's not so bad getting around, despite narrow streets and potholes and all.
In more transit related news, I decided to ride my bike to the commuter rail at West Medord for the first time. As I've complained about before, it is so frustrating that even though that station is only about 2 1/2 miles away it is almost impossible to get there conveniently. I must admit the ride was not too bad. It only took about 15-20 minutes to get there, which is better than waiting in the cold for the bus or riding all the way into North Station for the subway. Of course, this option is only really enjoyable when the weather is nice and today was certainly that day.
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