With the exception of Malbec, I had yet to enjoy a wine from any
Spanish-speaking country, and ever since
a most unfortunate encounter with Casillero del Diablo, which I can only
describe as so devilishly disgusting it could only have been fermented in the
10th circle of hell, I have been wary of wine with names that sound
even remotely Spanish. At Dali we started our meal with a glass of white and a
glass of red recommended by the server. I don’t remember what they were, but let’s
just say that Dali cured my Spanish wine PTSD one sip at a time…
Hands down, the single best (and probably the most inventive) dish I
had at Dali was the Queso Rebozado con
Miel. Honey with cheese? Obviously a good idea…Cheese with onion?
Conceivable…Honey with onion? Are you nuts?! Turns out, the chef wasn’t nuts,
just genius. The caramelized onion retained none of the tear-jerking sting and added
a textured depth to the sweet honey with gooey fried cheese. Contrary to Castillero
del Diablo wine, this dish was pure taste of heaven.
Sorry Dali, but the Tortilla
Espanola is a bit crude, and the alioli topper doesn’t hold a candle…or a
glass of sangria…to Toro. Nothing reproachable about this dish and it’s sure to
be a crowd pleaser, but meh…
The slightly-sweet but not sweetened chestnut with a homey, grainy, comfort-food
texture made for a filling Esencia de
Castanas. Dali’s equivalent of black bean or tomato soup on a cold winter
day.
The Alcachofas Rellenas were
like most neuro exams I’ve performed…unremarkable. The artichoke was sour,
which clashed with the mushroom stuffing, and the cheese was the only really
good part of this dish. Honestly, quadruple the amount of cheese could have
saved the dish…like alteplase for a TIA.
Ever used invisible ink? I have. Ever had inedible ink? I have. It’s
called Chipirones Rellenos, a tender
tuna-stuffed squid bathed in its own ink. To be fair, it wasn’t the ink that
was inedible, it was the tuna. Squid usually spray ink as a distraction or a
way to hide from predators, buying them time to escape. These squid did just
that – they sprayed their ink, I ate one, and I sent the dish back because the
tuna stuffing was unbearably salty. Sad because if not for that it would have
been an amazing dish. It’s ok squid, keep on spraying and one of those ink jets
is bound to hit the mark…
Little bunny Foo-Foo went hopping through the forest…we all know that
pain-in-the-butt bunny Foo-Foo got what he deserved. What we didn’t know as kids
was that being turned into a goon by the good fairy was a euphemism for being
turned into a Conejo Escabechado by
a good chef. This was the first meat dish the server recommended, and I should
have listened to him in the first place.
The Tarta de Santiago was a
non-sweet, dense dessert, a good finish if you’re already on richness overload.
Not that there was anything non-rich about the savory almond cake wading in a
pool of coffee cream, but I for one appreciated the reprieve from the sweet-and-sour
red wine sauce of Bunny Foo-Foo.
One of N’SYNC’s love songs from the 90s said “your soul is like a
secret that I never could keep”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Justin
Timberlake was talking about Dali. Located within the cryptic land of
Somerville, hidden by the winding streets that mark the end of Cambridge, Dali
is probably Somerville’s worst-kept secret… I’ve heard about Dali’s prowess for
years, but I never thought I’d make all the way out there to witness it. So I
implore you, make Dali the secret that you never could keep and check it out
for yourself. Just remember to order Queso Rebozado con Miel.
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