Overall rating: 89
Food rating: 92
Asta: Tasting menus with somewhat small portions of excellent food
We went to Asta this weekend with another couple. They had been their twice before, but it was our first time there.
Asta serves only tasting menus, and has a three course tasting for $45, a five course tasting for $70, and an eight course tasting for $95. There is also an optional course of foie gras for an additional $24. Wine pairings are available with the five and eight course options.
The restaurant is next to Deuxaves on Mass. Ave in Boston. It feels much less pretentious and "happening" than Deuxaves, and is a relatively small space but does not feel crowded. The wait staff were welcoming and reasonably helpful. The tables have drawers with silverware, so when courses and silverware are cleared, you replace forks, knives, and spoons from your drawer. Although it sounds kind of hokey, I thought this was a really nice touch.
We were given a welcome glass of sparkling wine. The amuse bouche was some duck liver and hearts on a tortilla and was delicious.
The three course menu actually had the foods that sounded best to both me and my wife, but did not seem like the best way to try a new and highly rated restaurant. Asta can handle different people at the table getting different numbers of courses, so we asked whether we could get one three course meal and one eight course meal with plans to share the dishes between us. The waiter told us that this would not work well because the eight course meal has such small portions that they are hard to share. This was a bit of foreshadowing of one of the main problems with Asta.
The actual options are, of course, quite limited, and so pure tasting menu restaurants, though interesting in theory ("let the chef just pick what he wants to serve"), aren't our favorite choices. Places with some a la carte options necessarily provide more flexibility if you're not thrilled with the tasting menu offerings.
In the end, I got the five course tasting menu and added the foie gras, and my wife got the three course tasting menu. We split the wine pairing for the five course menu.
The first course was octopus with a squid ink sauce that was very tasty. The three course meal had a salad with some biscuits and was excellent and substantially more food. The second course was a bowl of beans that was good but not great. The third course was broccoli prepared with a small amount of cheese and some horseradish, and this was superb -- probably the best course of the five course menu. The foie gras was served with some sweet potatoes and a coffee-based sauce. It was well prepared but not actually that tasty. The main course was this pieces of duck breast that was wonderfully prepared and delicious. The main course on the three course meal was chicken breast, and this was excellent and again quite a bit more food than the duck. The dessert was a hazelnut cake with a lightly poached pear that was very good. The dessert on the three course menu was a crepe with some berries that my wife thought was excellent.
The bread that came midway through the meal was good. The wines were unusual and mostly quite good.
Portions on the five course meal were small enough that I was still hungry at the end of the meal. The couple who was with us had had the eight course meal on one of their visits, and apparently there was very little food in a number of the courses. The amount of wine served as pairings was typically about half a glass, so our plan to share a tasting meant that my wife and I each had much less than two glasses of wine.
With the foie gras course, we were served a tumbler of some Trappist monk ale, and when the bill came it turned out that there was an unmentioned (on the menu or by the waiter) $8 charge for this. Apparently it was assumed that if you were having the wine paring that you would want this tiny non-wine paring with the foie gras. We mentioned this to our waiter, and one member of the group asked him to take this charge ($16, since two of us had gotten the foie gras) off the bill. He did this, but clearly wasn't pleased about it.
For me, this put a bit of a damper on the meal. I did not want to feel like we were being cheap or haggling over the cost, but I would expect a restaurant to mention that when you add a $24 item like the foie gras, that you are actually adding a $32 item if you happen to have picked a wine pairing. This is particularly the case given that I would not have chosen to have ale, and that $8 seemed like a lot for the tiny portion presented.
Overall, Asta is a very nice place to eat if you area okay with being constrained to a tasting menu. Much of the food was excellent and the wines were good. The prices are a bit high for the amount of food served, and my impression is that this becomes more of an issue as you go from three to five to eight courses, but this is a Boston restaurant on Mass. Ave., and the prices are not out of line for this quality of food.
For a place with only a tasting menu, I much preferred Asta to Journeyman.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Updated ratings
As of October 2014, I decided it was time to go through all my restaurant ratings and make sure that I still agreed with them and that they accurately reflected how I would order the various restaurants I'd reviewed.
I took the opportunity to spread out the lower ratings, since my ratings all tended to cluster above 80, which compressed differences between restaurants. I also revised ratings for restaurants whose food/quality had changed some over time. Most particularly, this affected Ribelle -- now one of my top-rated restaurants.
When I look at reviews of restaurants, I often wish I could quickly see all their reviews to get a sense of whether I agree with them about restaurants we've both been to, since if I do their reviews of restaurants I haven't been to seem more useful to me.
With that in mind, here is a list of the restaurants with their revised ratings, sorted by overall quality:
Here is the same list, sorted by food quality:
I took the opportunity to spread out the lower ratings, since my ratings all tended to cluster above 80, which compressed differences between restaurants. I also revised ratings for restaurants whose food/quality had changed some over time. Most particularly, this affected Ribelle -- now one of my top-rated restaurants.
When I look at reviews of restaurants, I often wish I could quickly see all their reviews to get a sense of whether I agree with them about restaurants we've both been to, since if I do their reviews of restaurants I haven't been to seem more useful to me.
With that in mind, here is a list of the restaurants with their revised ratings, sorted by overall quality:
Name
|
Overall
|
Food
|
96
|
95
|
|
93
|
93
|
|
93
|
95
|
|
93
|
94
|
|
93
|
94
|
|
92
|
93
|
|
91
|
94
|
|
91
|
85
|
|
89
|
86
|
|
88
|
90
|
|
88
|
88
|
|
88
|
88
|
|
87
|
90
|
|
86
|
85
|
|
86
|
85
|
|
85
|
89
|
|
84
|
83
|
|
83
|
85
|
|
82
|
84
|
|
80
|
80
|
|
79
|
79
|
|
78
|
79
|
|
75
|
75
|
|
73
|
75
|
|
50
|
50
|
Here is the same list, sorted by food quality:
Name
|
Overall
|
Food
|
96
|
95
|
|
93
|
95
|
|
93
|
94
|
|
93
|
94
|
|
91
|
94
|
|
93
|
93
|
|
92
|
93
|
|
88
|
90
|
|
87
|
90
|
|
85
|
89
|
|
88
|
88
|
|
88
|
88
|
|
89
|
86
|
|
91
|
85
|
|
86
|
85
|
|
86
|
85
|
|
83
|
85
|
|
82
|
84
|
|
84
|
83
|
|
80
|
80
|
|
79
|
79
|
|
78
|
79
|
|
75
|
75
|
|
73
|
75
|
|
50
|
50
|
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Bar Boulud Boston review
Overall rating: 84
Food rating: 83
Food rating: 83
Bar Boulud Boston: Beautiful Space; Good Food
We went with friends to Bar Boulud Boston, who had enjoyed the New York Bar Boulud. I'd had a hamburger in one of the Daniel Boulud New York restaurants many years ago, but otherwise have not eaten in any of his establishments. The restaurant had opened very recently, and we noted a number of negative reviews about the food and service the day of our reservations, and seriously discussed canceling and going elsewhere.
Bar Boulud is in the Mandarin Oriental, and there is valet parking for the hotel that is discounted (to $19) if you eat at the restaurant. That made parking easy, if expensive. We were greeted as you'd expect at a fine restaurant and the service was attentive and appropriate, so whatever had been others experience, we had no problems.
The space itself is beautiful with wood floors, wooden arches perhaps reminiscent of a vineyard, a glass wall looking onto Boylston Street, and beautiful tables and chairs.
Two of us had cocktails that were good but quite expensive, and glasses of wine were also very expensive; beer seemed more normally priced. Bread was brought out that was a perfectly nice crusty bread.
For appetizers, the cold lobster aioli was fine but not particularly interesting. Similarly, the cauliflower soup was pleasant but not remarkable. One person had the onion soup, which he felt was excellent and one of the two best things we had at dinner. One person go the Salad Lyonnaise made with chicken liver, and this was tasted by all and felt to be the one really tasty dish of the evening. Two of us shared the Shrimp al Ajillo which was fairly dull and had very few shrimp for the price.
For main courses, two of us had the lemon sole which was nicely prepared and a large amount of fish. One person had the burger, and felt that it was underseasoned for a high-end restaurant burger. One person had the Spaghetti au Citron in a clam sauce; it was tasty but a bit overly salted.
For dessert, the Maple Pear Coupe was okay but nothing special. We shared a basket of Baked Madeleines which were nice, but again nothing special; we commented that they would have gone well with a chocolate dipping sauce.
The overall experience at Bar Boulud was nice enough -- certainly better than the early reviews had suggested -- but the food met the expectations created by the reviews: it was nicely prepared and pleasant, but there was no wow factor as you might expect from Daniel Boulud's first restaurant in Boston. The prices were not unexpected for the location (in a very high-end hotel), but were too high for the food. Eating at the soon-to-be-closed Hamersley's Bistro would be a bit more expensive but provide a much more exciting meal.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Momofuku Ko Review
Overall rating: 93
Food rating: 94
Momofuku Ko: Great, tiny restaurant in New York City's East Village
If you're reading this and considering going to Momofuku Ko, you are likely well aware of the difficulty in making reservations (just has 12 seats at a bar around the kitchen; you use their online system to sign up and reservations open at 10am ten days before dinner seatings [or 14 days before lunch seatings]), that it has held two Michelin stars for years, and is considered one of the best restaurants in NYC.
I knew we'd be in NY this past weekend, and at 10am ten days earlier, having previously registered on their system, I went online and had no problems quickly making a reservation for Saturday evening.
Before I started down that path, I'd had to learn which Momofuku restaurant was the one with the Michelin stars, since there are something like five Momofukus in NYC, all considered excellent. We had never been to a restaurant with a Michelin star and wanted to see what it was like. As restaurants like this go in NYC, Momofuku Ko isn't insanely expensive. Also, Tim Maslow, chef behind Strip T's and Ribelle, had been chef de cuisine at Momofuku Ssäm bar before returning to Boston, and those are two of our favorite Boston restaurants.
Momofuku Ko is tiny and they don't let you take pictures. There is almost nothing on the door to indicate the existence of the restaurant, save a small two letters reading "Ko". We entered and were greeted immediately by a friendly hostess who confirmed that we had a reservation and seated us. There are only stools at a bar. Ten of the seats run deep from the doorway along the length of the bar; we were at the two just in from the doorway that make an L from the bar.
There were four chefs working in the kitchen, plus at least two or three other support staff clearing, taking drink orders, etc., and the service was impeccable. Ko is casual with no dress code. I was wearing pants with shoes and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and was the most formally dressed man in the restaurant. Women were dressed similarly informally.
As soon as we sat down we were offered a drink menu, and we selected a half bottle of a Gruner Veltliner that was very good. There is no menu at Ko, they just start bringing food, though do ask if you have any allergies/intolerances.
One of the chefs came over early on and explained that we would be getting a few items before the start of the meal. A few turned out to be five or six items including pork rinds, a sesame cracker, and a delicious soup shooter.
The meal then began with small item after small item showing up. The meal was very heavily fish based with raw or nearly raw fish items that were delicious, a wonderful smoky broth with a poached egg, and a very rare piece of duck as the main non-fish protein. About midway through the meal, with the broth, there was some very light sourdough bread served that was great. There was a course with foie gras that was frozen and then shaved and this was remarkably good. There were two desserts including a chocolate "cake" that was millimeters high but really did taste cake like, and a meringue that was wonderful.
The food was fresh and tasty, with appropriate but not overwhelming flavorings and the preparations were excellent and interesting. The music level in the restaurant was loud enough to make conversations private, and the selection seemed right for people of our age and (outdated) tastes.
My wife talked a lot with the chefs asking various questions about preparation of the food. One of the chefs we dealt with was very new there (three weeks) and was friendly and fun to talk to (and was originally from the South Shore in Massachusetts). The other, who is listed on the website as the sous chef at Ko and seemed to be in charge of the service, was more knowledgeable but less friendly and was from Chicago. It actually made the evening less fun that he was less engaged, since if you are going to be right up at the kitchen with all the chefs you'd like to be able to interact in a fun meal.
The prix fixe before tax and tip is $125 per person for dinner (more for lunch, which has more courses), and the half bottle of wine was $32. That made this a very expensive dinner for Boston, but seemed pretty reasonable for this level of quality in NYC.
We've now been to a restaurant with Michelin stars and it was really wonderfully good. We now also have a better comparator for our favorite restaurant in Boston, T.W. Food. For me, at least, I'd wondered if going to a restaurant like this in NY would explain why you see occasional reviews of TW suggesting that real foodies wouldn't want to go there. I can now confirm that those reviews/opinions are snooty, inane, or both. The food at Ko was much more fish based than TW, but the overall quality was quite similar to what you would get at TW from a tasting menu. I slightly prefer the food at TW, though some of that is just the kind of food I like (less fish, more other proteins). I also somewhat prefer the ambiance at TW, though the setup at Ko is a lot of fun as well.
Overall, we had a great time and a great meal at Momofuku Ko, but while I have the sense that there are many more spectacular restaurants in NYC than in Boston, I have no sense that we should be jealous for having an easy time getting to TW and a long, long ride to a place like Ko. I wouldn't trade, though would be quite happy to have Ko available in Boston.
Food rating: 94
Momofuku Ko: Great, tiny restaurant in New York City's East Village
If you're reading this and considering going to Momofuku Ko, you are likely well aware of the difficulty in making reservations (just has 12 seats at a bar around the kitchen; you use their online system to sign up and reservations open at 10am ten days before dinner seatings [or 14 days before lunch seatings]), that it has held two Michelin stars for years, and is considered one of the best restaurants in NYC.
I knew we'd be in NY this past weekend, and at 10am ten days earlier, having previously registered on their system, I went online and had no problems quickly making a reservation for Saturday evening.
Before I started down that path, I'd had to learn which Momofuku restaurant was the one with the Michelin stars, since there are something like five Momofukus in NYC, all considered excellent. We had never been to a restaurant with a Michelin star and wanted to see what it was like. As restaurants like this go in NYC, Momofuku Ko isn't insanely expensive. Also, Tim Maslow, chef behind Strip T's and Ribelle, had been chef de cuisine at Momofuku Ssäm bar before returning to Boston, and those are two of our favorite Boston restaurants.
Momofuku Ko is tiny and they don't let you take pictures. There is almost nothing on the door to indicate the existence of the restaurant, save a small two letters reading "Ko". We entered and were greeted immediately by a friendly hostess who confirmed that we had a reservation and seated us. There are only stools at a bar. Ten of the seats run deep from the doorway along the length of the bar; we were at the two just in from the doorway that make an L from the bar.
There were four chefs working in the kitchen, plus at least two or three other support staff clearing, taking drink orders, etc., and the service was impeccable. Ko is casual with no dress code. I was wearing pants with shoes and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and was the most formally dressed man in the restaurant. Women were dressed similarly informally.
As soon as we sat down we were offered a drink menu, and we selected a half bottle of a Gruner Veltliner that was very good. There is no menu at Ko, they just start bringing food, though do ask if you have any allergies/intolerances.
One of the chefs came over early on and explained that we would be getting a few items before the start of the meal. A few turned out to be five or six items including pork rinds, a sesame cracker, and a delicious soup shooter.
The meal then began with small item after small item showing up. The meal was very heavily fish based with raw or nearly raw fish items that were delicious, a wonderful smoky broth with a poached egg, and a very rare piece of duck as the main non-fish protein. About midway through the meal, with the broth, there was some very light sourdough bread served that was great. There was a course with foie gras that was frozen and then shaved and this was remarkably good. There were two desserts including a chocolate "cake" that was millimeters high but really did taste cake like, and a meringue that was wonderful.
The food was fresh and tasty, with appropriate but not overwhelming flavorings and the preparations were excellent and interesting. The music level in the restaurant was loud enough to make conversations private, and the selection seemed right for people of our age and (outdated) tastes.
My wife talked a lot with the chefs asking various questions about preparation of the food. One of the chefs we dealt with was very new there (three weeks) and was friendly and fun to talk to (and was originally from the South Shore in Massachusetts). The other, who is listed on the website as the sous chef at Ko and seemed to be in charge of the service, was more knowledgeable but less friendly and was from Chicago. It actually made the evening less fun that he was less engaged, since if you are going to be right up at the kitchen with all the chefs you'd like to be able to interact in a fun meal.
The prix fixe before tax and tip is $125 per person for dinner (more for lunch, which has more courses), and the half bottle of wine was $32. That made this a very expensive dinner for Boston, but seemed pretty reasonable for this level of quality in NYC.
We've now been to a restaurant with Michelin stars and it was really wonderfully good. We now also have a better comparator for our favorite restaurant in Boston, T.W. Food. For me, at least, I'd wondered if going to a restaurant like this in NY would explain why you see occasional reviews of TW suggesting that real foodies wouldn't want to go there. I can now confirm that those reviews/opinions are snooty, inane, or both. The food at Ko was much more fish based than TW, but the overall quality was quite similar to what you would get at TW from a tasting menu. I slightly prefer the food at TW, though some of that is just the kind of food I like (less fish, more other proteins). I also somewhat prefer the ambiance at TW, though the setup at Ko is a lot of fun as well.
Overall, we had a great time and a great meal at Momofuku Ko, but while I have the sense that there are many more spectacular restaurants in NYC than in Boston, I have no sense that we should be jealous for having an easy time getting to TW and a long, long ride to a place like Ko. I wouldn't trade, though would be quite happy to have Ko available in Boston.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Sweet Basil review
Overall rating: 75
Food rating: 75
Food rating: 75
Sweet Basil: Good Italian food in Needham
I've heard of Sweet Basil as a great option for food in Needham Center, but had missed that it serves Italian food and not Thai. I was feeling foolish about this until mentioning the restaurant to several colleagues at lunch, all of whom thought Sweet Basil served Thai food. I think there's a marketing opportunity there for the restaurant.
Sweet Basil doesn't take reservations and is known to have long waits, but we were headed to do some shopping in Needham Center early evening on a weeknight, so we decided to give it a try. The online reviews are mostly incredibly favorable.
The restaurant was empty and so we were quickly seated. The staff were friendly and helpful. There were two nice breads served with a pesto sauce that was excellent. For an appetizer we got the mussels. The portion was very large and the mussels themselves were fresh and delicious, and the preparation was good, though not particularly special. The broth was wonderful to dip the bread in, but the mussels didn't pick up the flavors from the broth all that much.
For a main, I ordered the lamb shank, which was enormous and was served with a soft polenta and some vegetables. The polenta and vegetables were very good. The lamb was fine, but nothing special. My wife got a vegetable risotto that was nicely prepared and good but not great. Sweet Basil doesn't serve desserts.
Overall, this is a decent Italian restaurant, particularly for a place that serves such large portions (often a marker of less good Italian food). However, the online reviews make it seem much better than we experienced. I would be happy to eat at Sweet Basil again, but would not wait on line to do so, and there are many Italian restaurants at a similar distance from us that we prefer. As a neighborhood restaurant for those living in Needham Center, it seems like a nice place to go for a meal.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Speakeasy Review
Overall rating: 91
Food rating: 85
Food rating: 85
Speakeasy: Great place to eat in Barcelona
I was in Barcelona for a conference two years ago, and a group of us ended up at Speakeasy. Two years later, the same conference was again being held in Barcelona. Those of us who had gone before talked up the restaurant and 15 people ended up going there for dinner.
Speakeasy calls itself a "clandestine" restaurant befitting its (US) prohibition-era name. To get there, you go into the bar "Dry Martini", and walk through a door in the back, past the kitchen, and then through another door:
At that point, you are in a beautiful hidden dining room:
Bottles of alcohol line the walls, appropriate for a speakeasy:
When we were there two years ago, the experience was fantastic. We were in a private room, the food was spectacular, and the drinks were great.
On this recent visit, the food was very good, but not really amazing, but the overall experience was again wonderful. Because of the large crowd, we had a restricted tasting menu with eight "snacks" we all received, plus a limited choice of mains and deserts.
The snacks started with a mascarpone and tomato profiterole that was tasty, followed by two small mussels served with onions that was a bit overwhelmed by the onions but good. A shrimp croquette prepared with squid ink was interesting and good, while a ham croquette was pretty standard. A ham and tomato flat bread was tasty, a crusty bread and cheese plate was very good, and a prawn was tasty but again standard. Overall the snacks were very nice but nothing outstanding.
A parmigiana cream dish before the main course was small and very rich but quite good. For a main, many of us tried the suckling pig prepared with mango and avocado, which was the most interesting sounding of the mains:
It was prepared so that the skin was crispy and the meat was soft. It was quite fatty as you might expect, and was good but not outstanding. I also tried an Angus fillet that again was quite good:
Many of us got a cocktail before dinner (I mention this because we ended up also getting cocktails paired with dinner). Our waiter recommended a passion fruit mojito, but this was overly sweet. For the paired cocktails, we got an apple martini (gin) that was excellent, some form of gin gimlet that was prepared with separate layers so that you could mix it yourself, which was very good, and a mango drink with gin that was wonderful and very interesting tasting. But for all the gin (not my favorite alcohol) the drinks were great. Overall there was probably not that much alcohol in each drink (and the drinks were small for these pairings), since we were all able to walk out after the meal.
There were also two kinds of nice bread served with the meal.
The dessert options were Catalan custard cream or cheesecake with mango ice cream:
I ordered the former, but got to also have the latter (minus the ice cream) when a friend was too full to eat more.
The cheesecake was really excellent. The Catalan cream, in contrast, was one of the best desserts I've ever eaten. It was fluffy and light, with textures of fruit within it, and the tastes were perfectly balanced. Just amazing.
Dinner was expensive, but we had a lot of cocktails. Overall it was $140 per person including tax and a low tip (we're in Spain). Prices in Barcelona are not high for pretty good food, but for the experience of a restaurant like this once every two years, it seemed worth it, if not exactly a good value.
Overall, if you're looking for a fun place to eat in Barcelona and are willing to pay the expense, I would definitely go to Speakeasy. We all pretty much made plans to come again if the conference happens in Barcelona in the future. The food was only good, but the location was wonderful, the drinks were great, and the Catalan custard cream was amazing. I think this restaurant received the largest increase from "food rating" to "overall rating" of all the reviews I have posted.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Sarma Review
Overall rating: 86
Food rating: 85
Food rating: 85
Sarma: Middle Eastern tapas in Somerville
Sarma is the new restaurant from Ana Sortun and Cassie Piuma. Their Inman Square restaurant Oleana has some of the best food in Boston, and so Sarma has opened to a lot of expectations and with a lot of buzz.
Four of us went out to Sarma knowing that we would want to share multiple small plates. Most dishes with individual pieces are aimed at three people, but for an additional charge you can get a fourth piece. The basic structure of ordering small dishes that arrive in no particular order is quite similar to Myers+Chang and Ribelle. I'm not sure what I think of this trend, as the lack of an order leads to a loss of progression of the meal, and while I'm sure this is freeing for the staff, I'm not convinced it leads to as nice a dining experience. Three plates per person, plus additional specials that circulate like dim sum (we got three of these) was plenty of food for our group.
Sarma is located in the Gilman Square area of Somerville, a place I'm not sure I'd ever been before. On street parking was a bit tight but could be found. The restaurant itself is light and spacious, but quickly filled up and was fairly noisy. There is seating at a bar surrounding the opening to the kitchen.
We ordered drinks to start, and the specialty cocktails were excellent. Almost immediately, a food special came around (sesame fried chicken) that was delicious. Warm Middle Eastern bread came next that was good but not all that interesting.
We had many plates, some of which were excellent (hot dates, bay scallops, braised beef crepe), some of which were quite good (pumpkin fritters, fava bean paté, Brussels' sprouts bravas, mushroom lamejun, fatoush), and some of which were dull or only okay (Harissa BBQ duck, chicken wings [a special], lamb ribs).
Overall, the dishes were fairly heavy on cream sauces and many had similar spicing, but mostly it was an enjoyable meal with good food. The dessert menu is limited, and we decided not to have dessert.
The waitstaff were attentive and helpful, and our waiter somehow remembered the entire table's orders without writing anything down.
Prices were reasonable. For a group of four, including three mixed drinks and one beer and with tax but before tip, the meal cost $200.
Our small group was split on whether we would come back. Sarma is a long drive for us, and that would make it unlikely I'd plan a dinner there again, but if I were meeting someone who made reservations there I would definitely look forward to the meal. Overall, though, the meals we've had at Oleana have been much more exciting, despite the tight quarters and noise at that restaurant.
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