Last night I went with two of my best girls to Masa in the South End. I had never been, but had always heard great things, so I was looking forward to checking it out.
It was pouring rain when I got out of the T at Copley, but I was a bit early, so I decided to walk. I headed toward Tremont Street and realized Masa was a bit further down than I'd ever walked before. The furthest I'd really gone was Picco and Masa is located about a block and a half further down.
From a few feet away I could see Masa's exterior was beautifully adorned with holiday decorations. Even the chalk board out front had greenery!
I arrived about fifteen minutes before the other two girls so I decided to have a drink at the bar. The bar area was very warm and inviting. You have to love mood lighting!
The bar is copper, which was very cool looking.
The bottles behind the bar were back lit by peach colored lights.
Once I sat down I noticed the holiday decorations in the bar windows. You could sit at those seats and feel the holiday spirit while watching the world go by.
The bartender brought me the drink menu and I was immediately drawn to the concoction called the habanero watermelon margarita. I know habaneros are hot, so I asked the bartender exactly how hot the drink was. He said, "Well, it's intended to have a kick, so if you're nervous, I can dumb it down for you." Is that a challenge? I think so. I said, "Bring it on. As it's meant to be."
The drink arrived in the perfect shade of pink, garnished with a lime.
As you sipped the drink it was cool and refreshing at first and on the way down the habanero burned. After just one sip the entire inside of my mouth and my lips were on fire!
When the girls arrived, we saw the hostess for a table. The dining room was fairly empty, so we got seats in a cozy booth.
The dining room has very simple decor and was also decorated for the holidays.
One of the girls decided to order the classic margarita which came served in a pint glass.
While we looked over the menu, our waitress brought us a basket of bread that had corn bread and french bread.
The bread came with three spreads - hummus, butter with honey and a red pepper and cream cheese dip. They were all delicious!
We were intrigued by so many of the menu items we decided to order several appetizers instead of going for broke on entree size plates.
I started with the romaine salad which had blue corn tortilla chips and cotija cheese. The salad was yummy, but a bit simple. Even a few tomatoes would have jazzed it up.
Across from me, a friend ordered the shrimp and avocado salad. She said the avocado was awesome, but she wasn't impressed by the shrimp.
We all split what was listed as "The Best of Boston Red Chile Onion Rings." These onion rings were serious! Look at the size of those things!
The onion rings were crispy on the outside, sweet on the inside and were served with ancho ailoi. Yum! These alone were worth the trip!
For round two, one of my friends ordered the crispy coconut shrimp. She said the coconut added the perfect amount of sweet flavor to the shrimp, the jicama was refreshing, the avocado was delicious and the dressing complimented all of the ingredients perfectly.
Across for me, my friend sampled the calamari with cherry peppers, capers and Manzanilla olives. She said the calamari was too chewy and as a seafood lover, she wouldn't order it again. She said, "Next time, I'm trying some meat!"
I decided on the sun dried tomato and poblano ravioli served in a sage cream sauce. This dish was so decadent, rich and amazing! I felt guilty with every bite because it felt like I wasn't worthy of eating something this incredible!
After giving ourselves some time to digest, we looked over the dessert menu. We decided to sample two offerings, especially after our waitress warned us they were small.
The first choice was the chocolate truffle tamale, which was really a molten chocolate cake served in a corn husk. The cake was sublime and topped with vanilla bean ice cream. I also loved the raspberry zig zag on the plate.
Next, we ordered the ice cream which came with three flavors - chipotle chocolate, salted caramel and dulce de leche. The chipotle actually had a kick as strong as my habanero margarita! We were not expecting that! The salted caramel was the front runner by a mile.
I loved our meal at Masa. The restaurant was cozy, our waitress was attentive, I felt there were a ton of vegetarian options and the food was super tasty.
Try out Masa for yourself; visit them at 439 Tremont Street in the South End.
