Once a month I have dinner with a group of friends and each time we go out, we try to choose a restaurant none of us have been to yet. We used to meet on Fridays and so we called our gatherings Foodie Friday, but now that we're getting old, we meet on Sundays at 5:00pm. True story.
For our most recent dinner, we went to Cook in Newtonville. This location is steps from my childhood home and over my lifetime it has been several different spots, most recently, Lam's, a Vietnamese place.
Cook was opened by the seem team who owns Tryst in Arlington.
The dining room is much larger than it looks from the street. The white washed brick walls give the room a light, airy feeling.
For those dining solo or in a twosome, you can sit at a bar overlooking the kitchen and the pizza oven.
Wood for the pizza oven is stacked along the back wall. I don't think they'll be running out any time soon.
There were five of us for our monthly get together and the hostess showed us to a booth right beneath the "Eat Well" sign.
The Cook menu is excellent. There is a wide variety of choices - shareable snacks, salads, sandwiches, flatbreads and dessert.
We decided to begin the meal with some adult beverages. Two of the ladies ordered the white wine sangria, but strangely it looked like rose. They called the drink, "Light, refreshing and barely tasting of booze."
I ordered a cocktail named the Tennessee Tea, which is basically bourbon spiked ice tea. It was fantastic! I loved the fresh mint leaves.
On this night, we had particularly big eyes. In fact, we ordered three appetizers to share.
First we worked our way through the mezze plate. This was a cutting board topped with pita chips, stuffed peppadews, tzatiki covered cucumber slices, muhammara spread and Greek olives.
The tzatziki was the undisputed star of the dish. I want to put that on everything.
Next we each torn off a piece of the house made pretzel. The pretzel was round, instead of the usual shape, and lacked the course salt I love on the outside. It was soft, doughy, warm and came with a side of very spicy mustard (we all cleared our sinuses).
Lastly, we had to have the truffle fries. That is just one of those menu items no one can resist.
Thankfully they were perfectly crisped and seasoned and came with ketchup and aioli for dunking. Holy yum.
To my right, a friend ordered as her personal starter the lobster slider. She described it as, "Buttery, warm brioche packed with the ideal ratio of lobster to mayo. This is exactly the right portion size - four delicious bites."
For her meal, she moved onto the tuna pizzette. It was seared tuna, arugula, crispy shallots, aioli and yuzu. After a few bites she said, "The tuna is excellent, as is the spicy aioli. It didn't need the crispy shallots. That was overkill."
Two friends shared the wild mushroom flatbread topped with fontina, ricotta, caramelized onions and truffle.
Half way through the pie they commented, "This has a good balance of flavors. We really like the fontina and the crust."
They also split the bolognese, a mix of veal, pork, beef and marscapone.
From the faces they were making, I could tell they were hesitant. Collectively they admitted, "Though the pasta was well made, the dish tasted over seasoned - too salty. We still think Sportello makes the best bolognese."
Across from me, a friend selected the slow roasted lamb sandwich. It was served as two open faced pitas topped with shredded lamb and tzatiki.
After finishing one pita she explained, "There really wasn't a memorable flavor here. The tzatiki was definitely the best part."
I went with the smoky pepper grilled cheese. I kid you not, I was so in love with this sandwich, I wanted to marry it.
The sandwich gets its name from the smoky pepper jam that accompanies the manchego and boursin cheeses, as well as the crispy shallots (can you tell this place is into crispy shallots?). In addition to the high end goodies packed inside, the bread had a divine crunch. This was a home run.
The sandwich also came with a dish of sweet pickles and a side of greens.
Though I loved my meal, my friends all felt their dishes were lacking something. In fact, one friend said, "There isn't really any wow factor or amazing flavor. The preparation is solid, but it's clear they are cooks, not chefs." Ouch.
Personally, my meal was outstanding. My cocktail was fabulous, the appetizers we shared were great and that grilled cheese sandwich. Wow. Just wow.
You can judge for yourself by visiting Cook at 825 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02460.
Awww, it felt good to type my childhood zip code.
