Craigie Street Bistrot

I'm venturing over to the place tonight with mixed feelings. Mainly because of the online reviews I have seen. They seem to be a little "bipolar" (I loved the place..., ...the place was horrible!), so that spooks me a little. I tend to be the "devil's advocate" so when I see a bad review, I always think that there's some level of truth to what I read. We have a late (9:30) reservation with some friends from Europe, so at least I know they're used to late dinners :)

The restaurant a few blocks away from Harvard Square in what is basically a neighborhood section in the basement of an apartment building. Think "Laundry room at a large college dorm" size. There is no room for a bar or anything else except less than 15 tables. There is also no parking. They have 3 spots allocated from the building parking lot (which is not much). Most of the street parking is permit only, but you can find some spots about a block away.

When we arrived, the maitre 'd was MIA for a little bit, but once he arrived, we were seated promptly. Our waitress was very pleasant, but she had a bit of habit of interrupting our conversation. I would not characterize her as rude, more like "on auto pilot" :)

We started with a bottle of Gosset Brut and two starters: Foie gras terrine and marinated Octopus. The champagne held its own against the octopus marinade. The Foie gras was not an issue since it goes very well with bubbly. It was my first time trying the Gosset, and I was very impressed with the balance of acidity and taste. The nose had just enough amount of yeast to be noticed, but not overpowering.

For the meals, all of us at the table picked one of:

• Pork three ways
• Hanger steak
• Seared scallops

I had the steak with a little bone marrow, foie gras onions and a parsnip puree. The meat was done medium rare (as it should be), and the flavor was fantastic. The onions had just enough richness, and the parsnip was very well balanced. The pork looked beautiful (I almost got it), and everyone thought it was great. The scallops were huge, but tender and sweet. We washed the whole thing down with a 2003 St Emillion that complemented everything very well (even the scallops) with a very nice blackberry and light caramel nose, balanced tannins and good amounts of fruit.

For dessert, we had a mango and rhubarb dessert with a ginger ice cream that was lovely. The other guys has the chocolate profiteroles that I did not try, but looked very nice. We were having such a good time that we noticed that we were hanging out with the crew! We basically closed the place down, and they didn't throw us out.

I am somewhat relieved that I did not live one of the negative experiences I've read about online. I would characterize it as what I remember Hamersley's bistro in the early days, but in a smaller setting with slightly less trained staff. While the prices are typical French restaurant, they're not as evil as I had originally envisioned (cheaper than Hamersley's IMO). I would certainly go back.

Later,