Olive's

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.