Fortunately, the fantastic service and overall quality of the food proved to be Craigie’s saving grace, much like how I find diving to be swimming's constant redemption. Swimming scares me, and I've suffered a lifetime of failure to float, but it seems that I have a talent for sinking. The quality of my experience at Craigie reflects its talent for staying comfortably afloat rather than sinking, and the well-made but not extraordinary food earns a redeeming 4 stars. Diving is the one reason I'm eager to return to the water, and the class at Craigie is the one reason I’m willing to revisit.
The Ardoise was an excellent starting cocktail, with cool sage as refreshing as a cool ocean dive under a smoldering summer sun.
The amuse bouche of Fried Sardine with lemon basil alioli was like a beautiful array of diving photos, just enough to whet my appetite for diving classes.
The Tuna Sashimi was amazingly fresh, and the toasted garlic topper was bright little clownfish highlighting the pretty pink coral; two little wonders combining into one breathtaking bite.
The Swordfish wrapped in bacon with chorizo and olive oil was as skillfully prepped. Swordfish can taste as bland as the instructional modules they teach you before you learn to dive, but an enthusiastic instructor like bacon and with a kick of spicy chorizo enthusiasm can make any lecture bearable.
The Potato and Green Onion Vichyssoise with oxtail pastrami is as green as sea glass of the Heineken-bottle variety. Before diving into the frosty-smooth depths of this soup, be sure it maintains neutral buoyancy as well as you do. Here the light, crisp green onion evenly balances the rich, heavy potato with no need to ditch the extra weight.
The Venison sausage, suckling pig confit, and grilled pork belly with cherry coulis was amazing. The sausage was a bit too rich and salty, but the gamey flavor of venison on any plate of mine is as welcome as an anti-emetic on a swaying dive boat. Grilled pork belly is guaranteed to be fantastic as long as it’s not cooked grievously poorly, but this one was perfectly seared. The fatty sweet-meats of the confit and belly fit my definition of umami as tightly as the O-ring of a good regulator seals the mouth of an air tank, and this kind of savory is as crucial to a meal as air to a diver.
I hated the Strawberry Sorbet palate cleanser almost as much as I hated the required diving skill of taking my mask off and putting it back on underwater. It’s something I only do when I absolutely must, and it gives me a massive wave of panic every time. The palate cleanser is also something I only have when I absolutely must, and I didn’t find it all that necessary between savory and sweet courses as both were rather bold , promising a rather easy transition. This palate cleanser gave my wallet a massive wave of panic as they had the nerve to count a one-inch ball of sorbet as a full course. When we complained, the manager handled it quickly and politely, thus the only deductions earned were applied to our check and not to my star rating of Craigie.
Dessert did end our tasting on a high note as we sampled each other’s desserts as well as our own. My Coconut Sorbet with pumpernickel, bing cherries, and chocolate crumbs was as delicious as the taste of my first successful dive, and Josephine’s Apricot Frangipane Torte with pistachios and amaretto ice cream proved as satisfying and refreshing as the long ascent from 18 meters down.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. We must eventually surface from even the most beautiful dives, and my good times with Josephine in Boston must also come to an eventual end. I tearfully bid Craigie a premature, untimely goodbye, much like the one I bid Josephine at the conclusion of our meal. I will see Josephine again and I hope it will be soon, but I'm not sure I'll see Craigie again, even in the remote future. Thus, it is at this point that the extended analogy and the review end.
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