Washington Square Tavern
On the Green in Brookline, MA
What I Ate by Kitty Kaufman
Here's my dilemma: If I tell you how great the Washington Square Tavern is then we're all going to have to wait. So let's manage the logistics - we'll go early and sit at the communal table and you hang at the bar with your 1999 Martinelli Jackass Zin.
Friday night out on a snowy April Fools with nary a joke all day which did sting. We got seated at once and you will too if you go early. Fried calamari with yuzu aioli arrived first sans garlic, tomato sauce, cherry peppers, and hot sauce. Fish fanatics can rejoice at what a satisfying starter this is. We order it only when it's not Rhode Island style.
Bright mesclun and baby spinach salad, so fresh they must be growing it out back, with walnuts and citrus dressing was crunchy and tangy. Frisée salad comes with creamy goat cheese and golden beets, milder than and not as messy as red ones. Our entr'acte was a Troegenator Dopplebock from Harrisburg, PA.
With the menu's American slant, the no-meat group can start with the PEI mussels. Carry on with roasted eggplant and spinach ravioli; pan roasted local cod and one of our evening's choices: pan seared local sea scallops. Huge and lightly cooked, they were plated with what we thought was a sauce that turned out to be cauliflower puree. On the list of vegetables we know we should be eating but aren't, this preparation stands as a tribute to chef Chris Cronin's bent of less being more along with who knew?
Cronin, late of Delux Café, also knows what to do with his gnocchi. He terms it simply parmesan gnocchi, sweet fennel sausage and San Marzano tomatoes and piles high tiny pillows with house made sausage and smooth tomato sauce.
The secret to Tavern's ongoing success may be due to what they don't do: no reservations, no take-out, no dessert and no valet parking. They keep the lights low and the music peppy, with servers who know their menu inside out and tell you if a substitute you're thinking about is dead wrong. We like that owner Gerry Finnegan does the seating.
Washington Square Tavern
714 Washington St at Beacon
617. 232. 8989
http://www.washingtonsquaretavern.com
© April 19, 2011
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