Delish.me

I have not blogged in forev so thought this would be a great opportunity to get caught up and also document the restaurants that we visited over the past two weeks. So sit back, relax and get ready for the highs and lows. I am going to split these over a few entries since we ended hitting up six new places. Yes, six. Is there a RA (restaurant anonymous) nearby?

We first visited the newly hot and trendy Gaslight in the South End on Wednesday the 12th. An important thing to note about their location on Harrison Street is the free adjacent parking lot. Holla! An actual lot is not something you find in this particular area of Boston, ever, so if you drive, no need to worry about where to stash your wheels and you can not beat the price tag. However, the restaurant is located right next to Boston Sports Club so it might get crowded with gym frequenters at peak times but we did not have a problem around 7pm or so.

A couple of quick observations before getting to our food choices, the first being how loud the place was when we arrived. Granted it is supposedly one of the newer, hot spots in the city (not usz my scene at all), but it was difficult to even hear the hostess as he asked for our reservation name. As we walked to our table, the first thing I noticed was the lighting. It was gorgeous, very dim and muted but bright at the same time. Almost hazy and tricky to describe but I was into it. We get to our table, which is somewhat of an exaggeration since it was so tiny that my five foot tall, super-petite mother would have been a bit concerned. So we sit down and get as comfortable as possible given the space limitations. Now I am going to blame the next series of events on um, the noise and um, the squished quarters. We were seated for maybe two minutes and M knocks her bread plate onto the floor where it landed perfectly on the top of our neighbor’s sneaker who fortunately was very understanding about the incident as we all laughed nervously. A few minutes went by consisting of us shouting across the table, trying to decide what we were planning to order. I really liked our waiter, he was very attentive but not in a fly-buzzing-noisily-around-your- head kinda way. A highlight was the hot loaf of french bread that we got soon after ordering our drinks. It was served warm in a brown paper bag which was a very cute touch. The bread itself was delish and M liked it so much that she promptly knocked her diet coke over and spilled it onto the small piece that we had left after devouring almost all of it. Next went the pepper shaker under our other neighbor’s table and was never to be seen again. Her knife took a nose dive a few moments later. Not sure what was going on exactly but looking back, it is amusing.

Not being overly impressed with the Restaurant Week menu choices, we decided to be adventurous and order right off the menu. We started with the Fondue Piemontaise with saucisson and croutons. It was incredibly delicious. It was not like your typical fondue but thicker and served in a deep pan with a few roasted cloves of garlic that added a nice touch to the crispy flat croutons emerging from the bubbly cheese. There was not even half a dollop left once we were done with it.

Unfortunately, I did not make the best choice when choosing my entree. I opted to get the Bar Steak with caramelized shallots and mustard cream sauce. Sounds good right? Sadly, it was one of the worst steaks I have had in a while. It was not a very nice cut of meat and for the price, I would have expected it to have been at least decent. It was coated in shallots which I normally like but I would take a guess and say that there were more ounces of them than actual meat. The flavor was just too overwhelming and the whole thing was swimming in the mustard sauce. I was glad that the fondue was so good because I ate only a few bites of this before giving up on it. M got the Steak Frites with Maītre d’hōtel butter and it was better than mine but not by much. I will go out on a limb and not recommend getting steak from Gaslight. It was too bad but at least it allowed us to save room for dessert. We got the Chocolate Beignets with Crēme Anglais and having been in NoLa back in May where we indulged in many Cafe Du Monde beignets, these were divine. They can’t be described as anything short of perfection. Little chocolate donuts with a rich ganache in the center and a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I would go back just to get this again. Ooc!

I am not going to rush back anytime soon but the decor, lighting, warm French bread, fondue, and heavenly dessert certainly made Gaslight a memorable experience. We would have been happier with less cramped conditions and not quite such a loud dining experience, but this could just be my inner old lady speaking.

More soon.