I'm going to be blogging out of order here, because dinner at Radius was one of the last meals I had with my parents during their trip to Boston. But I've wanted to blog about it for some time, and I took some pretty pics that I wanted to share with all of you. So last Saturday night my family celebrated my sister's med school graduation with dinner at Radius. Now, I will start by saying that we had an excellent dining experience at Radius, and I think this was in part because the owners of Radius also have a restaurant here at the hotel, so they knew we'd be coming. And i was promised a dinner that'd be great, like juggling bears great, by one of the owners. (his words, not mine).
Radius is located in an odd location for a restaurant. It's right in the financial district, 2 blocks from South Station, but that doesn't seem to have affected its popularity. The restaurant was full when we went. I was also surprised to find that Radius is actually a pretty small restaurant. (unlike Great Bay or Via Matta which have the same owners). But I liked the smaller dining room which created a more intimate feeling. You can also tell that Radius is the most serious of the 3 restaurants, with all the waiters dressed in suits and the sheer number of staff on the floor.
Ok. So onto the food. Radius changes its menu pretty frequently to keep things seasonal. So we were first given this amuse bouche. Which was really good, but I actually don't remember what was in it other than shrimp. I suppose this is what i get for blogging a full week after my meal.
Oh, and i wanted to show you these really adorable salt and pepper shakers. The thing about Radius is that the dining room is actually in the shape of a circle, and they reflect the same motif in the light fixtures, decorations, etc. So these were a nice touch.
Back to the food. I ordered this really lovely carrot soup with shrimp. The chef really likes serving soups where the components of the soup are first served to you in a bowl and then the soup base is poured from a metal tea pot. (they do the same thing at Great Bay with their clam chowder). So here are my shrimp in the bowl.
And here's the carrot soup poured over the shrimp. I really enjoyed the soup, with its intense carrot flavors. Very suitable for spring.
Next our whole table was served the famous Radius gnocchi with mint and peas. Ok, I'll admit that I am not a big fan of gnocchi. I find it too chewy. But i did enjoy this one. I think the mint was an interesting component and the sheer numbers of peas offset the chewiness of the gnocchi.
Here's my entree of scallops. Which are very very big. and served with different types of sauces. I especially like the little salad in the middle. But by this point in dinner I was so full that I could only finish eating one. (especially since I knew I wanted to order dessert).
But before that, let me show you pics of the two vegetable plates that my aunt and sister order. I actually seriously considered ordering this myself. So basically, you get 5 different veggie dishes for your entree. And they just use whatever they have in season. The coolest thing is that my aunt and sister got 5 totally different dishes. Just think 10 different dishes for just 2 entrees. That takes a lot of work and creativity, so I appreciated it a lot. And here they are below.
Finally, we've reached dessert. We were all very very full at this point. But dessert's my thing, so I wanted to try it out. We ended up ordering a cookie plate (and they gave us an extra one) and I ordered a dessert called the Cinema Paradiso. Here are the cookies, which were served warm and were very very good.
And here's my Cinema Paradiso, which wasn't so great. The whole idea of this dessert was a fancy version of snacks you get at the movies. So there were homemade rasinettes, homemade caramel corn (actually, i did like that), an orange slushy and a chocolate mousse topped with popcorn ice cream. I really liked the idea of the dessert, but the components didn't really work all that well together. So I continue to search for a dessert in Boston that will truly wow me.
So in summary, dinner at Radius was one of the first really great meals that I've had in Boston. The staff was attentive and helpful. And they really made an effort to make it a special dinner for my big sis. The food was great and the overall experience was very pleasant. Of course, I didn't pay for dinner, so my impression of the entire meal might have been a bit different had I actually paid. (Believe me, this place isn't cheap. I'll admit I didn't really pay attention to the prices, but entrees range in the $30-$40 range). So when you parents are in town, I suggest taking advantage of them like I did, and have a memorable dinner at Radius.
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