A nice dinner out

[rsc]

jwg's birthday was ten days ago, but (as often happens) scheduling difficulties caused his birthday dinner to be postponed until last night. This worked out nicely, since it made it into a double celebration, being our first dinner since, well, you know what.

I don't think of the region of Jamaica Plain around the Monument (right near where our contra-dances are held) as a likely place to find upscale restaurants, but we had had our eye on Arbor for a while (we had almost gone there with bratman last spring, but ending up opting to stay in Cambridge). So I suggested it when John was trying to decide where he wanted to be taken for his birthday, and he enthusiastically agreed.

Arbor is kind of hidden behind an undistinguished door and an unassertive sign along a fairly busy stretch of Centre Street. The space is a little odd -- it seems to go back from the street at a slight slant, so the corners of the room aren't at right angles, but there's a nice little space inside the entrance with a coat rack and a few chairs (in case one has to wait, which we didn't), which has the added advantage of shielding the dining space from drafts when the door is opened.

There's something of a "Mediterranean" theme to the food. The menu was so full of tempting things that we had a hard time deciding what to order; complicating things was that in addition to full-sized appetizers they had about half a dozen "Mezze" (eastern Mediterranean equivalent of tapas), which we ended up passing on -- I'd like to try them sometime. We split appetizers of crab and potato beignets (I would probably have called them croquettes) and a "charcuterie" of three different patés. For our entrees John ordered a risotto made with smoked duck and duck leg confit, and I had Moroccan spiced lamb. This turned out to be small slices of nicely roasted and quite peppery lamb, which I really enjoyed. I also got to sample John's entree (which had also tempted me), which was also delicious, with the smoky flavor of the duck completely permeating the risotto.

The portions are modest in size -- I know some people object to this, on the grounds that at these prices they should get a lot of food, but I like it when I don't have to struggle to leave room for dessert. (And I really hate it when the appetizers are so huge that I barely have room for the main course.) In this case, having room for dessert was definitely a good idea; in our case, a dense but moist chocolate cake and an apple crisp with local apples and lots of currants, both really good.

I want to go back and try some of the other things on the menu. I also want to keep this small place in an unlikely location alive. I encourage anyone who's looking for a nice special-occasion place to give it a try.

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Thanks rsc for the lovely dinner. That place is definitely a keeper - everything was most excellent. The next time I'll be tempted to order the same dishes again, but should try something else.

BTW, I used to think I don't like dates, figs, raisins, or currents. But the charcuterie had one of them and it was fine - and the currants in the apple crisp were like little blueberries.