A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

We start off with the cheese plate. It was an all milk plate with: Veenweide Kaus (Holland), Camembert Chatelain (Normandy) and Keens Cheddar (England). I think that the cheddar was my favorite, it was a hard cheese but it was smooth. The Veenweide Kaus reminded me of a Piave Vecchio, it was slightly gritty but buttery and delicious. I’m not a huge soft cheese person, but the Camembert was good, very mild, smooth and spreadable. The cheeses came paired with radish, a jelly (on right) that was almost flavorless and I have to admit, the texture freaked me out a little, and this sweet fruit (left). The waitress told me that they get all their cheese from Formaggio Kitchen, so we all know where my next stop will be.

We also have the calamari as an appetizer. They are so light and crispy, perfectly cooked. It comes with a black pepper aioli and a lemon, but frankly I like them better plain.

I had the Friday special-Maine Lobster Gnocchi with leeks and Meyer Lemon brown butter ($28). The gnocchi was light and delicious. The lobster meat was all the meat from a 1 1/2 lb. lobster.  The lobster meat was sweet and tender. Here’s what I didn’t like about the dish, the sauce. The outside ring of sauce was super lemony and just didn’t taste right. The inside, underneath the pasta, tasted more like pure butter. I think that with this kind of dish, simpler is better, I would have liked to see this dish just in plain butter….I don’t like to fool around too much with lobster.

My dining companions ordered the steak frites ($21) with bearnaise and herbed fries. The fries were skinny and perfectly crispy. The meat was moist and tender. And how can you NOT like bearnaise sauce??

And the standard burger ($13) with cheddar cheese on a brioche bun with fries. The roll was buttery and soft, the burger was juicy and moist. yum!

We end with the heirloom apple tarte tatin with vanilla bean ice cream ($8). You definitely need the ice cream because this dessert is so impossibly sweet. It tastes like a a caramel apple. There is just sooo much sweet caramel sauce you feel like you are about to get a cavity. The apples were tender, but you couldn’t really taste them. There was a flat piece of puff pastry on the bottom of the dessert, but it was so hard to cut, I’m afraid of making a mess with it.

That’s the food, here’s the rest. We arrive at 7:30pm. It’s packed! There is a vibrant bar scene, and it’s popular with the after work crowd. We had a reservation but we have to wait 15 minutes for a table. I think that because of the nice weather, people were flocking here, they have a great outdoor patio (with heat lamps if it’s chilly) and people were eager to use it. We were sat in a table right by the window near the hostess stand. Here’s the downside to this-people who were waiting for their table, were hovering over our table, blissfully unaware that we might not want to look at their backs while trying to enjoy our meal. There service was excellent, our waitress was very knowledgeable and was able to recite the three cheese specials from memory. She is well versed in the menu and personable. I really like it here, it’s a great place to have drinks at the bar or stop in for a bite before a Sox game.

Eastern Standard

Located in the Hotel Commonwealth

528 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215-2606
(617) 532-9100

www.easternstandardboston.com

Hours of Operation: Breakfast: Monday – Sunday: 7:00am – 10:30am
Brunch: Sunday: 10:30am – 3:00pm
Lunch: Monday – Saturday: 11:30am – 2:30pm
Dinner: Monday – Friday: 5:00pm – 11:00pm, Saturday & Sunday: 5:00pm – 12:00am

Tags: kenmore, restaurant