NO. 9 PARK

This is part 2 of my birthday post. A while ago I had told Tom that all I really wanted for my birthday was dinner at No. 9 Park. I'd wanted to go here for some time, especially after Barbara Lynch won the James Beard Award shortly after my move to Boston. For those of you who don't know, the James Beard Awards are like the Oscars of the food industry. Tom dutifully made the reservation a month in advance, and also invited along some of my friends, so the four of us headed off to No. 9 Park on Tuesday evening.

Given how hard it can be to get a reservation here, I had expected the place to be completely packed when we arrived, and though there were a good number of people there, it wasn't uncomfortably so. The ceilings of the restaurant were surprisingly low (well i guess it is a basement after all) and the lighting is dim and romantic. I also liked the little beaded thingies they had on all their light fixtures. After waiting for a few minutes, we were shown to our table in one of the two dining rooms, where we were given drink menus and waited for Jayna to arrive. Our waiter was pleasant, but a little too eager. We just wanted to settle in and relax, and he wasn't giving us much of a chance. But after Jayna got there and we refused alcohol, he backed off a bit.

I had told Tom that he should order the famous prune stuffed gnocchi: seared foie gras, Vin Santo glaze, so both he and Leah both ordered that. Meanwhile, I went with Chowhound recommendations to order some type of pasta, so both Jayna and I started off with the Fresh Ricotta Ravioletti: chestnuts, sage, Parmigiano-Reggiano. (oh right, the menu is here is you wanna check it out). Ok, I'll warn you know that I didn't photograph everyone's plate. I always feel a little uncomfortable having my flash go off in fancy restaurants (like Per se and Enoteca) so I limited myself to taking shots of my own food and a few extra ones. Anyway, here's my ravioli. I was surprised when the dish arrived cause I was expecting mini ravioli and instead, there were two gigantic ones. They were great, though. The pasta was well made and perfectly cooked and the ricotta was so smooth and creamy; I don't think I've ever had any ricotta like that. One thing I didn't like were the chestnuts, which ended up being candied and a little hard. I understand how they were supposed to provide a contrasting flavor and texture, but I could've lived without them. Meanwhile, Leah loved the gnocchi and Tom also enjoyed it.

I didn't have a super hard time deciding what I wanted for dinner, cause I didn't eat a lot of the meats on the menu, so I was debating between the scallops and chicken. I wasn't in a seafoody mood, though, so I went with the chicken: Giannone Farms Chicken, baby turnips, Perigord Truffle, sauce supreme. I was also excited about the truffles on the chicken. Here it is below. I found the chicken tender and really well cooked and flavorful. I was disappointed with the truffles, though, and found that they didn't provide any extra flavor at all. And I was surprised to find one of my favorite parts of the dish was the baby turnips, which were perfectly cooked and incredibly flavorful. Meanwhile, Tom really like his venison which he had ordered medium rare and said it was like butter. Leah and Jayna also enjoyed their entrees. We were having great food, but the one thing I noticed that people like certain parts of their dishes rather the dish as a whole.

Ok, I insisted on having dessert and stopped eating my main dish just so I could have one. I knew from Chowhound that they had some convoluted descriptions of their desserts, and you can find them here. There was also this really cool cheese cart being pushed around, so Leah got that. Here's a pic of all the fixing they give you with the cheese cart. I found it kinda cool. I also wanted to take a picture of the cart, but didn't get a really good chance. So instead, here's a pic of Leah's cheese plate. She got one cow, one goat and one sheep's cheese. I only tried the Pecorino, which I found incredibly salty. But overall, everyone enjoyed the cow's cheese. (in the top left hand corner of the plate)
Lastly, here's my dessert. I ordered the Pineapple Chiboust: tropical salade, buddha's hand confiture. Tom got the Seckel Pear Retourner: star anise glace, quince, chocolate and Jayna got the Milk Chocolate Creamsicle: pomegranate, bittersweet panini . A number of the desserts interested me, but each one had components that didn't. For example, I would've gone for the pear, but I hate quince and star anise. But I wasn't gonna go for the boring chocolate cake (yes, they have a ganache cake on the menu). My dessert wasn't what I expected. While I did expect some sort of pastry, this was like a large piece of moussey/tofu flavored with pineapple and it was waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too sweet.. Actually, I should've asked the waiter what it was cause I just looked up the definition of chiboust on line: It is a pastry cream, finished with Italian meringue. and had I known that, I never would've orderd it. My favorite part ended up being the tropical salad, which was floral and flavored with something I couldn't indentify. My favorite dessert ended up being Tom's (minus the ice cream and quince). Again, it seemed that we all enjoyed different components of the dessert, but not the dessert as a whole. Jayna didn't even finish her bittersweet panini cause they tasted like they'd been drenched in oil.

Overall, we had a fantastic dinner at No. 9 Park; one of the best dinners that I've had in Boston. The service wasn't impeccable. The waiter had definitely backed off too much during the meal and we rarely saw him until dessert, but it was still very good by Boston's standards. And the food was also pretty great. Overall, if you have the opportunity and the means, I would highly suggest a trip here, it's definitely one of the "must visit" restaurants in Boston.