Each year for the past seven years my friends and I have gathered for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. In our group this beloved day is affectionately called PTT. As we speak my dishes for our annual celebration are baking in the oven.
Since I have Thanksgiving on the brain I thought it only right to share with you an incredible feast I recently attended at Rosa Mexicano.
Rosa Mexicano is one of my favorite restaurants. I first went in New York City, then visited a location in Miami and was eagerly awaiting their opening in Boston. You may remember my first meal at their Seaport location back in June.
The folks at Rosa very generously invited me as a guest to their Fall Harvest Dinner. The invitation read, "Celebrate our renewed commitment to seasonal ingredients with a fun and interactive Fall Harvest Dinner experience masterfully crafted by Rosa Mexicano's Culinary Advisor and 'Top Chef Master' Jonathan Waxman featuring all fresh local organic produce from Sparrow Arc Farm in Unity, ME." You may remember Sparrow Arc Farm from my review of the Farm-to-Post dinner at Post 390 in Back Bay.
Needless to say, the Rosa crew had me at the mention of Jonathan Waxman. I am a huge "Top Chef" fan and secretly I hoped he would be at the dinner.
The night of the dinner it was pouring rain. I walked from my office in the Financial District to the restaurant in the Seaport and arrived looking a bit like a passenger on the Titanic.
The table was beautifully set for the meal with a corn centerpiece and a gourd on every plate. The Rosa crew did something very crafty, with each gourd they sliced the bottom off so it would stand completely flat on the plate. Great tip if you're thinking of doing this for your Thanksgiving table!
Each plate was also adorned with a copy of the evening's menu.
I started the evening with my favorite Rosa cocktail, the mango tropical. The drink is silver tequila, agave and freshly pureed mango.
I wasn't sure if the Fall Harvest Dinner would include Rosa's signature made-to-order guacamole, but it did! They added pomegranate seeds to the recipe to give it a fall touch which sounds bizarre but was actually fantastic. We were starving post-work and gobbled that right up.
To start there was a round of passed appetizers. The first offering was roast pork flautas. All those around me raved that the pork was nice and spicy and the shell was excellently crisped.
Next was the razor clam and scallop ceviche served with pink grapefruit, mint, haberno chile, lemon zest and ginger. My friend said she found this too citrus tasting.
The final of the three appetizers was an oyster tartare served with shaved coconut, lime, guava and chile-infused sea water. The presentation of this dish was gorgeous!
The next course was the wild mushroom salad which was chanterelles, smoked and roasted shallots, butternut squash, pine nuts, mint, tortilla strips and a hazelnut oil-sherry vinegar vinaigrette. The mushroom flavor was earthy, the squash added a rich, buttery element and the crunch of the tortilla strips provided an awesome texture. I would love to recreate this at home.
Along with the salad came the grilled lobster and sea scallop taco. I didn't sample this, but around the table guests were loving it.
I did however get a special vegetarian version of the taco with squash blossoms (I am obsessed with squash blossoms!). It had black beans, grilled corn and a red cabbage slaw. It was delicious.
For dinner the meat eaters had lavender, black pepper and honey marinated duck. I got another custom vegetarian dish, this time a chile relleno stuffed with tofu steak. When I say tofu steak, I really mean it. The pieces of tofu inside these peppers were massive! The sauce was the perfect amount of spice and kick. I would order this again any time.
When you go to a Mexican restaurant you think about the margaritas, the guacamole and the tacos, you do not think about dessert. After these next few pictures, you will.
For the Fall Harvest Dinner Rosa prepared three incredible desserts. First was the baby cupcake sukkah which was habanero-cinnamon candy glazed apples on a stick. Everyone at the table's eyes widened when these arrived!
The churros (which I've had at Rosa before and highly recommend) came on the same plate as the pumpkin cheesecake. I was very surprised a Mexican place was serving pumpkin cheesecake but I have to tell you, this was the lightest, fluffiest cheesecake I've ever tasted. Rosa prepares theirs with ancho chile, peanut-sesame brittle topping, caramel, sea salt and roasted apple cream. It was absolutely heavenly. The cheesecake was without question the star dish of the night.
I have to admit, I was disappointed that Chef Jonathan Waxman did not make an appearance. As a marketing person myself I should have known that his "culinary advisor" role with Rosa is largely for PR purposes, but what can I say, I wanted to meet the guy.
The Fall Harvest Dinner was absolutely incredible. Rosa continues to impress with me their fresh takes on Mexican and their agility with new menu items.
The service the night of the dinner was unparalleled. The manager introduced herself to every guest. She topped by twice to ask if I was enjoying the vegetarian offerings and she also took great care of a reporter from the "Improper Bostonian" who is a vegan. They prepared special dishes for her for every single course. Thank you to the entire Rosa crew for a superb evening.
The next time you're looking for a place to enjoy a great meal or to celebrate a special occasion, head to Rosa.
