Happy Friday all!
Exactly one week ago I went to see Ben Rector at The Sinclair in Harvard Square (read all about it and watch the videos here). Before the fantastic show, my friend and I decided to have dinner at The Sinclair's restaurant, appropriately named: The Sinclair Kitchen.
We hopped off the T and weren't exactly sure where it was on Church Street. Turns out, The Sinclair is just beyond Fire + Ice.
The menu and upcoming shows are staked into the ground out front.
You know how I love a chalkboard sign.
Yes, you read that correctly - The Sinclair has an outdoor patio. Even better, it's a roof deck! The patio is on their second floor, the level right above the indoor dining room.
From the street you walk up a set of stairs and the entrance to the restaurant is on the left.
Inside the decor looks a bit like Restoration Hardware meets Brooklyn, NY.
The long, communal tables are home to multiple parties of twos, threes and fours.
In the front windows there are two top tables, drenched in sun light if you arrive at the right time of day.
My favorite area was actually the private booth on the far right side of the room. There is only one and it kind of reminded me of Lucky's Lounge in South Boston.
There is art work throughout the space, all very Americana.
We were seated at the end of a communal table and delivered a dinner menu and a drink menu. Our waiter was fabulous. We wanted to be best friends with him. Especially when he said dessert is his primary food group. More on that later.
The cocktail list at The Sinclair is excellent and we had a really tough time choosing.
Ultimately, my friend selected the pomegranate ginger swizzle which is vodka, house pomegranate grenadine, fresh ginger, lime and seltzer. Doesn't that sound refreshing?
The drink was a grapefruit pink color and tasted mostly like ginger.
I went with the truant cocktail which was strawberry-basil infused vodka, St. Germain, lime and sparkling wine. Served in a martini glass, the drink tasted like candy. I could have had 20 more.
I stopped at just two rounds, but my second glass actually came with a basil leaf! Here, fishy fishy.
We wanted to sample as much of the menu as we could, so we ordered small plates. To start, my friend noshed on the local roasted beets with honey, thyme, hazelnuts and goat cheese. The presentation was beautiful, particularly the pearled goat cheese.
After cleaning the entire plate she reported, "This is tied with my all time favorite beet and goat cheese salad from Garden at the Cellar. I absolutely loved the crunch on top of the beets."
My first plate was the kale salad, served with golden raisins, sunflowers seeds and crispy parsnips. I don't know why, but I feel like superwoman when I eat kale. Just knowing that it's good for me, makes me want to eat it by the bag.
The kale was fresh and the crispy parsnips added a fantastic crunch. I am going to try and replicate this dish at home.
Those who read regularly know I love polenta fries, well, The Sinclair has chick pea fries. Here's a look:
They were lightly crisped on the outside and soft and piping hot on the inside. They came with a harissa dipping sauce which had some major kick. My friend commented, "They sort of look like churros. Savory churros." Great call.
We also shared the Brussels sprouts, topped with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. The sprouts were nice and crisp. They tasted excellent once we broke the egg. The Hollandaise sauce was superb and so rich! I had to limit my intake.
After we devoured all the sprouts, my friend mused, "I wish we had bread to soak up all the yumminess at the bottom of this bowl." The Sinclair, if you can hear us, serve this with bread!
Naturally, we had to also have dessert. Our waiter (aforementioned and fabulous) gave us the run down of every single dish and his honest descriptions actually completely changed our intended order.
We ordered the pecan pie, which was actually more of a chocolate pie, topped with pecans (thanks for the intel, waiter extraordinaire!) and a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream. This wasn't my favorite, but definitely a nice dessert for sharing.
We also sampled the almond cannoli which was stuffed with chocolate chip filling and served with two chocolate covered strawberries. The shell was not your traditional, North End, shell, but that's what made it unique.
When we arrived to The Sinclair around 6:15pm, we had no trouble getting a table and there were plenty of seats at the bar. By the time we left at 8:15pm, it was packed. I think the people of Harvard Square, both those that work in the area and those that call it home, are thrilled to have such a lively, delicious and roof deck-having place in town.
Have you been to The Sinclair for dinner or a show? What did you think?
