I didn’t even know Marliave existed, it’s tucked between downtown crossing and park st, one stree over from the beantown pub. I have thins thing about trying out French restaurants, and I heard that this place was owned by the people who own Grotto – one of my favorite restaurants from last year. The place was pretty much empty, it had a very classic bistro atmosphere and I understand that it had a long history in Boston.

For the appetizer I ordered the Baked Stuffed Figs, mission figs stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped in prosciutto. There is no way you can go wrong with this combination – it’s the thing dreams are made of. If figs were easier to find I would be making this for lunch every weekend, the dish was simple and tasted great.

I have this thing about ordering Steak Frites – I feel like you can get steak and fries anywhere so I’d prefer to go with something more unique to the particular restaurant. There was a chicken dish that i thought was part of the restaurant week menu, but it was not on the menu at the restaurant. I opted instead to go with the Sunday Gravy, which is a gnocchi dish. The gnocchi was served in a rich tomato sauce with pork and lamb. The meat was braised to the point it was falling apart – Irish stew consistency. It was a hearty dish and it hit the spot, I don’t eat gnocchi very often but I felt that the chewy pillows had a pretty good consistency that was satisfying. The sauce was so good I had to ask for a spoon to get as much as possible.

The dessert was the Chocolate Bomb, a chilled chocolate mousse in a hard chocolate shell served with raspberries, caramel sauce and whipped cream. Not a bad desert, but nothing mind blowing. Still, it’s pretty to look at and tasted ok.

The decor inside is ultra hip/modern – it looks like a Apple store and the atmosphere reminded me a lot of Lime Brunch from my trip to San Francisco. I got to Stella’s at 5:30 and it was like the party had already started. There was an excellent vibe to the entire place, probably because of the super friendly bartenders that went out of their way to start a conversation and get to know everyone’s name. People over here were regulars and spoke on a first name basis. It seemed like everyone that walked into the restaurant knew the people working inside.

I had come here for restaurant week but found out that thy don’t serve that menu on a Saturday (I should have checked). Didn’t really matter, in my experience the desert dish is usually a throwaway and the prices were not too expensive. I decided instead to make it a two course meal and pick an app and a entree.

For the appetizer I choose the steak tartare – recommended to me by the bartender. The steak tartare was served with a poached egg on top and consisted of raw meat combined with mustard, onions, cornichons and capers. The dish was accompanied by toast points and a few extra cornichons on the side. The dish was excellent, the capers in the tartare added a good sour kick to the entire dish and breaking the yolk made a nice creamy mush that went well with the toast points. If it were socially acceptable I probably would have licked the plate clean…

I chose the Linguine pasta dish as my entree, according to the menu it consisted of asparagus cream, thyme, truffle and a poached egg – there’s no way I could go wrong with this. The pasta was actually a fairly large portion and the sauce was rich and filling, as promised by the bartender. All the elements worked well, but there was one that was desperatly missing – the truffle. This dish was excellent but it would have definitely get a notch above if there was more of a truffle flavor to it. To be honest I tried hard to find any hint of truffle – even going as far as tasting individual flecks found in the dish. Nothing. Truffle is a pretty pronounced and aromatic ingredient, a little goes a long way so I felt like it probably could not have been used in the dish. Even if truffle oil were used in the sauce it would have been noticeable. Still the dish worked, I even debated if truffle might over power the flavor combination already present. My bartender offered a chardonnay sample to go along with the dish, I asked not to have him fill the glass – but too late. Here’s the kicker, the guy was pretty good about it and just said to not worry and enjoy the wine – he poured a full serving.

Service does count and everything I read about the place was true – the food was great but the atmosphere and the friendliness of the staff makes everything click together. Definitely worth the trip.

There’s an interesting back story to this revie (ok, it’s not that interesting). My roommates and I have spent 2 years at the same apartment and we are finally moving off in different directions, during the past 2 years we have been recycling all of out empty beer bottles/cans and saving the money up to do something together. The initial plan was to throw a keg party, but seeing how we are all in the midst of moving out and pretty busy in our own ways this wasn’t likely. We ended up saving around $67 and change, and I figured with restaurant week it meant that dinner would be 60% off. So we went through all of the restaurants out there and settled on Sorellina as being our night out.

Sorellina is a pretty swank place, it was also packed for the evening with few open spots for a reservation. The place was humming and had a very cool, modern feel to it – there were some excellent cocktails at the bar as we were waiting for our table to be ready. This was going to be a semi-swank guys night out, so the ambiance fit what we were all going for.

For the first course we all ordered different items. I ordered the Linguini, which was a small bowl of pasta tossed with baby clams, garlic and herbs. At home, pasta with clam sauce is one of my go-to’s, so I was sold already. Tim ordered the Bruschetta which were hearty thick slices of italian bread topped with melted ricotta, tomato and zuchini. Greg ordered the Zuppa which was a chilled corn soup with crab meat and a basil infused oil. There were no complaints for any of us.

For the entree we were split between two of the dishes. I ordered the Anatra, which was half a roast duck (breast and leg) served over a cream corn sauce with long beans. The duck was excellent and fatty, the breast meat was moist and the dark leg meat had a rich confit flavor to it. My roommates ordered the Bistecca, which was a grilled piece of sirloin served with onions and mushrooms. Again, no complaints.

For dessert we all ordered the Budino, which was a chocolate mousse toped with whipped cream and a chilled espresso bottom. I originally wrote this off as another restaurant week parfait, but it was more complex than that. As you ate your way through the chocolate mouse you mixed the chilled espresso and introduced a coffe flavor into the desert. It was actually pretty impressive and a fitting end to the meal.

So, Sorellina’s – probably one of the best meals during restaurant week and highly recommended to anyone interested in checking it out.

After Sorellina’s we headed over to Top of the Hub for cocktails and to soak the Boston skyline in. After seeing Chicago from the Signature Lounge (96th floor of the John Hancock tower) every skyline now pales in comparison – still it was a good ending. In the spirit of “it’s a small world” I ran into a familiar face I hadn’t seen in 17 years – it turns out that my 7th grade Social Studies teacher is the piano player of the house jazz band. Also I ended up meeting this Dutch girl who, in a perfect world, would have been my wife – it didn’t go anywhere…

I had walked by this place a bunch of times on my way over to Fenway and Landsdowne St, but I had never actually eaten there until now. I read a few reviews saying it served good French Bistro fare and the menu looked promising enough to try. It’s a very large restaurant with a huge outdoor area to sit in the sun. The interior feels almost like a old train station (not why I though that, but it was the first thing that came to my mind).

The first course I choose was the Gazpacho with king crab and avocado puree. The Gazpacho was pureed, so there were no chunks of tomatoes or onions in the puree – the puree itself had a very subtle and light pepper flavor that worked well. The crab worked well in the gazpacho, but it’s really hard to screw up crab – and the avocado added another interesting texture into the dish.

For my main entree I ordered the herb stuffed porkloin. The pork was served along with gravy and mashed potatoes and the herb stuffing seemed to be a combination of miropoix and ground pork (maybe with some thyme or parsley mixed in). The pork was dry, and this knocked the dish down from where it could have been. As I’ve said before, pork needs to be cooked using some technique involving moisture. If it is stuffed it needs a stuffing that has a lot of liquid in it to keep it steamed on the inside. I prefer brined pork, but this shortens the cooking time and if that technique were used it would have left the stuffing uncooked. Probably the only way to pull this dish off with brining and stuffing would be to par-cook the stuffing and then assemble/bake the pork loin – this is a lot to ask for a restaurant week entree so I understand.

For the desert I picked the chocolate mousse. Not much to say here, it’s basically jello chocolate pudding and not much else. I’m not really much of a desert freak anyway, so I wasn’t expecting something mind blowing.

This restaurant might be worth another visit, but I would suggest staying away from the porkloin and to instead choose a different preparation.

I decided to check out the Melting Pot for my third restaurant week reservation, I had never been there before but my roommate went with his girlfriend and had a good time. At the very least it was worth a try, I had only been to one fondue place before so at least it would be a dining experience. The Melting Pot is located in the Park Square area, right next to one of my old offices. It’s a large restaurant with each table getting one or two inbuilt heating elements for the fondue. Within a few minutes I noticed that there was a strange/loud whistle every few minutes, it turns out that it was the fire alarm which periodically goes off if people end up burning their food.

The first course was a classic cheese fondue served with an assortment of bread, apple slices and vegetables. I choose the classic fondue made with Gruyere, Swiss, white wine, garlic and kirchwasser ( a cherry brandy, i didn’t know either). Cheese fondue is hard to screw up and usually pretty satisfying, this was no exception. The bread worked well with the fondue, as did the apple slices. I was a bit confused as to why raw vegetables were provided. Carrots, I understand, but uncooked cauliflower just doesn’t wok well at all. Still, it was a satisfying start.

For the second course I choose the chicken breast served with a bourginione fondue. Actually this is kind of misleading, bourgingione is actually a burgundy based sauce (look it up bitches) – what Melting Pot instead serves is a vat of hot canola oil to deep fry your food. On their regular menu serve another variation called the Coq Au Vin which is an actual burgundy based fondue – that’s an extra $6. Either way I kept my order for the “bourginione” fondue as I wanted to give it a try. I was served 4 different types of dipping sauces: a blue cheese sauce, sweet and sour (tasted exactly like the Wendy’s sweet and sour), a asian/oyster sauce and a garlic/herb sour cream spread. The fondue also came with two types of batter, one was labeled as a tempura style batter (it totally wasn’t, it actually reminded me more of an Indian style batter used for fried breads). The food served were raw pieces of chicken and assorted vegetables. The cooking times were 2.5 minutes for the chicken and 2 minutes for the veghetables. The odd thing was that they don’t provide timers as part of the service – not a problem I had a stop watch in my iPod, but I started to understand why that fire alarm kept going off. So how was the entre? Well, it tasted like deep fried junk food (I know, big surprise).

Finally desert… I’ll admit it, this was probably the best value in terms of the desert offered. I choose a dark chocolate fondue served with strawberries, marshmellows, rice krispy treats, cubes of shortbread and a small slice of cheesecake. The desert was a meal unto itself and probbably will not be topped by anything else another restaurant would be offering.

So what are my overall feelings? The portions were large, I felt stuffed by the end of it, but compared to all the other restaurants out there it feels a bit underwhelming to spend money on cooking your own food. Granted, I went here alone, this place requires companny of other people and as a casual meal over conversation is probably a good choice. I would recommend that a couple go here and split one order, since there is enough food for two. I probably would not go here again, but if I did it would be to only order the desert fondue with company (of course).

L’Espalier moved to the back bay area next to the Mandarin Oriental hotel, I had heard some reviews complaining that this took away from the ambiance, I am not sure what it was like before but the restaurant did have a bit of a avant-garde sterile feel to it (like I was eating food int he future). I met the concierge at the front door and after confirming my reservation, took an elevator to the 3rd floor dining area. I was seated at my own table and immediately noticed a few things about my surroundings. (1) I was the only person there (besides the wait staff) in my 20’s (2) I was definitely the worst dressed of the lot (3) I was the only person taking pictures of my food and the surrounding area. I don’t give a shit, but if L’Espalier was located abroad I would have done the “Ugly American” stereotype proud.

Ok, you don’t care about this stuff… what did I order and what did it look like?

I started off with the Confit Sausage Salad, I added an optional side dish of Mac n’ Cheese. the main entree was the Roasted Pork Loin and finally I chose the Chocolate Decadence for desert.

The Confit Sausage Salad was what you would expect from a salad app, the salad was composed of lettuce and pieces of melon/mango to add sweetness. The Confit Sausage itself was excellent but tiny, the sausage was basically lamb gyro meet (yes, indistinguishable) but I love that stuff so it was excellent. Had I known the portion size of the sausage, i would have probably ordered something else (or picked up a gyro on my way to the restaurant).

Mac n Cheese, this one is not in the prix fixe menu but is listed as a side that you could order for extra money. i decided to go with this because I have a crushing physical/psychological addiction to Mac N’ Cheese and I always want to compare my version of the dish to those of high end restaurants. I was not disappointing, I’ll ruin the surprise and say the Mac N’ Cheese was the best part of the meal. in fact, if there was a prix fixe menu of three courses of the Mac N’ Cheese, i might just go along with ordering that. The cheeses were sharp and flavorful and there was a toasted breadcrumb topping that added a baked/crunchy texture that I love. So my advice, don’t skip the Mac N’ Cheese.

The Roasted Pork Loin was also pretty good. The pork was brined as part of the preparation, this is always the way to go with pork. When cooked in the oven and sliced for serving the meat still had a juicy and flavorful texture. Pork always dries up unless it is braised (cooked in moisture) or brined. Te pork was served with mash potatoes that were buttery but had the mouth feel of baby food – still I worked well with the dish and I was not complaining.

Finally, the Chocolate Decadence – this was a extremely rich and moist brownie. The Brownie itself was fantastic, it was served with melted white chocolate drops and something smeared on the plate which I initially thought was caramel… here’s the thing, it was actually a apricot jam that was extremely tart. You know how sometimes you eat something and it does not taste anything like what you expected, this was the experience I had. Initially I thought it made no sense at all, but I got over it and started enjoying going between a sweet and sour taste. How could this dish have been better? Just use plain old caramel instead, it would have been perfect that way.

All in all a good meal, the saving grace was definitely the mac N’ Cheese, I still think about it. But I’d recommend stopping by for the restaurant week lunch menu.

I scheduled B&G Oysters as my first reservation for restaurant week, I had always wanted to go here and I have a slight fetish for Barbara Lynch restaurants. Not sure why it is but I had the same interest in the Butcher Shop and No. 9 Park. With the lunch menu for restaurant week, I figured it would be a good time to check out the food.

B&G is smaller than it appears from the outside, at least in my opinion, but it has a good setup inside. I sat in the “high bar” section right behind the burners so I had the chance to watch my food get prepared and speak with the chef. Actually, that’s one quality that needs to be highlighted, the service here was excellent and everyone (including the chef) were really friendly. Definitely left a good impression on me.

I don’t mind going to restaurants alone, and I prefer bar seating when I do go out by myself. Here’s the thing, I always manage to strike up some conversation. The people next to me were a couple from NYC that were visiting the area for a few days. The wife is an art teacher at LaGuardia Arts (aka the “Fame” school). Her husband was a retired video editor who had a long career in advertising.

OK so onto the food…. B&G offered a choice between two Prix Fixe menu’s for lunch. I chose to go with the “All Star” menu which started off with Clam Chowder, followed by Oyster Po-Boy and a Yogurt Panna Cotta.

The chowder was excellent, the consistence was more on the runny side but the clams had a fresh bite to them. What really stood out was the use of pork belly lardon’s which added a salty, crispy element and brought the whole dish together. I usually opt for a creamier chowder, but I wasn’t disappointed with what I got.

The po-boy was a real standout, the oysters were large and very fresh and had this perfect light batter to it. The oysters were served ina soft buttered roll along with marinated tomatos and a mayo sauce. OK – this is going to sound like an insult but it isn’t – the sauce that came with the po-boy reminded me of the same sauce that was used int he McDonald’s Arch Deluxe. Here’s the thing, apparently I was the only person in the entire country that liked that sandwich, and so this actually made to po-boy in my opinion. The chef told me the better used for the oysters was just 1:1 ratio of semolina flour and white flour – simple. The tomatoes in the sandwich were first hollowed out and then marinated for a couple of hours with thyme, garlic, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. After this they spent 40 minutes in a 350F oven to cook until soft. i might need to try and re-create this one at home some time.

Finally, the desert was OK but not great. I confess, I’m not really that into panna cotta, but I am also not usually into deserts either. Still, if I had the choice to substitute for something else I would have gladly done so. Either way I had a good time at the restaurant.

Ares - God of War

Either way, we all order, my brother and I decide to go separate from everyone else and get the 2 person Prix Fixe menu. Basically 4 courses for $39.95 for two people. We had already worked the math out and it would be $30 a piece for each of us, which would include one beverage and a 20% tip.

Finally the bill rolls around, it came out to $199.?? – this was expected because there were 9 people in total ordering (one was 15, so she would not be paying). One person speaks up and decides that we should split the bill evenly – I should have known this would lead to chaos. I confidently put down the $61 my brother and I scrounged up and think it’s a done deal. Suddenly we find out that the group is $20 short, apparently the agreed amount was $40 a person (alarm bells). I don’t have any additional cash so I just ask to put the bill we both owe on my card.

Our waiter, a Tom Brady look alike (neither here nor there, but could have contributed to the poor math skills of some of the ladies), comes back with our individual checks. He hands mine over to me and comments “Not sure why everyone hates you but they said to put the extra on yours” (Alarm Bells). I laugh it off thinking that it’s some cheap waiter joke – that’s until I stare at the check. The bill against my card comes out to $79.49 (ALARM BELLS) and with 20% tip comes out to $95.49 (ALARM BELLS!!!).

My brother and I stare at each other in disbelief, like we somehow got bamboozled into a twisted bait-and-switch con. And we start pulling out the napkins for a little table side math. How is this possible? Even at $40 a person flat we would have completely overpaid for our meal. $40 x 8 = $320!… way more than $240 that we actually owed (w/ 20% tip). So we walk outside to jeers laughs from our dining companions about how much time we were taking to figure out our bill.

Everyone else was convinced that $40 a person (still less than our check) was an appropriate amount to pay. I felt like the cheapskate everyone hates dealing with so I clammed up. My brother kept it up for a little while longer before shutting up too. For some unknown reason I remember (after the fact) that I had a calculator on my cell phone. So, as we are walking back to the T we are gingerly doing the math to prove to ourselves we haven’t gone mad. Nope, confirmed – everything is in order we still way over paid. Not only that but even if everyone handed $40 in cash (8 people) and left it at that – #12 would have gotten a tidy 60% tip. That’s the kind of shit rock stars do because they’re famous and they want to fuck with the A&R guy who is picking up the tab.

I think to myself, how is it possible that 8 logical people just nodded our heads and agreed to this? The only way this happened is if our tab was actually much higher than everyone else’s (I think about what the waiter said).

Finally I get to my stop and get off, everyone still feels like I’m the cheapskate for having said anything at all. I lean over to my brother and say “discreetly, find out how much they paid on their check.” He replied, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m just going to say that they just paid a 60% tip and wait for their reaction.”

So long story short, it’s the next day and I feel used – like Mr. Chang himself had his way with me and left me naked and disheveled in a seedy motel room. How could my bill have been that high? I guess I could have missed the pan-seared sweetbreads with a side of foie gras and a caviar blini somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd course. No way – I think of all the amazing meal’s I could have had for $95 and change… L’Espalier, No 9 Park, B&G Oyster, Clio’s, Mistral, Pigalle… FUCK!

So I was thinking, maybe this is a unique solution to this whole economy mess. I mean we just gave our waiter a 60% tip, now he can take those ill-gotten funds and buy something nice and help stimulate the economy. Maybe poor American math skills are actually our way to salvation. If we all just blindly over-pay for stuff then there will be more cash flowing in our economy. And if we are equally terrible at math, then the people who got overpaid will also overpay for their stuff. My roommate, Tim, even suggested doing away with public education (at the very least math classes) just so we can save on both sides of the equation. A novel approach, I think we could get bipartisan consensus on this one.

Either way – “Ares… FLAME ON!”