Summer Restaurant Week 2011

With another Restaurant Week period over, I can cross two long-standing entries off my restaurant list! Both dinners piqued my curiosity, while serving tasty but not overly memorable food. The same goes for the desserts – they were good enough, but not rave-worthy.

Adam and I finally tried Toro, Ken Oringer’s trendy tapas bistro in the South End. It was a beautiful, balmy Boston night, so we sat on Toro’s sidewalk patio and enjoyed the relative quiet compared to the din within the brick-and-steel dining room and attached visible kitchen. How do RW’s three courses get figured out at a small-plates restaurant? It turns out that each person picks an appetizer; then, the table gets a certain number of tapas by occupancy (5 dishes, in the case of two people); and lastly, we each choose a dessert. I had an appetizer of tuna tartare garnished with cilantro, which had an excellent taste but an unusually chewy texture. Our tapas were:

• Jamon serrano – the ham was a bit fattier than I like, and cured for less time. I was not impressed with this most favored of tapas.
• Patatas bravas – the dish I always order when trying a new tapas place! Toro’s sauce is probably the spiciest I have yet encountered on this dish, and the large potato pieces were grilled to perfection.
• Uni sandwich – I totally forgot that this fishy-tasting paste was actually sea urchin. It was tasty enough, and represented our most unusual order. Sadly enough, Toro was out of the octopus!
• Garlic shrimp – some of the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen, sautéed with garlic. I wish there had been more than two per person.
• Short rib – delectable, flaky beef in a red wine sauce. My sudden appetite for red meat continues to surprise me this summer!

Dessert came next. I had a churro dusted in a copious amount of cinnamon sugar, with a side of Mexican chocolate sauce for dipping. The doughnut stick was chewy and warm, with a faint vanilla flavor. I love how the dusting’s sugar crystals added a bit of grit and crunch to the otherwise soft dessert. I also liked the balance of flavors in the Mexican chocolate; neither too bitter nor too spicy, it was just enough of a contrast to the sweet pastry. Still, a churro is a fairly typical dessert at Spanish and Mexican eateries, so I would have rather been intrigued by a different – even if less delicious – option. Well, maybe I should take that back; Adam was underwhelmed with the Manchego cheese.

I would go back to Toro if the opportunity presented itself. Eating in the bustling dining room would be a lot of fun, as would trying the more atypical offerings on their standard menu.

Katie and I continued the Restaurant Week fun at Gaslight the following week. This cheerful, flame-lit French brasserie is owned by the same group as Aquitaine, a restaurant that has never disappointed – so, we knew the grub would be good. We somehow found opportunities to chew our food amid a few hours of rapid-fire catching up. :-) My appetizer was a field greens salad tossed in hazelnut vinaigrette, with chunks of fried Brie. The Brie was delicious as per usual, and I enjoyed the dressing’s subtle nuttiness; I would have preferred fewer bitter greens in the salad, though! I ordered trout almondine with beans and potatoes for dinner. The trout was pleasantly pink and flaky, with that freshwater fish taste I so love, but I was surprised at how thin the fillets were; I had seemingly equal parts meat and skin. The sliced almonds were a really great addition, as were the soft and savory vegetables.

I ignored my usual chocolate craving when it was time for dessert, opting instead for a strawberry layer cake with strawberry ice cream! I enjoyed this sweet and delicate cake. Its texture reminded me of genoise, but its crumb was a bit larger than that sponge cake. It had three layers, which were separated by mashed strawberries. (I appreciate that Gaslight uses fresh fruit, as opposed to the frozen slop you often see in, say, custard cups!) The thin layer of tart frosting on top used crème fraiche – so, this sugary treat got an unusual but welcome infusion of sourness – and was garnished with more strawberries. As if all those components were not enough, I got a scoop of strawberry ice cream on the side! It was more creamy than fruity. I chose to let most of it melt, so I could dip each forkful of (rather dry) cake in the resulting “soup”. Yum! Katie reports that the flourless chocolate truffle cake with espresso ice cream was also yum-worthy.

I would go back to Gaslight, too, though a different cuisine may win out if I were given options. This RW meal was mostly a hit, but I sometimes miss entirely with French food.

Now, about that restaurant list…