A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

The Back Bay Social Club is like an old school steak house-the bar reminds me of France, the (fake) tin ceilings, the red leather booths and dark wood on the walls give the place a lot of charm.

We went for brunch on Saturday. They have a nice mix of breakfast and lunch items, and everything looks tasty-can I have one of everything?

We are sat in a booth in the back, a round booth with a view of the whole restaurant. It isn’t too crowded which is nice-I can see this place getting really busy and really loud at peak times. Our waiter comes over promptly. He is friendly and knowledgeable, he even quotes an article that the Globe has written about the place-and says that it kills him that they said it was only one of the best burgers in town….

We are bummed that we don’t get any of the banana bread that the table next to us received but after what we ordered, it’s probably a good thing we didn’t.

My dining companion is here to eat-he gets the donut sandwich: a griddle glazed donut with bacon and cheddar ($8). Pure gluttony. We cut it in half to try and control the damage we are going to do-it could get really messy. The donut is light and fluffy, the sweetness of the donut adds this nice flavor to the ‘sandwich’. It’s pretty difficult to eat this daintily, I suggest not ordering it if you’re on a first date 🙂 The potatoes that come with it are quite nice, they have a smokey bbq flavor to them, but it’s subtle. Great meal for $8.

Me, I’m not here to mess around. I’m here to see what this $21 burger everyone is talking about is all about. What makes a burger worth $21?? The burger comes with smothered onions and cheddar cheese. The onions start as 30lbs of raw onions, and are cooked down to 5lbs (no you don’t get all 5lbs on your burger don’t worry) and have this great sweet caramelized flavor which melds really nicely with the sharp taste of the cheese. It’s a great roll, although the burger is so juicy that it makes the bun soggy by the time I get to the second half. Again, another meal that you can’t eat nicely, but it’s certainly worth it. I order it medium-and it comes out beautifully pink in the center but has a nice char on the outside!

Was the burger worth $21, I thought so.The fries are tasty, thin and cooked to perfection with just the right amount of salt-and I love the presentation!

They have a great room downstairs that would be perfect for private parties, it’s closed at lunch time on the weekend, but I managed to get a glimpse of it behind the velvet curtain on my way to the bathroom.

Check out an article by Devra First from the Globe: http://www.boston.com/ae/food/restaurants/articles/2010/10/13/a_burger_is_only_a_burger__except_when_its_a_steak/?page=full

Back Bay Social Club

8am-2am 7 days a week

617.247.3200

867 Boylston Street Boston MA

http://www.backbaysocialclub.com

Breakfast served until 11am & Lunch served Mon-Fri 11am-4pm; Brunch Sat-Sun 8am-4pm; Dinner Nightly 5pm-1:30pm; snacks and cocktails served anytime

Tags: back bay, brunch, restaurant