Today and tomorrow are the final two days of winter Restaurant Week here in Boston. This year, Restaurant Week has been rebranded as Dine Out Boston. Unfortunately, they didn't do a very good job of communicating that, so a lot of people have been confused or didn't realize it was happening.
Thankfully, I have a long-standing Restaurant Week tradition with two friends, so we were all over it.
Each Restaurant Week cycle, we peruse the list, pick a place none of us have been to before and make a reservation. Then, as the finishing touch, we each wear a strand of pearls to dinner.
For the 12th installment of our tradition, we selected Kitchen on Tremont Street in the South End. Kitchen is located across the street from The Beehive, right at street level.
Inside, the restaurant is warm, cozy and inviting. As soon as I stepped in the door, I was intoxicated by the most delicious swirl of smells - olive oil, garlic, mussels.
The hostess walked us to the back of the restaurant, to the very last booth. We nestled in and a moment later our waitress appeared. I immediately shouted at her, "It smells so good in here!" to which she replied, "Why thank you. That's me." Ha! I loved her immediately.
One of the reasons we picked Kitchen was because their Restaurant Week menu was about triple the size of all the other participating restaurants. Rather than offering just two or three choices for each course, Kitchen offered ten.
On the back side of the Restaurant Week menu was the cocktail list. It was organized by the type of liquor that stars in the drink. Naturally I zeroed in on the vodka section.
To begin the meal, we each ordered one of the signature cocktails. To my right, a friend ordered the Ruby Fizz (pictured at the top right) which was gin, egg white, grenadine, sugar, lemon and soda. After several sips she commented, "This is so light and refreshing. You can really taste the lemon, though you don't taste the grenadine. This would be a perfect summer drink." Across the table, a friend was sipping the Bees Knees which was gin, champagne, honey, lemon and rosemary (pictured at the top left). Her take was, "A champagne float in a drink is always my favorite because of the bubbles. This was light, fresh and had a great citrus flavor."
I went with the Moscow Mule, which came in the traditional copper mug. For those who aren't familiar, a Moscow Mule is vodka, ginger beer and lime. Kitchen's rendition was fantastic. The mix of lime and ginger is such a welcomed wake up call to your senses. Also, their version doesn't taste like alcohol at all, making it a dangerous option (in the best way).
While we looked over the menu, our waitress brought us a silver tray of sliced bread and olive oil. The oil was the real thing, the type of olive oil you get served in Italian restaurants.
Before making our selections off the three course Restaurant Week menu, which each opted to order one of the chef's specialty bar snacks for the night - deviled eggs!
I love deviled eggs and this take on the traditional bridal shower appetizer was a home run. The egg yolk was smooth and creamy and the paprika added a nice kick. I could have had five more.
For the appetizer course, both of my dinner dates ordered the arugula with burrata cheese, parma prosciutto and lemon. Let me tell you, these two were practically moaning.
After both of their plates had been wiped totally clean, I asked for their review of the dish. "Well, this just made my whole day," one friend began. "The burrata was some of the best I've had. It was so creamy and had a nice flavor. The pesto underneath and the mustard dressing added a great tanginess. The best bites were the ones that had a little bit of everything - arugula, burrata and prosciutto. It was also nice to have the toasts on the side. We used those at the end as a vehicle for finishing the rest of the burrata."
I had decided on a dish called "mushrooms under glass" which turned out to be exactly what it sounded like - mushrooms under a glass cloche. When the dish was placed on the table, we all stared in wonder.
Our waitress carefully lifted the cloche and asked, "Would you like to smell the inside of the glass?" When in Rome, right? I took a sniff and sure enough, it smelled like simmering mushrooms. Sensing their curiosity, our waitress offered my two friends the chance to sniff too, which they promptly accepted.
Once the lid was off, beneath it was a round toast, topped with mushrooms and finished with ricotta cheese. My favorite thing about the dish (besides the magical presentation) was the way the heat from the cheese and mushrooms warmed the toast underneath.
At this point, we probably could have stopped eating, but since we'd already ordered two more courses, we took a deep breath, mentally loosened our waists and kept going.
The first entree to arrive was my friend's lobster thermidor. On the menu it had been described as spinach, cheese, cream and Parisian gnocchi.
After the first two bites, she announced, "I could do the breast stroke in this sauce." Ha! That may be one of my favorite lines in the history of this blog. She continued, "The sauce is creamy and rich, but not overpowering. The gnocchi is the best I've ever had. People always describe gnocchi as being a light, pillowy cloud and I've never actually tasted one like that until tonight."
Across the table, our friend ordered the beef tenderloin with asparagus and caramelized onion and gorgonzola polenta.
Once she had finished, she shared, "The steak and the asparagus were both cooked well. The polenta was creamy and cheesy, but also somehow light. The whole dish was the perfect portion size."
I went with the one vegetarian option on the entree menu, the tagliatelle with wild mushrooms, baby kale and truffle butter. The strongest flavor in the dish was definitely the truffle butter. Maybe I had just OD-ed on mushrooms from the appetizer course, but this tasted very one note to me. I felt like it needed black pepper or shaved parmesan cheese on top.
Now for my favorite part of any meal, dessert!
There were four choices on Kitchen's dessert list and we wanted to sample as many as we could, so we each picked a different one. Next to me, a friend was indulging in the chocolate pudding. She was kind enough to let us each have a spoonful and honestly, it tasted more like a light chocolate mousse than a pudding. If I have learned anything for a decade of watching "Top Chef" it's that you have to name your dishes carefully, because if you call something by a certain preparation, that's what people are going to expect.
Across from me, a friend chose the house churned coffee ice cream. This was hands down, the best item of the night. The ice cream had such a bold coffee flavor that I felt like I had a caffeine buzz after just one bite! I am going to dream about this ice cream while we're apart.
Breaking from my usual approach of all chocolate, all the time, I went with the donuts. These three little confections sat on top of berry jam and a zig zag of vanilla sauce across the plate.
The donuts were super dense. The best bites were ones with the berry jam, making it taste like a jelly donut.
At this point, we were completely and totally stuffed. I felt like I might need to be rolled home.
None of us were quite sure what to expect from Kitchen and we fell in love. The space is so cozy, the staff are friendly, we had a great view of the open kitchen and for the most part, our food was excellent. The arugula and burrata and the coffee ice cream really stole the show.
Tell me, have you gone anywhere yet for Restaurant Week?
