Asta Review

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.

Bar Boulud Boston review

Overall rating: 84

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.

Hamersley's Bistro Review

Overall rating: 92

Food rating: 93

Hamersley's Bistro: Wonderful South End restaurant with meals that range from very good to great

We go to Hamersley's several times a year, but somehow I haven't gotten around to reviewing it.

Hamersley's is in the South End, which means parking can be a hassle if you don't want to pay to valet park. I know lots of people who rarely head to the South End for this reason, but Hamersley's makes it worth the trip.

The interior at Hamersley's is quite large with most seats in the main dining area providing a view of the open kitchen. The atmosphere is fairly upscale and formal, and people are dressed anywhere from casual to suits and ties.The noise level is moderate; certainly not to loud to have a conversation at a table for four. The waitstaff are typically helpful and ready to make suggestions.

That said, we find eating indoors at Hamersley's can be a bit stuffy at times, and in good weather we always try to eat at one of their outdoor tables next to a small park looking out onto Tremont St. This is just a beautiful location for dinner, both inviting and romantic.

Unfortunately, winter approaches, so we were eating indoors tonight. Gordon Hamersley was front and center cooking in the kitchen.

We ordered a couple of specialty cocktails: a pomegranate cosmopolitan and a "Green Mountain Manhattan made with maple syrup. The cosmopolitan was too sweet, and the flavors in the Manhattan were only okay.

Bread was served that was good but not great tonight. The bread selection can vary, and sometimes the breads are wonderful.

The menu varies seasonally. For an appetizer, I got a curried acorn squash and apple soup served with smoked shrimp. There was Greek yogurt and some green herbs to mix in. This had an interesting and unusual flavor and was very good.

For an entree, I got a special: a veal osso buco (yes, sorry about that) that was excellent. My wife got the pan-roasted lobster with chickpeas, couscous, and spinach that was great. It comes with a spicy sauce that the waiter strongly hinted she should get on the side rather than mixed in and that seemed like the right choice since it overwhelmed the other wonderful flavors on any bite it was added to. We got a side dish of Brussels sprouts with apples and walnuts that was also great.

For dessert, my wife got the pot de creme, which she thought was delicious though seemed less interesting to me. I got the apple upside down cake with maple walnut ice cream, which was incredibly good.

Before tip, the meal (including two drinks and a glass of wine) was $165. This was a lot of food. I have had better meals at Hamersley's but various dishes were really great. The food came extremely quickly, which made things feel a bit rushed, though this seems to have been caused mainly by our snapping up one of the last two orders of the osso buco.

If you haven't been there and like fish (or even if you're only lukewarm on fish), I'd suggest getting the spicy halibut. I've gotten this many times, and it is always amazing. Hamersley's is also known for their roast chicken, which lets you see what a great chef can do with roast chicken but still never seems as interesting to me as some of the other dishes.

Overall, Hamersley's provides a reliably excellent meal, and sometimes the food is just incredibly good. So, if you're willing to brave parking in the South End, this is really a great place to go.