ZON'S, JAMAICA PLAIN

I apologize, I couldn't come up with a creative title. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do. And i also need to apologize cause this post will involve no pictures. (though the effort was made. I had my camera phone, but it was just too dark for anything to come out) and Zon's, a neighborhood restaurant in JP, is definetly post-worthy, so you'll just have to live without pics. ( i guess i could steal them off the zon's website, but i'm not gonna bother doing that when you can just go over to their website yourself http://zonsjp.com/).

I had dinner last night with katie and dustin. Katie likes going to restaurants that have "tasty" food. I had known of zon's for a while, I drove by it everytime I went to JP on my way to other restaurants, but never made it there, so after checking out the website and approving of the menu, we all headed over. So the thing with zon's is that they're all about serving comfort food, and they certainly do it in an excellent setting. If you actually went over to the zon's website, you'll notice that the restaurants has deep red walls. This is enhanced by the dark furniture, black ceilings and totally funky decor. (like the cool chandelier with the plant in it that katie pointed out) It's kinda like a friend's cool apartment that you wish you could have, but are too lazy to accomplish. The first thing i saw when I walked into the place were the nice comfy couches that served as the waiting area and a really cute, tiny bar to the right of the entrance.

On the left was the dining room. Which wasn't tiny, but wasn't huge either, and made for a very nice, comfy setting where you could observe other ppl and still have a dinner conversation. And what I observed was that most people there looked like locals. Dressed down and out for a casual dinner. So like i said, this place is all about comfort food. Which means that the meau was filled with things like mac and cheese (in 3 versions), burgers, sandwiches and pastas. But they were all very appealing and reasonably priced. Katie ordered a bowl of tomato soup (apparently a traditional Italian version that was thickened with bread) with a spinach and goat cheese salad. Dustin got parpadelle(aka thick handcut pasta) with salmon and other stuff in a light cream sauce. I got a turkey burger with a side of handcut fries. I was won over by the burger cause it was embellished with gruyere and portabello mushrooms. (plus i wanted the fries).

The service was pretty casual and friendly. Not hugely attentive, but I have no major complaints. At least she brought bread and kept the water full (wow, after living in boston, my standards for service have truly been lowered). Our entrees arrived promptly and i think both katie and i were a little jealous of dustin's pasta which looked great. However, i thoroughly enjoyed my turkey burger, especially with the portobello mushroom that added a nice texture and flavor. Despite the fact that at $13 this was the most expensive turkey burger I've ever had (it topped the $12 turkey burger at had at Diner in Union Sq.), the size and condiments made it worth it. (unlike the buger at Diner. if you're ever in union sq, go eat at republic instead) Maybe katie will post and add some comments about her dinner.

Of course we had to order dessert after dinner. And we all agreed to share the plate of ice cream sandwiches. When it arrived, it looked totally cool. The chef decided to slice the sandwiches into quarters and then stacked them in this crazy tall arrangement and sprinkled the entire thing with chocolate and caramel sauce. There were two types of sandwiches, chocolate cookies with what we guessed was a mocha oreo ice cream and chocolate chip cookie with chocolate ice cream with choco chips and nuts (i said it was kinda like rocky road without the marshmallows). Now that i think of it, maybe they got their ice cream from jp licks, which is just down the street. These were totally yummy and a great way to finish off dinner. And it was actually so big that we still had a little quarter of sandwich left even though we all had a few pieces, definetly a dessert you should share.

So in conclusion, I was very happy with my dinner at zon's. And in general, I'm pretty happy with all the dinner's that i've had in jp. I kinda compare the neighborhood to a mini south end. Lots of good restaurants in a small area, and no matter where you go, you'll pretty much have a solid dinner. so if you have a car, definetly get out of boston and give the restaurants in jp a try.