For the last few months I've had a new North End restaurant on my "must-try" list, Parla on Hanover Street. In typical Molly fashion, I became obsessed with it because of one flashy decor item - it's marquee letter sign.
The Parla dining room is small, but fantastic. In addition to the marquee letter sign, they have about ten tables, a four seater bar and a bunch of fun, unique decor.
I love this piece of art work which looks like an oversized wine label.
We made a reservation and thank goodness we did! Everyone who tried to walk in without one wound up being turned away.
After a few minutes of waiting at the table, a waitress appeared with the drink and dinner menus. I love the pattern on the drink menu.
It took extensive deliberation, but we were finally able to choose our cocktails, the bee sting julep for me and the bootleg old-fashioned for my dinner date.
The bee sting julep was habanero honey infused whiskey, sugar, fresh lemon and a mint garnish.
It came in the most beautiful, copper cup, ringed with a subtle but sophisticated dot pattern.
The cocktail had the perfect hint of spice from the habanero. The waitress told me it was super spicy, but like Goldilocks, I found it just right.
My friend went with the bootleg old-fashioned. It was rye, brown sugar bourbon simple, peychaud's bitters, orange and luxardo cherry. You may remember me saying this in the past, but I love these giant square ice cubes. Rather than small crushed ice, these ice cubes are meant for liquor drinks. They don't melt quickly, but they still keep your drink perfectly chilled.
My friend said, "I really loved this drink. It was definitely a twist on the traditional old-fashioned. It was just a little bit sweet." She liked it enough to have two!
With drinks in hand, we began to peruse the dinner menu.
To start, we shared the daily salumi and cheese plate. That day, the specialities were coppa and fontina.
The presentation was shockingly lackluster and the coppa could have been sliced thinner.
Post-coppa and cheese, we indulged in the crispy herb polenta which was served in an iron skillet.
It was like fried mozzarella, but lighter. If you took a bite with the chunky tomato sauce, it was excellent.
For the entree round, my friend was super adventurous and selected the ramen noodle carbonara. On the menu, the dish is described as slow roasted karabuta pork belly, chilies, egg, broccoli rabe, guanciale dashi and parmesan cheese.
She said, "This was not what I was expecting based on what I read on the menu. Talk about a unique presentation!"
After a few spoonfuls, she continued, "There are a lot of great flavors. The meat is delicious. Though I'm unsure what to do with the side plate of toppings."
The plate she mentioned was this:
Once she dumped the goodies into the bowl, she cheered, "Now the bowl is spiked with extra flavor and heat! I wish I had known I was supposed to pour it all in." Clearly this dish should have come with a manual!
I opted for the root vegetable tortellini which was carrot pure, ricotta salata, honet-nut walnut froth, roasted salsify and shaved black truffles.
The presentation was enticing, but the dish was visually one hue and tasted very one note. It was all one texture. It needed some kind of crunch like a sprinkle of nuts or a fried or crisped topping.
Though we had already sampled our way through most of the Parla menu, we knew we had to save room for dessert. Each of the three desserts listed looked excellent, so we asked the manager for his recommendation. He told us to get the donuts and the s'mores. Who could resist that suggestion?
The concord grape and maple donuts came in the most unexpected presentation. Please forgive the horrible contrast of the next two photos, I had no choice given the lighting in the restaurant!
As you can see, each donut came with a grape jelly filled eye dropper. The dropper was standing up straight, coming right out of the donut! In order to fill the donut with grape jelly, you had to squeeze the dropper. I have to say, I wish one of the servers had explained this to us. We weren't given any kind of instructions, so we had to fiddle around a bit before we could enjoy the dessert.
On their own, the donuts were too doughy. The dollop of whipped cream actually tasted more like butter.
The second dessert, the s'mores, came to our table covered with a silver warming tray. When it was lifted, smoke came off of the dish! Parla uses a smoking technique to give the s'mores dish that true campfire feel.
Again, the server didn't explain to us the presentation of the dish or how we were meant to eat it, so we basically tackled it blind and hoped we were enjoying it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Our favorite touches were the pink peppercorn marshmallows and that smear of rich chocolate sauce on the plate.
For me, Parla is a place that takes cool and interesting risks, but needs to work on sharing those intentional choices with its diners. Half the fun of eating at a restaurant is hearing about the food, where its sourced from, why the chef chose those flavor combinations and if its required, how to eat each dish!
Let's face it, the best part of Parla is still the marquee letter sign.
Have you been to Parla yet? What did you think of their creative take on Italian food?
