Eastern Standard

In February earlier this year, I went on a date at Eastern Standard. Eastern Standard opened in late 2005, and being a BU student, I immediately noticed its arrival to the area. Kenmore Square is currently undergoing a revival and I was happy to see that Eastern Standard would be a major part of it.

Eastern Standard is a great addition to Kenmore Square because it appeals to a wide market. It’s casual enough for Red Sox fans looking for brunch before an afternoon game, trendy enough to lure hip, young professionals for cocktails, and upscale enough to attract businessmen and out-of-towners staying at Hotel Commonwealth in search of a quality dinner. During the spring and summer, it’s nice because customers can dine outside on the sidewalk patio, which is particularly good for people-watching. Inside, the main dining room features comfy red booths and high ceilings along with an exceptionally long marble bar.

Given the head chef’s strong resume which includes stints at Pigalle and No. 9 Park, it would seem on paper at least that the food would be good. The restaurant serves French-inspired bistro fare with the majority of the menu leaning towards straightforward comfort food - dishes like streak frites and braised lamb chops. However, there are the occasional oddities like a "good plate of offal," an appetizer dish featuring the kitchen's choice of various internal animal organs (sounds very appealing, doesn't it?).

Foie Gras with Lentils and Bay Leaf

For our appetizer, we opted for this dish, which presented a nicely seared piece of foie gras atop a mound of stewed lentils. I don’t get to eat foie gras often, so it was a nice indulgence. In fact, I think this was only the second time I’ve ever eaten foie gras. The first time was at Sibling Rivalry, but this version was way better. The one at Sibling Rivalry presented the foie gras chilled in some kind of terrine, so the flavor wasn’t as strong. I remember having to add lots of salt to it to bring out the flavor. Well, it wasn’t the case for Eastern Standard’s version. I wouldn’t say the piece was huge, but it was really rich and savory – a good start to the meal.

Roasted chicken with mushrooms, foie gras, and spaetzle

My date decided to go with this chicken dish. I didn’t try any of the spaetzle, but I did get a taste of the chicken. It seemed pretty flavorful and tender, although I didn’t really pickup the foie gras flavor. I assume it was stuffed underneath the skin before roasting, but it wasn’t very noticeable to me at least.

Braised Beef Cheeks with Root Vegetables and Potato Mash

I love any kind of braised meat dishes, so I jumped all over this beef cheeks dish when I spotted it on the menu. If you didn’t know already, beef cheeks are the actual cheeks of the cow, and they’re considered offal. Cheek meat as it is naturally is quite tough since cattle do a lot of chewing and the cheek muscles get a lot of exercise. However, if cooked properly, cheek meat becomes really tender and is packed with flavor. This was true for my dish – it really was delicious. The meat was practically falling apart – so tender that I didn’t even need my knife to cut it. All the root vegetables, stock and red wine came together to make a really hearty, rich sauce. The dish wasn’t all that different than that of beef bourguinon.

Chocolate Torte wih Grand Marnier Ice-cream

By the end of the meal, we both were pretty stuffed but we decided to have dessert anyway. We shared this chocolate torte, which came accompanied with grand mariner ice-cream. The slice wasn’t huge but it was quite filling. It was so rich and decadent that you couldn’t eat a whole lot without being overwhelmed. The ice-cream did a nice a job of balancing out the dish, adding a nice kick and orange flavor.

When Eastern Standard first opened, I was eager to give the restaurant a try but the reviews I had read about it from fellow food bloggers and critics made me a little reluctant. Apparently, early on Eastern Standard faced challenges that most new restaurants do. It struggled to find itself and provide quality food and service on a consistent basis. Aware of the restaurant's growing pains, I decided to wait a while and give it some time to establish itself. By the time I dined there, however, Eastern Standard seemed as if it had gotten its act together. Overall, the food was top-notch and the portions were surprisingly large, which isn’t the case unfortunately for a lot of more upscale restaurants. I'll be graduating soon, and my mom's already booked the reservations for my graduation dinner at Eastern Standard, so I'll be back within the next few weeks!

FuGakYu

Recently Sarah and I had dinner at FuGakYu, a Japanese restaurant located in Coolidge Corner. There are two FuGakYu locations but we dined at the one in Brookline. FuGakYu opened a couple of years ago and has been wildly successful. It's positioned as a more upscale restaurant and is clearly marketed in such a way to cater to the affluent inner-Boston suburbs.

FuGakYu is one of the largest Japanese restaurants in New England. Upon entry of the restaurant, you're greeted by a garden-like waiting area. FuGakYu is set up like a large Japanese house with two floors that include a sushi bar, cocktail bar, and a number of dining rooms, each with their own personality. Some are common dining areas while others are bamboo-enclosed booths or screened tatami rooms. Depending on where you're seated, you can have a totally different dining experience.

I always like to do a little research about new restaurants I'm going to try, and based on what I had read on the internet, the reviews about FuGakYu were mixed. Some were eager to praise FuGakYu's merits, touting it as one of the best Japanese restaurants in Boston with the freshest, highest quality sushi in the area. Others, however, questioned whether management had become complacent ever since the restaurant hit it big, complaining that service was inconsistent and rude and that food quality had slipped since its early days. I found lots of good things about FuGakYu but numerous complaints as well, so I wasn't sure what to think. Regardless, I wanted to find out for myself.

Chu-toro Carpaccio

This chu-toro dish immediately caught my eye on the menu. I had never eaten toro before and had always wanted to try it. Supposedly, toro is the fattiest, most luxurious, most prized part of the tuna. In this dish, slices of toro were lightly seared and then marinated in a soy-ponzu-olive oil sauce. On top of the fish came some pickled slivers of onion. Because of the way they were prepared, the onions lost their sharp, raw flavor and were surprisngly sweet and mild. They paired well with the fish, and everything was quite tasty. However, I'm still interested to try high-quality toro in its pure, uncooked form.

There were also two tuna carpaccio dishes on the menu - one was this chu-toro dish and the other was a kajiki-toro dish, which had the exact same preparation but was less expensive. Apparently, the fish used in the chu-toro was of higher quality, but I'm somewhat suspicious - I noticed some silverish grains running throughout the flesh, which usually isn't indicative of premium grade fish. I could be wrong though. Regardless, I was pleased with the appetizer.

Unagi

Given FuGakYu's stellar reputation for sushi, we ordered a plate of unagi to try. I love unagi - eel is the item of choice at sushi bars for me, so I enjoyed it. However, in all honesty, I've had better unagi at other sushi restaurants. Although it had the tasty familiar flavor I always enjoy when eating unagi, the meat seemed a tad dry. Granted, if you want to evalute a restaurant's sushi, you shouldn't order a cooked sushi item like unagi - that's why we ordered the chu-toro carpaccio. I'd have to say that unagi at Minado is my favorite so far - unagi there is always tender and plump with a mild teriyaki-soy sauce.

Chicken Catsu Curry

Sarah and I shared everything for the night, including the mains. We decided to order the chicken catsu curry for one of the mains. Pieces of chicken were lightly breaded and deep-fried. Although it isn't pictured, a curry sauce was also provided, which could be spooned on top of the chicken. The curry was dark, spicy, and a little heavy but tasty regardless.

Braised Boneless Duck with Spicy Sauce

The second main was this duck dish. The duck supposedly came with a "spicy" sauce but it didn't seem spicy at all. The duck meat was fairly tender and easy to eat, but the dish's overall flavor was a little lackluster. I would have liked if the sauce was a little bolder, but I suppose it was good in the sense that it did not overwhelm the meat and allowed the natural flavor of the duck meat to shine.

Dessert Tasting Platter

For dessert, we shared this dessert tasting platter, which included three different items. I don't remember their exact names, but from left to right in the picture were an orange-flavored cake, an almond and cream cake, and a mango truffle. I thought the desserts were beautiful and presented quite nicely. They were light and surprisingly easy to eat, especially after a large meal. Sarah liked the orange-flavored one the best, but the mango truffle was my favorite.

Overall, I really liked my dining experience at FuGakYu. Based on all the complaints, I was really concerned about the quality of service we would recieve, but we were assigned a decent waitress and the kitchen got the dishes to our table without much wait. Although I was pleased overall, I wouldn't exactly call FuGakYu a traditional Japanese restaurant, especially when most of the ownership and management is Chinese... Also, with such an extensive menu, it's hard to believe they can maintain a high standard for all their dishes. With appetizers ranging as high as $22, I wouldn't rate FuGakYu highly in terms of value, but it's a definitely a nice place to go to for a special occassion once in a while.