Sage

It's restaurant week here in Boston, so for my birthday this past Monday I wanted to dine at Sage. I've eaten there a few times and have never had a bad meal. Usually we eat at the bar and split an appetizer and entry. But this time we had a real table, as we had 5 others joining us in the celebration.

I learned of Sage's special restaurant week menu in the local paper and was pysched to give it a try. We started the meal with a cocktail. I figured, hey, it's my birthday, I'm having champagne so I ordered a very tasty kir royal. We then ordered a round or arancini - risotto balls - for the table. The coating was nice and crispy and the risotto inside was warm, still sticky. They were huge, too! One was definitely enough per person.

For my first course I had a mushroom and buffala mozzarella tart. The presentation was more like a Sicilian pizza - square crust with toppings. Doesn't matter what the term is, the tart was fantastic. I was very happy with my choice. And it went well with the wine selection. Jennifer ordered a bottle of tempranillo. Red, not too sweet, bold but not overpowering, with a bit of a bite to it. another good choice.

My second course was a greatly anticipated pork shank, with rabe and a slow-roasted tomato. The pork shank is what had sold me on choosing Sage when I had read the menu in the paper the week before. I am a big fan of pork. And I had an incredibly tasty pork shank at Jacob Wirth about 2 years ago and I still think about it whenever I pass by. And I was greatly disappointed with the shank at Sage. Very little meat. I have this thing I do when I eat: I eat the rest of the stuff on my plate and save my favorite for last. I had eaten a bit or two of pork that had fallen from the main shank, and then proceeded to eat the rabe and the tomato. Both were excellent, by the way, especially the tomato. Then I dug into my shank. What looked like a nice hunk of meat was a big glob of grissle. There was a bit of meat on it, but for the size of the shank, I'd say it was 80% grissle. It just was poor meat selection on their part and a huge disappointment for me. My friend who ordered the steak was also disappointed. And a friend who ate at Sage a while ago also had a poor selection of meat. My advice - stick to the pastas or meat dishes that are more processed. Their butcher isn't very good.

I had the three canoli (with a candle and a rendition of happy birthday!) for dessert. Each canoli was filled with a different filling - I couldn't tell you what they were right now, but they were fabulous. The shells were about 1/2 in in diameter, about 3 inches long, so not they typical big-fat-cigar type canoli. The pasty held its crispness and the filling wasn't gushy, nor tastelessly thick. I also had a bite of a chocolate timbale which was very dense and rich. A perfect chocolate treat. Even though the timabale was quite small, it's richness made it difficult for my friend to finish the whole treat. Yes, that much chocolate.

In the end, I was very pleased with the evening. I'm incredibly blessed that I have such good friends so close by. The meal was terrific. Next time, though, I'll order the gnocchi.

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.