Boston Restaurant and Food Blog » Back Bay

Deuxave opening in Boston’s Back Bay’s menu, hours

Lingbo Li — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:43:08 +0000

Photo courtesy of CBH Communications

I have been observing Deuxave’s construction on Mass Ave and Commonwealth for months now. I’m frequently found traipsing around Back Bay these days, so an ambitious new neighborhood restaurant is much welcomed.

The food is seasonally inspired new American, with emphasis on sourcing local ingredients, and priced at around $26 an entree. The whole shebang is set to open “around” Labor Day (September 6th) and is the foodbaby of exec chef Chris Coombs (formerly of Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger; Aujourd’hui; Troquet; and the Food Network’s Chopped) and owner Brian Piccini (of Aquitaine and dbar).

I instinctively kind of like Coombs – he knows to spin his youthfulness to his advantage. How’s that for a PR lesson, college kids?

One thing that perplexes me is their pronunciation. It’s explained as “doo-ave” in their press release. But I remember that in French class, there’d normally be a “z” sound to transition between vowel sounds. So I’d been thinking of it as “duhz-ave.” Any French speaker input?

To see their sample menu, click for the jump.

Deuxave Menu

DEUXAVE APPETIZERS

A Duet of Prime Beef Tartare and Wagyū Carpaccio

herb encrusted wagyū beef, hanley style prime tartare, quail egg yolk, petite arugula, escabèche of chanterelles, potato gaufrettes, cornichons, rosemary-mustard aioli

“Night Moves” Scituate Lobster Gnocchi

with mushrooms, corn, green grapes, potato gnocchi, curried walnuts, & pearl onions with fresh herbs in a citrus fricassee

Crispy Crescent Farms Duck Confit

with petit heirloom tomato & frisee salad with bacon sherry vinaigrette, bing cherry sauce.

DEUXAVE ENTREES

Pan Roasted Atlantic Line Caught Halibut

with sweet corn succotash, chanterelles, peppers, herbs, Okinawa yams, laughing bird shrimp in ginger, espelette, tomato, and burgundy butter sauce

Seared Hawaiian Ahi Tuna

with pink peppercorns crusted big eye, pork belly, pineapple “aigre-doux”, sea beans, summer radish, cucumber, Asian flavors, lobster red curry emulsion and petit flowers

A Vegetarian Celebration of Summer

ragoût of wards farm corn & hand made gnocchi, porcinis, tempura celeries, fried blue aracuna egg, pousse pied & tomato salad, radish, saffron-heirloom tomato coulis and aged balsamic

Moroccan Spiced Colorado Lamb Saddle Pistachio

persillade crusted, persian style tabbouleh, a baby carrots, beets and turnips “en cocotte” minted cucumber raita & roasted red pepper vinaigrette, natural jus

A Duet of Giannone Farms Organic Chicken

crispy skinned roasted breast, and a crépenette of thigh, sautéed chanterelles, Ward’s Farm Silver queen corn, soft polenta, fresh herbs and sauce périgeux.

Deux ave opening hours, address

Deuxave

371 Commonwealth Ave
Open for dinner Sunday-Wednesday 5-10pm, Thursday-Saturday 5-11pm

Drinks at M Bar at the Mandarin Oriental

Lingbo Li — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:25:51 +0000

M Bar at the Mandarin Oriental reminds me of Shanghai’s slickly overproduced watering holes. The difference is that in China, these kinds of establishments stock only the most svelte and snowy-skinned of waitstaff, the kind with faces that inspire as much protection as possession.

(The physicality of Chinese beauty hits you in a very different way from Western beauty. Even at its most objectified, the former maintains a certain distance from its sexuality. It’s softer – it doesn’t assault you from the front so much as it circles an arm from behind.)

In honor of last summer, I ordered their Mo-del cocktail, which featured notes of rose and lychee, very Shanghai. I appreciated the generous helpings of sugared almonds and olives, which helped cut a very stiff drink.

I could almost imagine those were expat men lining the sill of the bar and spilling over the banquettes. I was never sure what to think of them last summer, to see them as so many suited malcontents, or to envy how some were mindlessly adept at making the city their jungle gym. Somehow, it felt unfair.

No related posts.

Piattini Gelateria and Match mini burgers

Lingbo Li — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:01:36 +0000

It’s Reading Period! I granted myself a free day wander down Boston’s beautiful Newbury Street, visit some fabulous friends, and eat some junk food… because I deserve it.

I have a good relationship with gelato. We’ve gotten along thus far – I had some truly makes-your-mouth-sing gelato on my brief stopovers in Rome and Paris. (Not as glam as it sounds, I was on a rowdy Topdeck tour that produced utterly cookie-cutter photo-op travel experieces.) I still fantasize about those heavenly fig and honey concoctions that I ate two years ago. So I was looking forward to some inventive varieties.

I saw recently opened Piattini Gelateria and Cafe and decided to give it a try. The super sweet waiter patiently explained every single flavor on the menu (rosemary honey, turkish coffee, fior de latte, thai coconut milk, chocolato scuro, frutti de bosco. And the sorbets were grape, mojito, limone, and pesca).

I sampled a chocolate with hazelnuts that wasn’t on the menu, which was so intensely rich that I decided on spoonful was enough. Rosemary honey felt like chugging floral-scented lotion, so that was a pass. Fior de latte (Amish milk) had the “lightness of vanilla without the vanilla flavor” – it seemed more like a fluffy absence of flavor than a flavor.

At an impasse, I gave thai coconut milk and mojito sorbet a go.

I think the major weakness of the gelato was that it wasn’t very cold – by the time I ate it, it had become soft and a bit melted. It also had a lot more air that I would normally expect. It seemed that chocolate flavors are you best bet here. I had been hoping for something deliriously coconutty, but rather, it was seemed more like run of the milk coconut ice cream.

The mojito had a nice sour, puckery note and icier, grainier texture of sorbet worked well with the flavors.

The bill for this small dish came out to $4.82. Plus tip, this ended up costing me about $6. My credit card felt a little sad.

I wish you had been a more transcendental $6 spent.

Afterwards, I hopped by Lena’s apartment on Newbury. I ate some of Lena‘s tasty homemade key lime pie while she looked pensively at a barking Hamlet.

“Was that a fart?” I asked when I heard something whiney come out of his furry body.

“It’s very possible,” she replied.

After a bit more chit chat, we hit Match for $1 mini burgers and onion rings. Unfortunately, they make you buy a drink, so I bled $3.50 for a small glass of diet Coke… but I got to sample the lamb and turkey burgers. I think they had a big of a heavy hand on the pepper in the lamb burger, but it was cooked well. Overall, kind of greasy and not too remarkable, but tasty nonetheless.

The onion rings are greasy good (with potent BBQ), but I wish the batter on the onions wouldn’t break apart so easily. A bit of cohesion would make it feel like eating onion rings, rather than your mouth trying to make harmony as the batter portion threatens to abandon onion ship. Ahh! Naked onion center!

You know what I mean?

Photos of the Day: Dinner at Mistral

Lingbo Li — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:57:25 +0000

I have these old photos banging around in my Picasa (a photo manager) and I can no longer even write a coherent review of the experience, but just to brighten your Monday afternoon, indulge in this high-end food porn from Mistral.

I apologize for not waxing poetic about texture of the escargots or precisely what kind of tomatoes they used, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

Most of what I remember of this meal is how we spilled water all over a chair and it took a decent 30 seconds before someone picked up on it. My dining companion, who ate with me at No. 9 Park, suggested I compare this to that dining experience where the service would have been at our feet immediately.

Post on Starbucks later.

The bread is one of my favorite parts of a meal, this was no exception - I think we had some kind of hummus to spread on it.

Very modern, streamlined opulence.

Softshell crab, cherry tomatoes, avocado.

Escargots - buttery, garlicky, heavenly.

Roast Rack of Colorado Lamb, Gratin Dauphinoise Potatoes, Roasted Carrots & Haricots Verts. Translation: lamb, mashed 'taters, carrots, and green beans.

Beef Tenderloin, Mashed Potato & White Truffle Oil

Carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream (creative!)

Mini Red Velvet Cupcake

Lingbo Li — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:47:22 +0000

A mini red velvet cupcake ($1.95) from newly opened Sweet in Harvard Square before I demolished it.

$1 Sliders Night at Match Martinis and Burgers

Lingbo Li — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:31:18 +0000

Sorry for the weird tinge. YOU trying taking pictures without flash in a dimly lit restaurant. Also, note delicious onion ring competing for greasy greatness with the burger patty.

Delicious sliders for only $1? Yes! On Tuesdays at Match (this Tuesday was a long time ago), this super-trendy restaurant next to the Hynes/ICA T stop serves their cheeseburger sliders for a mere buck. The fancier versions with lamb and whatnot are regular price. Then come back on Thursdays for $5 entrees.

But only for women.

To make up for passing bowling balls through our nether regions. Centuries of oppression. Panhandlers hitting on me. It’s only fair.

Lena Chen and I had a grand time eating our burgers and onion rings. That’s an onion ring wedged in there, to add a greasy, delicious crunch. We also had a fantastic dinner yesterday at Mulan, along with Josh Reyes and Christine Liu.

$40.09 Dinner deal at L’Espalier

Lingbo Li — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:21:46 +0000

So word from McClelland at Boston’s swanky L’Espalier (where I recently did a lovely lunch) is that they have had a change of heart and are now participating in Restaurant Week… sort of.

A distinct possibility is that they realized with all the business heading towards other high end restaurants doing Restaurant Week, they faced the possibility of rotting truffles and surplus humanely farmed lobster moldering away, and thus decided to join the fray on their own terms.

The dinners are $7 more expensive than how much RW dinners are supposed to be, but the lunches are $4 cheaper, and hey, it’s L’Espalier! Here’s their bit of propaganda that ended up in my inbox:

We are pleased to announce that we are expanding our Restaurant Week repertoire! Lunch will be extended an extra week, and for the first time, we will be offering a “modified” Restaurant Week dinner menu for the bargain price of $40.09!

LUNCH $20.09
First course, main course & dessert
Daily from March 9-March 31
11:30am-2:30pm

DINNER $40.09
First course, main course & dessert
Daily from March 15-March 27, excluding Saturday, March 21
5:30pm-10:30pm