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Boston Cooks
Article Posted: Monday June 24th
Article last updated on: Monday June 24th
Boston Cooks
Boston cooks and very well indeed - sometimes. There was a festival of food and wine in January 2000 in the beautiful city of Boston, Massachusetts. I was very lucky to be invited by the locals to attend. The few days away from Blighty was more than welcome as I had had the bad influenza that had been stalking the street of London town. A break away was needed. American Airlines flew me out in a comfortable seat and gave solace to the soul of the poor lad. The weather had different ideas. Once the Airbus had taken to the skies the temperature fell on the North East coast of the US of A. Snow bucketed down and closed the Capital and the Federal offices in Washington. Had Gorby and his Ruskies still been active, he and his foul gang could have had a field day. My American Airlines flight was forced to divert to a friendly foreign airport, Montreal. It was the only one left open in the North East of the Americas. Tante pis. The Canadians were welcoming as far as my then mind and tired body remembers. a All the passengers were shipped a short distance to the Hilton Montreal Aeroport. The hotel was functional with very good beds and a good deal of space. We did not arrive in Boston until the following afternoon. This put pressure on my hosts who lost acarefully planned day out of the itinerary. Sadly, as the snow was not their fault. I arrived in Boston at what seemed like lunch time. Food was welcome, more than normally as I was a touch jet lagged and a might hungry. I was met at the snowy airport by a large black van, sometimes called a people carrier, with a very sympathetic and charming driver. Who drove me to America's oldest restaurant. 'ye olde Union Oyster House' is right in the centre of Boston at 41 Union Street. The doors opened as a place for many famous people to dine more than a touch before I arrived, in 1826 in fact. JFK had a favourite booth upstairs on the first floor. It was at this table that I had my lunch. At last repast, or so it seemed. I ordered a Vodka Martini whilst perusing the menu. The menu is straight forward with choices of Stews and Chowders, Oysters on the Half Shell, Fried Fish, Broiled or Blackened fish, Lobsters, lots of house special fish dishes and six meat dishes, one served with shrimp or lobster. My choice of Blue Point Oysters was spot on, they were delicious. I was able to taste Cape Cod Littlenecks for the first time. They were different, pleasantly fishy and certainly worth a second try.
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My main course was Lobster Scampi. Which turned out to be lobster sauteed in garlic butter with fresh herbs, white wine and served on a bed of linguine. It was very good indeed but defeated me. American portions are big and I am a small eater. I would change the way the garlic butter was made as there was very little evidence of fresh garlic.
The wine list is mostly American which is to be expected and there are some nice wineries on the list.
The staff were charming and helpful in every way.
Lunch had stared at 1.30 p.m and I looked at my schedual to find that dinner was at 6 p.m. Heavy or what, dinner was at The House of Blues at 96 Winthrop Street in Cambridge. http://www.hob.com. With a name like that I expected loud music and simple food. Wrong and right, the music was not loud, in fact I don't remember any. The menu is normally southern style but Juan Mesa had invited Johnny Ciao apparently called the 'Culinary Rocker' to be his Boston Cook. The pastas were simple as I had predicted. Johnny Ciao is a celebrated chef and well known in the area. The House of Blues itself was made from clapboard and painted, yes blue. The night was young, very young and now it was off the XV Beacon, 15 Beacon Street, Boston - 617 670 7000, for a wine tasting. Oh, yes, I thought to myself cynically a wine tasting at night when I had eaten well all day, drunk some nice wines and had the odd Vodkatini. Well I was very pleasantly surprised. XV Beacon is a very modern hotel with a very good luxurious feel. Each bedroom has a fire, and is fitted out to a top specification. It is the sort of hotel to spend a honeymoon if you want to be in a city. Actually I would spend some of a honeymoon there in any case. The tasting took place in the dining room with large window looking into the wine cellar. I felt at home. Not that my dining room looks into the cellar but everything seemed very comfortable. The atmosphere, the people and the wines all melded together in a pleasant way.
The wines I tasted were:
Talbot 1997 Chardonnay @13 /12% abv. Sleepy Hollow Vineyard California. colour was pale gold, nose nice vanilla oak, palate soft vanilla, spicy big, fat, and full with light butter, huge concentraction, yet a light fruity finish 15/20. Chateau Latour 1994. Dark ruby, intense nose, spicy and concentrated, the palate had a light front, more depth in the middle but light, it had style and elegance, nice length with a touch of cedar, light finish but still quite long. 15/20 Latour is my favourite wine, this is a poor year for the left bank but still they have made a wine which smells and tastes like Latour. But not the great wine which I
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love. Fenoughty Syrah, Edmunds St John 1997. nice dark ruby, with a nose of blackcurrants, light front, bigger middle with ripe tannins, quite balanced and long. This was followed by a 1985 Warre's Vintage Port which seemed as if I was getting near to committing vinfanticide. I was then asked to choose a wine to taste. I asked for and got Quilceda Creek, from Washington State. XV Beacon had the 1995 which is a 'beaut' as the Australians would say. I love this wine and gave it the highest mark 18>/20. Made by the Galitzine family, from bought in Cabernet Sauvignon, with the greatest love and care. I visited the property in the late eighties and was able to tell ...Galitzine that his great grandfather had made the champagne which won the gold medal in Paris in 1900. That was against all the great house in Champagne. Galitzine Champagne was made in Yalta in Russia. I was also able to tell home that he is a Prince as his Great Grand Father and his English based cousins all are today. So much from a late evening visit. I like Boston. It was time to go to Cambridge and to my tip top hotel, The Charles Hotel. The Charles Hotel, Harvard Square, One Bennett Street, Cambridge.MA 02138. Telephone 617 864 12000 - offers comfort and efficiency. My room had hot and cold running everything, television in the bedroom and in the bathroom, a video recorder, a Bose radio/cd, mini bar, a dining table, sofas etc.. More comfortable than many flats. I could have stayed there and written a novel. There are two restaurants, both of which excel in their cuisine and service. Henrietta's Table and Rialto. My first encounter with Henrietta's Kitchen was a breakfast the next day. The list of American style goodies to start the day seems endless. Pancakes and its not Shrove Tuesday, blueberry muffins, English muffins (as rare as hen's teeth in England), eggs every which way. Looking around at watch my fellow breakfast eaters were munching everything looked good. Everything I tried which were mainstream items were good except the coffee. It was light in colour and flavour, but I later discovered that espresso was available. The morning was taken up by a tour of Boston's Italian district. This was not madly exciting for a Londoner as the shops are very similar to Soho. The items were stacked in different places but they have all come from Italy. The buildings are as Soho's were thirty years ago. Lunch at Radius, 8 High Street, MA 02110. telephone 617 426 1234. Radius is a converted banking hall which has been made into a splendid room. A place for theatre, Radius has to be one of the trendiest places in town. Lots of pretty people displaying themselves in the mode of today.
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The wine list was very interesting and nicely balanced with wines from South America and places other than the USA. Radius is owned jointly by Christopher Myers and Michael Schlow who is also the chef. As with every Boston restaurant the menu contains many fish dishes marinated Maine lobster, skate (raie), halibut, monkfish and scallops of course. Traditional French dishes abound including foie gras, frog's legs and roast chicken. One could have a glass of Ferrari for $10 while perusing the menu, they also had Sherry on the list. The chef sent out a selection of dishes to try including wonderful Dover sole in clarified butter, perfectly cooked lobster. Every dish was well presented, served with care and tasted delicious. Full marks to the whole brigade and all the front of house staff, Radius would be a great success in London and I suspect in every capital city. The snow prevented one walking around Boston, 'America's Walking City' sadly. With temperatures 32
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