Restaurant Week
Boston 2013

29 Newbury

March 22nd, 2013

Boston, MA

Abstract

29 Newbury Street was a backup choice for us but the menu seemed to draw us in and it felt like a good choice to try out during Restaurant Week so we booked for a party of 6 and headed up to Tremont Street after a day at PAX East (a gaming con held in Boston every year.) So you'll see some extra foods in this one that we might have a few words to add to but since it wasn't all ours, you might only be getting our experience (though the overall thought was pretty universal...)



29 Newbury

OpenTable has the following description of 29 Newbury: 

29 Newbury is a trendy Cafe and sophisticated restaurant. The inventive, upscale cuisine offers many options at moderate prices. 29 Newbury is definitely a romantic spot for a quiet dinner. 

 I would describe it, in the winter months, as not difficult to find, given the name, but a little tucked away like many things on Newbury especially when the smokers are all standing right in front of it.  Overall from the outside it does appear very trendy though the inside was almost borderline tacky to some. 

Our Meal

Beverages

Crammed into the little bar area waiting for our table most of us decided to have drinks while we waited for our table.

Tara: While I can't really tell you what I had to drink (it was fruity and made with vodka... not a real shocker if you know me!) I can tell you that this bartender is the shining STAR inside 29 Newbury!  If there is anything I would return to this restaurant for it would be to sit at his bar and drink his mixed drinks. He was knowledgeable, had recommendations and was willing to work with our desires. If you're in the neighborhood and need a libation, stop by the bar here and try it out.  As for the food... keep reading :)

Nick: I ordered a ginger Manhattan   It included ginger I watched the bartender shave and put in my drink.  It not only added a ton of flavor but also a little spice.  The ginger went really well with the drink and cut some of the harshness of the whiskey - but also it was pretty good whiskey to start with.

Stephan: I can't restate what Tara said enough, this bartender was a delight. I have been fascinated by Scotch recently, I like smokey drinks. He made a suggestion and I went for it! It was a really nice scotch although the rest of my table would disagree because they are not scotch drinkers.

Appetizers

Goat Cheese Bruschetta, Toasted Garlic Crostini, Marinated Tomatoes and Onions, Balsamic Vinegar and EVOO

Tara: Overall, the dish LOOKED really nice but the flavors sort of fell flat for me. The bruschetta was overwhelmed by the overly strong flavor of the purple onion leaving you nothing but onion flavor to completely drown out the tomato and, sadly, the goat cheese. Goat cheese can be an EXTREMELY sensitive and light flavor, and in this dish it was manhandled right off the palette!  The arugula was... arugula  and the dressing was nice but since that wasn't the center point, I was overall, not impressed with my dish.

New England Clam Chowder
Nick: I did not order off the Restaurant Week menu - there was just not enough that I liked but over all my meal ended up costing about the same.

The clam was bountiful which is always a plus.   The sauce was a good consistency for my tastes but it lacked a lot of flavor in its own right - it was more of a soup and less of a chowder.  I think this was my best dish of the night.

½ Dozen Fried Oysters with Crème Fraiche and American Caviar
Stephan: Really this for me was about the oysters, they were clean and fresh, but in my opinion over cooked.  After having a flash fried oyster in New Orleans, they just don't match up.  The Caviar was so subtle I actually forgot it was on the dish, and the Creme Fraiche was just wasted.  I expected a lot more and this was the first of many disappointment.

Chicken Tortilla Soup, topped with Fresh Avocado, Cilantro and Pepper Jack Cheese

Vannessa's Order

Entrees

Porcini and Crimini Mushroom Lasagna in a Béchamel Sauce with Wilted Greens and Garlic Bread

Tara: As a mushroom lover, this sounded absolutely fantastic to me! When it arrived at the table (by the way, we got our meals like two plates at a time over the course of several very LONG minutes... that was so not cool with us...) I was instantly sort of disappointed in the presentation and the sheer amount of PASTA layered on my plate.  The lasagna noodles were really thick and somewhat over-dry. What there WAS for mushrooms in between were very tasty but there was very little else in between the noodles to help out the dryness factor.  The sauce itself was tasty but by the time everyone had their food it was starting to lump up a little which made it somewhat less appetizing even though it was needed for eating the pasta.  I didn't try the greens... they didn't appeal to me at all (though this isn't unusual... I'm not much for MOST greens though I usually TRY to try them at least.)  The garlic bread was fantastic. Go figure right?  Overall, it needed more mushrooms, more moisture and to be delivered promptly with the rest of the meals. The sauce was "good" but it really needed to be there with everything else so I could have at it before it separated.

Pan Seared Scallops, in Lemon Caper Sauce, with Mashed Peas and Potatoes, and Roasted Asparagus
Stephan: Seared Scallops are amazing when done right, one of my favorite types of seafood.  The caper sauce was good but not a good balance for scallops.  The scallops themselves were dirty, and getting sand in my dish is a big turnoff.  Mashed peas and potatoes, sounds interesting but they were just tasteless at the end of the day.  The asparagus were tree trunks, and under cooked over just a disappointing course.








Macaroni & Cheese with Pulled Pork

Nick: You can even see how blue the copper is in this picture.  I can't even begin to tell you if this dish is any good because it was so hot that it was a chore to eat and you never really got to enjoy the flavor.

I would think it would taste good but then I would have to wait and blow for 20 seconds to try another bite.  All of the steaming really dried it out as well.

Grilled Rosemary and Lemon Chicken Breast, with Tomato Onion Chutney, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Sautéed Garlic Spinach

Bere's Order: The chicken was cooked well enough but could have used more flavoring on the chicken itself. Any flavor from this dish came from the chutney on top and there wasn't enough of it to get through the whole piece of chicken.

The potatoes were really good but he didn't eat a lot of the greens because he's not a fan... therefore he said, "I'm not commenting on the greens because I'm not a fan of greens so... how would I know how they are?"

Grilled Sirloin with Herbed Butter, Spuddles and Roasted Garlic Broccoli

Vannessa's Order

Desserts

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirled Ice Cream with Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce

Bere's Order: He said this was actually very good.  It was very simple, just two scoops of ice cream (highly melted) with caramel sauce over it. The presentation was, as you can see, very poor but the flavors were as advertised.

Roasted Pears, Ricotta and Walnuts drizzled with Debbie's Local Delicious Honey

Stephan: This was actually my best course, the ricotta ice cream was really delightful, the pear was roasted well and was of great quality, still having texture and a nice sweetness.  The walnuts were candied and actually the sweetest part of the dessert.  I enjoyed it, however simple it was.

Warm Brownie Sundae with Caramel Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream

Nick: I was hard pressed to find a dessert so i substituted out the chocolate on this brownie.  The brownie however was more like dense chocolate cake which is more just not my thing than bad.  I ate about 1/5 of the huge brownie with my ice cream which was actually quite good and by that point of the night I was just done with this place.

Coconut Crème Brulee

Tara (& Vannessa): Vannessa and I were both sort of excited about COCONUT creme brulee and although when it came out it seemed somewhat small this is hardly ever the "biggest" complaint with me at the end of a meal. I prefer small desserts because then I feel like I'm wasting less!

The creme brulee itself was fairly standard, nothing fantastic about the flavor and there wasn't a lot of "coconut" flavor to the actual creme itself. But the REAL surprise came when we got to the bottom and found what we THOUGHT was coconut... at least that's what we had ordered.

What you see in the bottom of the cup on the right is indeed not coconut at ALL but instead.... ginger.  I think what amazed all of us at the table more at this point in the meal is that not once did the server correct us or inform us that the "coconut" creme brulee was unavailable when both Vannessa and I explicitly ordered "the coconut creme brulee" at the beginning of our meal.  My dish ended the meal exactly as you see it on the right here. Once I figured out what was ACTUALLY in the bottom of my dish I was done. I had had enough.

Most disappointing.

Summary 

Tara: Overall, this has to be one of the most disappointing meals I've ever had during restaurant week (it ranks up there with an experience we had at KO Prime one year which was a big fizzle-pop for other reasons.)  From the get go once we sat the service was sub-par, the information provided inadequate and the actual movement of the meal and table service left a TON to be desired. YES, it was busy in the restaurant that night but we watched as several other diners got up and left unfinished desserts, made off hand comments about the food and were also looking around to see how others were experiencing the food that night.  I will say that some folks who clearly didn't order off the restaurant week menu did seem to get larger portion sizes of things and seemed to be more genuinely happy with their experience so maybe it's a short fall of their restaurant week planning but OUR experience does NOT make me want to "give it a go" one more time any time soon just to find out.  I expected a lot more from an establishment on Newbury Street.  In the game of make-it-or-break-it for restaurant week, 29 Newbury broke their chance at seeing me again.  (Side note: I do want to emphasize again however, that I'd go back to the BAR in a second if I was in town and in need of a good beverage! Their bartender was the only stellar part of our experience there!)

Stephan: I will reiterate exactly what Tara said, if restaurant week is about getting to experience a new restaurant to bring in more diners for non restaurant week, this place will not gain customers.  I would go back and have a drink at the bar, but I would not go back for the food.