Grasping at Grotto – Boston

“I love you” are the three sweetest words in the English language. These words are uttered with wild abandon, in a moment of ecstasy. They are uttered after many ponderous sleepless nights, and they are words that drive the course of history and always change your life.  When I first walked into Grotto, I instantly loved the almost-medieval décor of a garden-level room illuminated by petite chandeliers and a red velvet drape like a castle-wall tapestry. It wasn’t hard to instantly fall for a quaint ambiance with a classic touch.

But sometimes love at first sight is an oversight. Sometimes love just isn’t enough. “I love you” may be the three sweetest words in any language, but it only takes one more to make the four worst words. In any language, the four worst words are “I love you BUT”.  I loved Grotto BUT…

I loved the Fonduta for the filling chunks of tenderloin, and the Fontina left me with a fondness, BUT it’s really just two high-end ingredients, lacking in real vision, inspiration, and skill. When you look closer, it shines like a pair of large but poorly-cut diamonds.

I loved the Piccata, fresh mussels finished by a kick of white wine. No buts, really, the mussels were well-made, and I found that alcoholic end of the sauce refreshing. Not sure why I was so charmed by it – many others may disagree, but much like a lovers’ quarrel, no one is actually right.

I loved the Antra duck leg coated with a crispy skin, and finding fault with a well-cooked leg of duck in a tangy cherry glaze is about as easy as fighting during the honeymoon phase of a brand-new relationship. BUT the stuffed duck breast was awful. The breast was about as dry and flavorless as unseasoned jerky, and the apple stuffing contained a punch-in-the-jaw of black pepper.

I loved the Zucca, with its radioactive-orange-filled sweet potato ravioli and a sprinkling of savory saffron BUT the parmesan topper was so over-the-top, it buried the other flavors underneath. Love is sweet, but too much is suffocating, and all it takes is a little less clingy parmesan to set the saffron free.

When it came to the dessert, it seemed that I loved Grotto after all. I loved the texture-perfect Panna Cotta with zesty bites of lemon and tangy tongues of raspberry. There were no buts to this – this one ends like the fairy tales…before the dreadful Disney sequels.

I’m no stranger to the sweet words “I love you”, but I find I utter the scathing four far more often. I find that many things and many people we love, including myself, often let us down, leaving us wanting for more. At first you fall for the endless promise, but at the end of the day, there is an obvious BUT, a rose with one painful thorn, a restaurant that falls half a star short of four.