Last night I joined a group of girlfriends for an intimate birthday celebration. The birthday girl chose a place I had never been to (or heard of) called Barlow's. Having not heard of the restaurant before, I had no idea what to expect.
Barlow's is located on A Street in South Boston, it turns out, just a stone's throw away from one of my favorite bars, Lucky's Lounge. Already, I liked this place. The restaurant is located in the still developing neighborhood known as Fort Point Channel. As I approached the restaurant I noticed they have a beautiful outdoor patio that feels more like a deck off a country club restaurant (only without the stuffiness).
Inside the restaurant has two main sections - the bar and the dining room. The bar side has a large bar at which you can sit around all four sides, as well as high top tables around the perimeter. The dining room is surprisingly spacious with plenty of elbow space between tables.
The restaurant has beautiful, dark decor reminiscent of Pottery Barn gone chic. The dim lighting is perfect for a romantic evening. In addition, once the sun goes down, you have an unobstructed view of the financial district.
We had a reservation and were seated a comfortable table along a wall (one side booth, one side chairs). Our very friendly waitress promptly took our drink order and brought over two carafes of sangria and two "superfruit" mojitos. Apparently a superfruit mojito is like a regular mojito only with significantly less sugar. A skinny girl drink, if you will.
For appetizers were sampled the asparagus soup (garnished with goat cheese and chives) and the fried calamari which also came with some jalapenos mixed in.
For dinner we tried a variety of entrees including the spinach and strawberry salad, the citrus glazed salmon, the flat iron steak frites, the steak tips, and the veggie burger. The salad was a generous size and loaded with goodies. The salmon was perfectly pink with a crispy glaze and served with brown rice and greens.
The flat iron steak frites came in a delicate presentation with plenty of both the steak and the frites.
The steak tips were served with sauteed spinach and the veggie burger came with the usual garnishes as well as tzatziki sauce. When you order a veggie burger there is a fifty percent chance it will taste great, and a fifty percent chance it will taste like shoe. This was leaning towards shoe, but the garnish vegetables were so fresh and delicious it almost didn't matter. Not to mention the perfect french fries, which were gobbled up before I even touched the burger.
For dessert we had the irish coffee, the mint chocolate chip ice cream (served with two sugar cookies) and the milk chocolate creme brulee. Let me say that the creme brulee was one of the best dessert I have ever had in my life. And I've eaten a lot of dessert.
It was the texture you come to expect from creme brulee, but with the taste of a melted Hershey's chocolate bar on a hot summer day. Pure nirvana.
Everything about Barlow's was exceptional (minus my former SVP and CFO sitting at the bar when we arrived). We could not have asked for a more lovely birthday celebration for the most incredible birthday girl.
I cannot wait to see Barlow again. And his milk chocolate creme brulee.
