February 6th 2014: An Upscale Tasting Dinner at Clio, Boston

Today, I decided to get lunch at Shaker's Cafe and Restaurant, apparently the best brunch place at 296 Hamilton Street in Worcester. The place itself doesn't look like much, although the Lebanese Breakfast (three eggs scrambled with kibbee, made with ground lamb, pine nuts, onions, fine wheat, cheese and baked, with home fries and toast) wasn't too bad, especially the home fries which were crispy and flavorful.

Overall, just average in my opinion though.

After work, I had plans to treat my good friend who was going to leave for the other side of the country in a few weeks time to an expensive dinner at Clio, one of the most upscale restaurants in downtown Boston, located within the Eliot Hotel.

The restaurant itself is pretty nice as well.

Deciding to go all the way, we both got the 14 course tasting.

We got complimentary starters as a pseudo first course, pretty interesting bonbons to start things off,

giving us great expectations of what was to come next.

The first course was sort of a palate cleanser, a tomato watermelon martini with a frozen tomato lollipop on the side and a caperberry in the center.

Really tasty, although the caperberry was a little salty.

For our next course, we got the Hon Hamachi Toro (Yellowtail Belly, Black Truffle Vinaigrette, Pork Belly Croutons), which comes from Uni Sashimi Bar right next door. 

Really fresh and melt-in-your-mouth, although the vinaigrette wasn't too much to my liking.

Next up, the Beau Soleil Oysters (Cranberry Mignonette, Horseradish, Caviar). 

It was interesting to see the oysters arrive on top of a box filled with ice. It made me want to dig inside to try to find some hidden treasure after the succulent oysters had gone down into my system.

The fourth course came in the form of a covered plate, opened to release a cloud of smoke, revealing Szechuan Smoked Salmon, which was mainly raw, but presented really well.

Nothing Szechuan about it, but delicious all the same.

Nantucket Bay Scallops (Sea Buckthorn, Broken Egg, Reindeer Moss) were up next, presented on a really interestingly shaped plate that seemed like it had been picked out from the rubble of a collapsed building.

The reindeer moss was really strong in taste, and it kinda made the dish taste a little weird, but overall, still pretty good.

Course 6: The Cassolette (Lobster, Sea Urchin, Parsnip Milk, Candied Lemon).

The foam hid the best parts of the dish from view, but oh, the uni... need I say more.

The gastronomic experience was not to end there though, with the Maine Swordfish (Black Lime, Cipollinis, Shiso Relish, Umeboshi) arriving next.

I have never had swordfish which wasn't dry at all, and tonight was definitely my first time enjoying it. Perfectly cooked, to say the least.

Our next dish was vegetarian, called Roasted Beets (Sumac, Aerated Molasses, Bacon Emulsion, Hibiscus).

Once again, great presentation, but the molasses chips were a little burnt, and the sour yuzu sauce did not help either.

The weirdness did not stop there, with the Fricassée of Burgundy Escargot (Pickled Ramp, Sorrel, Crispy Duck Tongues) coming up next.

The sauce tasted really weird, although the saltiness of the tongue kinda brought the tastes all together to give something momentarily tasty, but it wasn't enough overall to save the dish for me.

Thankfully, all bad things come to an end too, with Course 10 being the Foie Gras Laquée (Milk & Honey, Piquillo Jam, Pickled Hon-shimejis). 

Once again, a great combination of diverse flavors to bring ecstasy to my taste buds.

Our final savory dish of the night came in the form of Smoked Beef Short Rib (Sake Lees, Shitakes, Rabe, Eggplant Relish).

Not too bad, although not the perfect ending to the salty dishes.

Next, the chef's Cheese Selection.

 You can't really go wrong with that I guess.

Finally, we managed to make it to dessert, both of us being pretty full by now, amazingly.

The first one was called Chocolate Sake, with the sake being poured over the chocolate nibs and other ingredients on the plate.

The semi sweetness of the chocolate simply made the dish marvelous, and made us wonder what the final dish would be.

The final course of the night was really surprising. The Au Coeur de L'Hiver (Purple Carrot "Chocolate", Parsnip, Maca, Sasparilla, Coconut, Carrot Sorbet) was completely made of root vegetable ingredients,

which tasted earthy and good at first, but some of the components made it bitter, and kinda ruined the dish for us. Overall, really creative though.

To say the least, I really enjoyed my meal tonight, although it cost a bomb as well, considering I treated my friend to dinner as well. I definitely want to try the late night ramen from Uni someday.