De-Lux

Working from home, I don't get out of the house much. So when Jennifer said she was meeting co-workers for after-work drinks at Clerys in the South End, I came along. And I was also tempted by a possible chance to grab a quick dinner on the way home.

Clerys an Irish-style sports bar on Dartmouth, was particularly full last night. We did meet for drinks but also shared a platter of nachos. What can I say, it was just a plate of nachos. They were pretty good and at least we had the good sense to not get them soaked with beef. It was a nice beginning for what I had been looking forward to: the De-Lux.

From the outside, it looks like a dive bar. The indoor decor doesn't change that opinion much. The walls are filled with old record sleeves, graffiti fills the bare spots, and a velvet Elvis and all the trappings makes up a permanent memorial over by the bar. Not far away is a bar-top Christmas tree that holds its spot year-round. It's a small place, maybe 15 small tables. It's always filled whenever we go. It's an interesting crowd - messengers, artists, old locals, hipsters, and people who love good food.

This is one of my favorite spots to grab a quick and delicious meal. And it's affordable. I've never had a bad meal. The menu changes about ever six weeks, but they do have some permanent items, like the grilled cheese that's to die for. I wish I had a menu on hand to rattle off some other items. You'd expect a dive bar to have iceberg lettuce salads. Not here. Last night we had the spinach salad special with candied walnuts, gorganzola, grape tomatoes, and a fresh vinaigrette. We also had the gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce. The gnocchi were excellent, homemade, very fresh. The sauce, honestly, didn't have time to develop flavor. It wasn't a jar sauce, you could tell it was a can of whole tomatoes with added stuff in it, but maybe they had a run on sauce and put together another batch quickly. Maybe another 1/2 hour cooking would have helped it develop deeper flavor.

The De-Lux - it's fabulous. Don't let the dive bar facade fool you.