It's been around in the South End long enough to be considered a destination. Not that it's at all surprising, being a venture of Barbra Lynch. I'm not the biggest fan of the woman, certainly not her wine director, Cat Sirilie, but I don't hold either of them in such contempt that I would take my dining dollars out of the equation. Besides, people seem to like the place, why not go?
The last time I purchased anything other than meats from The Butcher Shop (someone should have reviewed the page for these glaring issues with the accents, as well as the fact that the menu is now two months old) was when I was managing at Union. I got a take-out salad that was over-priced and not particularly of what one might consider a lunch salad size. It was also, at best, an average lunch salad. I think that if one wants a good salad in the South End, Aquitaine is a better bet. So, I hadn't been back except to grab a steak or something to make at home.
This time, I was summoned by a couple who are friends of mine and Leah's. It was to be a belated birthday/welcome back from Germany dinner with him and his wife. Leah had to decline due to a dinner plan with her father who was in town for the day.
Around 7:30, I arrived, the first of the party, and was given some seats at the bar. When Janet and Avery got there, it was discovered that they had been holding a table for us. We opted for the bar, as we are all more bar diners than anything else. We were presented (turns out, we were a VIP table) with a half bottle of nice champagne. I took a gander through the wine list and decided on a bottle of Carema white label. It's a nice wine, and at 75$/btl, one of the less pricey but still nice choices.
We were also given a small amusé of gazpacho that was bright orange, completely blended (no chunks of veggies) and tasted mainly of red pepper. It could have used some salt, but the only salt at the table was what had been put on the butter that was served (as well as some lovely raw honey) with our bread.
We looked through the menu, which wasn't that long or descriptive and decided on sharing a charcuterie plate and the steak tartare. After finally getting the attention of our server (she was nice enough, but not really all that attentive, we had to wait a while to place our dinner order), we discovered that the charcuterie was actually house-made paté. What we wanted was what saw another diner nibbling on, a plate of cured meats. Turns out, that isn't the charcuterie. Odd, really. One can have terrines and patés on a charcuterie, but many people make the assumption, not erroneously, that it's primarily cured meats. Another one of those unfortunate arrogant food assignments that Lynch likes to make. Of course, the menu not being descriptive, we had no way of knowing what we would have received. Fortunately, the server did get us the meat plate. It was good, but missing several key elements. First of all, they put a house-made hummus on the plate as the palate cleanser, I guess. Some sort of nod to the Japanese use of ginger with sushi. However, it made no sense on the plate, added nothing, was not a particularly good hummus and we got none of the traditional accoutrémonts. There was a small pile of pickled veggies, but no cornichons, no horseradish, no bread. The meat was, however, very tasty. The tartare pretty much was a mustardy mush of meat that had been too pounded to have anything remotely resembling mouth feel. It was like eating baby-food. If one had a raw foodist, carnivorous baby.
We decided on our dinners, two of us ordering the Kobe (from Colorado, so it's technically Wagyu, which is the type of animal, Kobe is a region in Japan) and one of us on the house-made pasta with truffles. Fortunately, the conversation was great and as we sipped our wine, we weren't as upset with how long it took to get two mid-rare steaks and a plate of noodles. Throughout the night, Avery was constantly addressed by the kinda' slimey manager (who never once addressed Janet or me) about the food and other issues that neither of the two women were actually privy to due to the obscenely loud environment.
When the food arrived, we were again accosted by the manager, who took a full ten minutes talking to Avery before letting us alone so we could eat. The pasta was nice, not too truffled and the sauce, while creamy, probably not hearty enough for the weather. It was a smallish portion, but that's to be expected from the people who brought us No.9 Park. The Kobe, on the other hand, was a supreme disappointment. One expects Kobe to be rich and decadent. Creamy in the mouth and filled with subtle flavors. It was not cooked properly, charred on one side, barely seared on the other. The meat was filled with tough, chewy marbling and the sauce (carmelized onion) that was used on it was so sweet as to be almost bullying the meat into submission. The pommes Dauphine were great. Probably the best fried mashed potatoes that I have had in a long time. They were the salt that the meat needed and to get a good bite, one had to mix the two.
We opted out of dessert, mainly to get away from the loud environment and the loquacious, obtrusive manager. We went across the street to The Beehive for an after dinner drink and to bitch about the meal.
Overall, I would have to say that again Lynch has managed to disappoint me and attempt to bankrupt me in the process. I'm not really sure what other people see in the food at her joints, I have been nothing but displeased. However, if one wants good meats, The Butcher Shop is still a good place to go.
