Though Scholars opened in Downtown Crossing last summer, I never made my way there until last week. I was meeting my cousin for dinner and drinks after work and I had no intention of taking photos but as soon as we sat down he said, "Where's your camera? We're blogging this aren't we?" Well, I guess so!
Scholars is located next door to Sweet Cupcakes and across the street from the old Borders store. I was coming from my office near Faneuil Hall and my cousin was coming from the State House so it was the perfect meeting place.
When we arrived at 6:30pm the place was already packed! The bar was crawling with men in suits. Ladies, take note!
Though the bar was packed in like sardines, when I asked the hostess if there was a wait for a table for two, she said, "Actually, I can seat you right now."
She walked us to the very back of the restaurant and lead us to a cozy table for two. From our seats we could also see upstairs into the private event space. In fact, the Secretary of State was hosting an event, signs and all.
Shortly after we settled in, our waitress appeared. She was young and quite bubbly. She handed us the dinner menus which had the restaurant's name printed in a font that looked like a tattoo.
I immediately flipped to the cocktail section and decided to order one called the Boston Tea Party which was house blend honey peach tea infusion, fresh lemon sour, fresh lime and soda.
The drink was dangerously delicious. It tasted just like ice tea, no trace of alcohol.
My cousin had come from an post-work happy hour and decided the beers he'd already downed were enough.
We were both pretty hungry so we decided to share an appetizer - the fried pickles. I love fried pickles. I order them any chance I get, but to date, I haven't had a version better than the spears at Union Street in Newton Centre. Congratulations, Scholars, this was a worthy opponent!
The fried pickles came in a generous portion and accompanied by a garlic cream aioli.
The batter had a nice crunch, the paprika added a fun kick and the creamy dipping sauce was an excellent compliment. If you go to Scholars and don't sit down for a full meal, definitely order these as a bar snack!
Since I'm a vegetarian and my cousin keeps kosher, we decided to split two of the dairy options on the menu.
First we ordered the mac and cheese which came with whole, oven roasted, cherry tomatoes and sweet peas. The dish was topped with three pieces of grilled bread, ideal for sopping up the cheese sauce.
I loved the tomatoes in this dish, but the cheese sauce was incredibly bland. I was disappointed.
Our second entree was the white pizza. Since it was a white pizza it had no tomato sauce, but came topped with ricotta and mozzarella cheese, spinach and a garlic dipping sauce.
Though the pizza was cheesy, as promised, the spinach tasted like it was recently frozen. Also, I have no idea why there was a dipping sauce for the pizza. It seemed unnecessary and over indulgent. I sent my cousin home with the last three slices.
Moral of the story: Scholars is a great place for after work drinks and appetizers. Have a few cocktails, nosh on some fried pickles, scope out the business men and then find a second location for dinner.
