Salts

Monday, January 22, 2007

Overall Rating: Sick Meals (86 out of 100)

798 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
View Map
Phone: 617-877-8444

Just a few miles across the Charles River near Central Square, Salts features French culinary delights in a tranquil fine dining environment. Creative dishes and pleasing aesthetics make for an evening of serious sick meal exploration.



Our Salts History
Our first visit to Salts was on a Friday night at 8:15pm.

Appetizers
Seven appetizers ranged from $9 to $15 with an average price of $13. Our eyes gravitated to risotto and Spanish chorizo dishes, but neither selection was available. As substitutes, Salts cooked up a whole rabbit with gnocchi and big eye tuna with black truffle caviar. We jumped at these delicacies.

The rabbit and gnocchi resembled a stew. Imagine assembling your favorite white and dark meats in a light mushroom broth, adding a bit of cubed bacon, and blending it with soft, savory gnocchi. The dish was small but delivered big on taste, offering a variety of flavors and textures in bite-sized chunks.

Salts beautifully presented the big eye tuna. Rare tuna cubes looked like quivering gelatin lined up in rows. However, for $15, style edged substance.

Other appetizers included pear and mache salad as well as a beet salad.

We savored the warm, oven-fresh buns and whipped butter. Complimentary pureed truffle and potato soup added a nice touch.

Rating: 8.6

Main Dishes
Six main courses ranged from $28 to $34 with an average price of $31. We chose poached monkfish and coq au vin en ballotine.

The monkfish tasted rubbery and proved to be the lone disappointment of the evening. Soft, delicious potato croquettes somewhat offset our lackluster monkfish experience. The dish also included bitter Chinese mustard greens.

On the other hand, the coq au vin en ballotine soared to the heights of sickness. Coq au vin en ballotine consists of chicken that is boned, stuffed, rolled, and tied for roasting. The resulting cylindrical dish melded a crispy covering with pureed white chicken that surrounded small pieces of dark chicken. The mouth-watering ballotine was served on top of potato mousseline, maitake mushrooms, and baby-soft pearl onions and carrots.

Other entrees included pan roasted sea bass, agnolotti with fontina cheese, and a whole roasted boneless duck for two, carved tableside.

Rating: 8.5

Drinks
Salts offered a few affordable wines amidst a sea of ultra-expensive options. Our waiter recommended Jose Pariente's Verdejo (2004), Spain's answer to Sauvignon Blanc. This fragrant and vibrant bottle offered good value for $36.

Beer is also available. Salts does not serve hard booze.

Rating: 8.6

Service
The "Front of the House Manager" was welcoming, engaging, and sincere. Our waiter was patient in answering many questions. Such patience was important as the French-laden menu is barely discernable to the average diner.

Rating: 8.9

Ambiance
Salts is a rare Boston-area restaurant that took decided care in designing an entrance and dining room that shields guests from the harsh New England winter. Two sets of doors divide the entrance from the restaurant. The second door opens to a side-area where no tables are located.

Walking into Salts was like walking into a Pottery Barn-decorated dining room. Oversized mirrors, candlelit chandeliers, red velvet curtains, and a dark wooden table with an enveloping bouquet complemented soft music and regular chatter. The elegant silverware was notable.

We were seated at the worst table of the house - a table for two near the hallway that leads to the kitchen and bathroom.

There was a slight pretension in the air, albeit it had little to do with the staff. Fine wine and fine French food sometimes have a way of bringing out a self-important crowd. Sick meals are always most enjoyable when rubbing elbows with people who do not take themselves too seriously. In this case, the preponderance of our fellow guests somewhat detracted from the experience.

Rating: 8.3

Et Cetera

Trivia: Salts is co-owned by chef Gabriel Bremer and his wife, Analia Verolo.

Menu: Check out the menu here

Reservations: Reservations are recommended.

Parking: Salts offers free parking in a lot located behind the restaurant.

Dress: You may dress casually at Salts, but given the fine dining environment, we recommend getting a bit dressed up.

Hours: Salts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 6:00pm to 10:30pm.

Labels: Cambridge, French, Salts, Sick-Meals

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 9:45 PM 0 comments 

Atasca

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Overall Rating: Sick Meals (85 out of 100)

50 Hampshire Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
View Map
Phone: 617-621-6991

Located near Kendall Square, Atasca is a family-owned restaurant that serves authentic Portuguese cuisine. Offering quality, reasonably-priced food and drink against the backdrop of an Old World dining environment, Atasca presents an outstanding option for an evening of sick meals.



Our Atasca History
We have feasted on Portuguese cuisine at Atasca on a half-dozen occasions. Our most recent visit was on a Saturday night at 9:00pm.

Appetizers
Atasca serves 16 petiscos (appetizers), three salads, and a soup of the day. The average appetizer price is about $7.50. Whether you love Portuguese food or are trying it for the first time, you are sure to discover a satisfying first course. Atasca's petiscos resemble tapas dishes.

On this evening, we enjoyed grilled linguica with pineapple for $6.50, presunto (ham) with Portuguese white cheese and tomatoes for $7.50, and a stew of white kidney beans with linguica, chourico, smoked bacon, and tripe in a light tomato sauce for $6.95. Other petiscos include littleneck clams, spicy poached mussels, sauteed squid, grilled shrimp, and grilled sardines.

Atasca's appetizers are solid, not spectacular, but what you read on the menu is what you get. The ingredients are fresh and the price is right.

For pre-entree nibbling, Atasca also serves black olives with bread and oil.

Rating: 8.4

Main Dishes
Entrees include seafood, chicken, pork, beef, and veal selections. We recommend either of the bacalhau (cod) dishes. Bacalhau de Cebolada ($15.95) is baked cod smothered with caramelized onions & roasted peppers and served with crisp, thinly-sliced potatoes. Bacalhau a Lagareiro ($16.95) is charcoal-grilled dry salt cod drizzled with hot olive oil & garlic and served with punched potatoes, grilled peppers, and onions.

A personal favorite is the Bacalhau a Lagareiro, but if you are new to cod - or if the idea of bathing cod in olive oil and garlic does not appeal to you - then you might want to try the Bacalhau de Cebolada.

On this evening, Atasca offered a special - stuffed fish fillets with seafood stuffing and seafood risotto. Our waiter recommended this dish so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, the offering did not live up to Atasca's standards. The stuffed fish fillets were luke-warm and bland. The seafood risotto was piping hot, but it was not risotto; it was rice with seafood.

The average entree is $17.50. Prices range from $14.95 to $24.95.

Stick to the Portuguese cuisine and you are sure to enjoy a sick meal.

Rating: 8.6

Drinks
Starting at just $5.95, Atasca's mixed drinks and martinis are blended perfectly and offer a great value. A bottle of beer starts at $3.75.

The wine list is affordable and varied, encompassing selections from all regions of Portugal. Bottles of white or red start at $20. We opted for a bottle of Aveleda's Vinho Verde for $20. Atasca also makes its own sangria.

Rating: 9.5

Service
Most of the staff was eager to please, but our waiter was mediocre and seemed primed for retirement. Within moments of sitting, he hounded us to order a bottle of wine. When we were ready, he went missing in action.

Rating: 7

Ambiance
Atasca is busy, lively, and comfortable. Ceramics, soft Portuguese music, and alluring aromas fill the room. On this Saturday evening, several parties celebrated birthdays, and a Portuguese rendition of "Happy Birthday" played on the speakers and provided a pleasant diversion.

A cozy bar area is a great place to grab a drink while waiting for a table.

Rating: 9

Et Cetera

Trivia: Atasca is owned by Joseph and Maria Cerqueira. This husband and wife team also own O'Cantinho on Cambridge Street.

Menu: Check out the dinner menu here

Reservations: Atasca accepts reservations for parties of six or more.

Parking: There is street parking, but it may take a while to find a spot.

Dress: You can dress casually at Atasca.

Hours: Atasca is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30am to 11:00pm and on Sunday from noon to 11:00pm.

Labels: Atasca, Cambridge, Portuguese, Sick-Meals

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 7:20 PM 0 comments