Go Home For Dinner at 224 Boston Street Update – South Boston

Had a fabulous quadruple date at 224 last weekend – it’s the second time I’ve come here in a big group, and believe me, if any nice restaurant can handle a group, it’s 224 Boston Street.

When we first arrived, we were shown to our roundtable with the air conditioning unit blasting away at the neatly rolled napkins. We barely had time to notice this when the host quickly added, “If you would rather not sit with the air blowing on you I can seat you on the other side.” If only this kind of attention to detail had persisted in all the food….

Soon we were seated in the other room of the restaurant, and I swear I’ve never seen so many cocks in one place! The interior decorator must have felt pretty cocky about his/her skill (GROAN)…ok, enough cock jokes…for now…

We commenced the meal by ordering drinks. Some of my tablemates ordered a good California wine but I started with the sangria. This was my biggest mistake since 7^th grade when I decided that leopard print shirt would look cool with a zebra-striped skirt. Though to be fair, it DID look like the leopard ate the zebra… Along that train of thought, I quickly discovered that the sangria tasted like carbonated blood. To be fair, I would highly recommend this to the die-hard fans of True Blood. This is the most sanitary way to get a taste of the sustenance that keeps that exalted vampires from their untimely…re-death?

For every cock there is hen, and for every god-awful sangria, there are Parmesean Zucchini Fries. The fries were well-battered with a hint of sweet cornmeal and a kick of red pepper but not too well-battered to overshadow the zucchini. Even the blue cheese dip was smartly diluted to add just enough flavor.

For entrees, I split the Lobster Mac n Cheese (described in my previous review), which is still a yummy safe-dish and adventurously tried the Salmon with Crab Stuffing. This may have been a bigger mistake than the sangria. IMO, even carbonated blood tastes more pleasant than mayo soup. If Hurricaine Irene was wet, the salmon was the exact opposite. (Too soon?) The crab stuffing was not terrible, it didn’t contribute to the dish. The orzo salad was more mayo than orzo, and the ludicrously strong flavor of the aioli was clearly intended to cover up the butchered salmon.

Thanks to my generous friends, I also tried the Grilled Pork Loin Chop and the Caprese Tortelloni. The pork chop was dry but the port wine reduction went well with it. Pork is already a neutral-tasting meat, try not to make it worse by nuking it! In stark contrast, the Fig & Walnut Mascarpone Ravioli and Crumbled Stilton on the side were amazing. LOVE the gritty texture of fig, LOVE how it tasted with the stilton. That combination alone should be an appetizer and if it were, I would order 8. As for the tortelloni, although it was al dente and nicely stuffed, the Saffron Tomato Sauce looked more like tomato water than sauce. Weirdly, thanks to the sauce-broth they reminded me of more of wontons, as if I were having Italian wonton soup.

Overall, it physically pains me to deduct an entire star for the food as the service is fantastic and the restaurant is really quite pretty and pleasant in its homey-ness. I never thought I would find a roomful of cocks comforting but if you’re craving higher-end home-cooking, this really is a good option, especially if you inexplicably happen to be in Southie.

Stellar Stanton Social - NYC

Since I have a personal affiliation with this restaurant, I won’t be giving it a rating, just a rave review…

My review is in honour of the man responsible for my Stanton Social obsession, my best friend Ben, and his 26^th birthday. Happy birthday Ben! (And a special thanks to Bobo for letting me use the photos from her blog!)

I’ve discovered that the exquisite tapas-style dishes at Stanton Social actually embody all the amazing qualities about Ben. Each dish is great on its own, but if you order a bunch of them, you have Ben, a conglomeration of many distinct pieces, each piece amazing by itself, but together, they form something that you will be fortunate to experience even once in your lifetime.

The Duck Confit and Black Bean Empanadas and the French Onion Soup Dumplings are the first thing you’ll learn about Ben if you spend even a few minutes chatting with him. There is so much more than meets the eye. Under the typical empanada lies a sharp blood orange jam, and the duck confit crouches in anticipation of the pleasure it will bring your palate. Under that nondescript, well-dressed dumpling shell, a sizzling soup awaits the opportunity to dance on your tongue. Ben may not be dancing on your tongue anytime soon, but he can lead a strong salsa on the dance floor.

Red snapper is a safe, unoffensive fish, often a first choice of fish lovers who fear the raw-in-the-middle tuna steak and want to move past the salmon. Ben appears to be this safe, unoffensive person at first, but like the Red Snapper Tacos, he packs some punch. Never underestimate the smoothness of avocado combined with a pleasant but sweet kick of spicy mango, and never assume that any taco is safe.

 

Like the Kobe Beef Burger, no one ever has anything bad to say about Ben. He is in so many ways that consistent burger you know and love, something you can always rely upon in the midst of a crazy world. Like this slider, when you feel xenophobic about all the exotic dishes you’re sampling, he’ll keep you grounded (or ground?...GROAN) and you’ll never doubt that he is of the highest quality.

The Potato and Goat Cheese Pierogies are creamy and…there is absolutely no way I can attribute that to Ben without it sounding indecent so we’re just going to leave this one at: don’t order this unless you’re dining with at least two other people. It’s fabulously rich but leaves you too full to order too many other dishes.

The Chicken and Cashew Spring Rolls represent Ben’s secret Chinese heritage. Ben is actually a mediocre Chinese man, don’t let the Jewish exterior fool you! His mastery of the word Ai-Ya is uncanny, and his addiction to the Journey to the West TV series will someday give him away. Like Ben’s Chinese, the spring rolls are good, not yet exceptional, but still very good. I wouldn’t order this only because there are so many more innovative things on the menu, but if you’re craving a feast from the East, by all means carry on…

Finally, the Stanton Social Beef Wellington is the perfection-seeker that Ben always is, and like Ben, it’s a combination of all the best things, and all these things just build off each other for a result that excels in all areas. This foie-gras-filet-mignon pastry literally melts in your mouth, and the flavors mesh into one smooth, so-good-you-want-to-keep-it-in-your-mouth-forever bite. Take just one bite of this, and you’ll have your fellow diners saying “I’ll have what she’s having.”

To wrap up the end of a perfect dinner with a perfect friend, the Warm Doughnuts are a classic. And if you ever just need a solid comfort food to be your anchor, like Ben, the Red Velvet Twinkie will never leave you hanging.

Overall, Stanton Social is an admired establishment that lives up to its name – a restaurant and bar nestled in the Lower East Side of NYC that brings people together. There is a downstairs dining room for those who simply want dinner on Stanton, and there is an upstairs bar with tables for those who want to eat and be more social. I insist you have dinner here, but if you really must just stop in for drinks, indulge in the virile Black Magic or the glib Pineapple 75 Martini and make dinner reservations for later. And if you see Ben and me celebrating 8 years of friendship, just remember to be social. 

Munching at Molly’s Tea Room - Falmouth

Instructions from the seasoned tea partier for navigating Molly’s Tea Room:

1)    DO NOT sit at the table closest to the door unless you happen to be a homesick penguin.

2)    Trophy wives with the world’s loudest children DO NOT get quieter. EVER.

3)    The Queen’s combo is NOT for the dainty eater and NOT for the mayo-phobic…

I got really hungry one day and decided that the Queen’s Combo would be a good idea. Served on a proper 3-tiered tray, it makes you look like a glutton and gives you a sample of at least half the menu. You can sample each little treat like Alice in Wonderland (the Tim Burton version) and get a little taste of the colorful characters that make up the dark world of Underland.

The curried chicken salad and the regular chicken salad are the Hamish Ascot (Alice’s fiancé) and his mother of Molly’s Tea Room, a repugnant blast of curry in one, an unmistakable dryness in both. After encountering such bores, you feel ready to venture past the mundane, down the rabbithole, and explore the other tiers of your Queen’s Combo tray. In addition, your increasing polydipsia from the dryness brings you to sit down to tea with the Mad Hatter.

I exercised caution when approaching the Bandersnatch crab salad but found it quite agreeable when I made peace with it by returning its eye. I’m pretty paranoid about seafood served at a tea shop, and Alice was right to be paranoid about a furry white beast pet of the Red Queen, but the lump crab was good, and an even bigger surprise was that I even liked it despite the celery and big teeth.

Another monster encountered is the assorted little sweets on the 2^nd tier, the Jabberwocky of your pancreas; rich little tidbits that are too small to ever get tired of, and before you know it, you’ve eaten them all…and they’ve eaten your insulin-producing cells.

The cucumber & boursin sandwich is all the pretty perky polish of the Jabberwocky’s nemesis, the white queen. Her crusts are neatly trimmed into little triangles with refreshing cukes as light as her always-fluttering arms, and rich cheese.

The wise Absolem the caterpillar appears as the tarragon egg salad. A staple of tea sandwiches, Absolem achieves a balance with just enough of each ingredient to make them harmonize, much like the wisdom he imparts upon his followers.

As if this wasn’t enough, you are then served an un-birthday scone. IMO, the scone is not really a scone, it’s more of a puffy giant cookie – the scones here are too sweet and not doughy enough in texture to constitute real scones. That being said, the raspberry white chocolate with clotted cream is an irresistible puffy giant unbirthday cookie.

If you’re a redhead looking for a job in Falmouth, this may be the place for you. Both servers are delightful gingers, and I’ve never met sweeter staff. They’ll bring you whatever you order, keep your water glass full, and tell you to stay and study as long as you’d like even if all you ordered was a scone. If you’re looking for support from kind strangers or just a peaceful place of study, Molly’s is just what the doctor ordered.

Adulating Aquitaine - Boston

Aquitaine the duchy was ruled by the Lady Eleanor, later Queen Eleanor, one of European history’s most admired amazons. Aquitaine the restaurant is ruled by Seth Woods, one of South End history’s most admired chefs. Frankly, Aquitaine and its legendary chef are just as glamorous as the duchy and its legendary duchess.

I have eaten every meal but brunch at Aquitaine, only because my growling stomach was unwilling to wait for over an hour. Aquitaine may be better-known for their brunch, but who needs a 10-dollar brunch when a $12.95 lunch special makes you swoon like Henry II? Tragically, the lunch special is weekdays only, but like Eleanor of Aquitaine, it is the whole package. The Soupe a L'oignon, Duck Confit & Gruyere Sandwich and Petit Salade are a deadly combination. The soup is the fiery-hot like a redhead. The sandwich is beautiful, graceful, and tastefully captivating – a polished concoction of delicious duck and gooey gruyere on a grilled sandwich pressed paper-thin. The petit salade has the perfect amount of dressing, and the crisp greens are a cool calm. Other tasty (but less recommended) midday meals include the Eggs Benedict and any of the Omelettes.

A lunch like that can’t possibly result in a poor dinner. But with regard to dinner, why bother with the pitiful restaurant week menu when you can get there at 6 PM for the criminally good Beat the Rush deal?

The Chicken Liver Mousse Terrine was, like all things French, smooth and rich, and little details that made all the difference, such as toasting the accompanying bread was an underrated extra. If the lunch was spectacular, the dinner entrees were like Eleanor’s marriage to Henry II; DAZZLING. The perigord black truffle vinaigrette topping the Steak Frites was like the perfect brooch for an already-ravishing gown. Extra points to the server for asking me if I preferred to receive my glass of house red wine with my steak!

If Eleanor of Aquitaine had seen the beautiful presentation of the Roasted Chicken Breast & Braised Leg, she might have held a ball in its honor. The carrots melt in your mouth, and the clever presentation of the breast as a chop and shredding the dark meat underneath was the very definition of refined. In her time, Eleanor’s troubadour Cercle le Monde of Aquitaine was judged by the quality of his song. In my time, chef Seth Woods of Aquitaine is judged by the quality of his chicken. Chicken is a safe but sneakily tricky dish because it can’t really be bad, but is hard to make well. White meat possesses a flavor (or lack thereof) that offends none but pleasures few. This chicken, however, was juicy with flavor that had sunk all the way through. I tried the breast without dipping it in any of the jus, and it was impossibly tender with impressive flavor. Believe me, to make chicken taste like this is unparalleled culinary divinity.

The Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse was my deciding factor when deciding what to rate Aquitaine. Like all things, it was amazingly rich. Though the food, like its Duchess namesake, was nothing short of breathtaking, it had very little originality, which made it dazzling but not quite exceptional enough to earn its last half-star.

Like Justice Potter Stewart on pornography, I know fine dining when I see it. The little details like the napkins with red stripes that matched the plates and the fact that the server specifically asked me if I wanted the wine with my steak instead of just serving it immediately showcase Aquitaine’s polish, a refinement that few restaurants possess. Aquitaine would have only gotten 4 stars in my book, but the extra half-star is for the polish and for the chicken.

Eleanor’s marriage to Henry II united England and France, and Aquitaine’s union with the South End may unite Boston with French finery. It’s a pity that the world has so many restaurants and I have so little time (and so many student loans!) or I’d be back at Aquitaine before you can say Bonsoir. 

Adoring Asia – Mashpee

Finally, good-quality, reasonably-priced sushi! During my brief stint in Falmouth, I occasionally took the bus to Mashpee Commons to ummm….study…yeah…study…sure…ok fine! To procrastinate by gorging myself on sushi.

Love the menu – the right combination of sushi for the hardcore, Chinese and teriyaki for the culinarily conservative, and even a few Korean dishes for those who erroneously believe that all food should be cooked. This may be the thing I miss the most about the Cape.

I tried the Baby Tako Salad special last time I was there. I really can’t afford appetizers on student loans, but who can resist sweet little baby octopi marinated in something red with ginger and sesame and served in a martini glass? Seriously, it was like a seafood cosmo without the hangover.

LOVE the sushi lunch specials – so much food for a reasonable price. I could barely finish mine even though I hadn’t eaten all day. The hot & sour soup is that reliably good egg suspension with just enough vinegar to have a kick but not too much to make you cry. Love that they didn’t skimp on the soup or the tofu in it. The salad is your run-of-the-mill iceberg lettuce topped with a yummy thick and grainy ginger dressing. I had the Sushi & Sashimi, which was not skillfully sliced like Samurai but good presentation and fresh enough to please the palate of this picky NYC transplant. For those suspicious of sushi, the Veggie Make makes for another frugal lunch with its ripe avocado, rolled beyond reproach.

The lunch special makes for sad Sundays as it’s the only day they’re not served. As if that would stop me…I opted instead for the Nigiri Plate, which is the same delicious sushi except more expensive AND without soup or salad. Sad but still worth it! 

Talented Taranta - Boston

I have a history of restaurant-week-phobia which started when I moved from the quaint Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina to the swinging city of NYC. My resounding fear all these years was that the quality of the food would be less reflective of the restaurant when produced en masse. Translation: I fear bad cheap food. Ever since last weekend, I have been able to put my fears to rest thanks to flooding therapy in the form of a spectacular array of Taranta talent.  

Taranta’s restaurant week menu was inspired by the places the staff call home. I’m not sure where they’re all from, but wherever they are, I’ll be going. 

It all started with El Tamalito Salvadoreno. This pork tamale was more than half an entrée it was so dense and filling. The cornmeal was dense but simultaneously melt-in-your-mouth fluffy. There were only a few little cubes of pork and string beans inside, but the pork melts in your mouth to the same degree as the cornmeal, and the spicy green dipping sauce on the side adds a creamy kick. Roberto's Spicy Chiltepin Salad was a refreshing topper, and I swear, I’ve never tasted more flavorful red onions – marinated just enough to kill the sting and just enough to maintain the crisp lightness of the onion – a perfect companion to lighten to an otherwise rich and heavy dish.

Alex's Salada verde was an exquisite salad – the mixed greens were evenly coated with the açaí-lime vinaigrette dressing – I almost cried when I saw that the people at the next table got the dressing on the side… 

If I had stopped at the appetizers, Taranta would have gotten 5 full stars…The half-star deduction was partly due to the Fusilli Pomodoro. As the token vegetarian entrée, it had clearly been added to appease the herbivores who were required to dine with their omnivorous friends. The unmistakably al dente fusilli with sharp pomodoro and fresh basil was a pasta dish beyond reproach. However, my dining companion and I simply do not believe in paying so much for a dish we could have prepared in our own kitchen. This dish had absolutely no creativity and clearly no thought had been put into it. Would it have killed you to chop up a few veggies into the sauce, chef? I normally wouldn’t deduct an entire half-star for laziness, but it was enough to annoy me considering the otherwise-innovative menu. 

The fusilli may have been a disappointment, but the Venezuelan Raviolis were the exact opposite. The black bean, rice, and queso-filled raviolis are the embodiment of fusion cuisine, and the Carne Mechada sauce was the cherry on top of the perfect banana split. I wish the sweet plaintain was more than a garnish but that's the product of my personal addiction, not a true lament. 

Aside from my displeasure with the pasta, my only true lament is the Tiramisu. Not sure why it's so much drier than any tiramisu I've ever had...the different layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone were bouncy and start to separate when you try to cut it with a fork. On the other hand, the Dulce de Leche Cannolo was clearly the stronger dessert. The dulce de leche cream was nothing short of fabulous and was probably good enough to make up for well...almost anything. 

As a rule, when you combine two distinct races into one diverse brainchild, the result is always stunning. That being said, Taranta is now my new favorite bi-racial baby. As another rule, pay Taranta a visit next time life lands you in the North End.