A Night Out: Double Feature
Centro
720 Mass. Ave., Cambridge
(617) 868-2405
Located in the heart of Central Square, the aptly named restaurant, Centro (pronounced Tchentro as the Italians do) is both a foodies’ delight and the perfect spot for a date. Nestled under the same roof and run by the same management as the Good Life, Centro exists as a sort of a parallel universe to the adjacent red-hued martini lounge.
The first trick with Centro is finding the entrance to the restaurant, which is located inside the Good Life. This feature is both a plus and a minus: By the time we made it past the Good Life’s amber-lit cocktail lounge, we certainly lost all sense of having a quiet evening out. But the energetic vibe of the bar—buzzing with a well-dressed yet laid-back crowd—is a great locale for pre-dinner cocktails or post-dinner shot-taking. Apparently, the good life seems to involve stiff drinks.
After listening to smooth jazz tunes, venturing into Centro was a brief culture shock. With Pavarotti softly crooning in the background, Centro is reminiscent of an Italian villa. Gothic-esque lanterns and relief carvings grace the restaurant, while dim lighting renders the room cozy and romantic. On a Wednesday evening, the clientele was composed largely of professionals in their late twenties or early thirties, most of whom appeared to be having a relaxing evening out with friends. The tables were well-spaced to the point where awkward first-daters would have plenty of privacy to share a life story or two over a bottle of red. The noise level remained unobtrusive and for most of the evening was just above intimate.
The menu of the restaurant rotates every three months as the chef aims to recreate the experience of traveling through various regions of Italy. When we visited, Centro was stopping by the Veneto region, which—according to the menu—is known for “its creative use of spices, fresh produce and the simple treatment of meat and fish.” Our enthusiastic server warmly introduced us to the menu, meticulously going through the ingredients and execution of each item.
The menu was short and selections were few, but we quickly learned that the lack of variety was made up for by the high quality of the cuisine. Our journey through Veneto started with warm, grainy bread served in a wooden bowl. We were presented a delicious white bean spread flavored with garlic. The paste was a refreshing alternative to butter and we had to agree with our waitress that it was “absolutely addictive.”
We began our Italian feast with a batch of plump scallops ($10) seared to perfection. Lightly washed in a slightly acidic balsamic, the tender scallops were served on a bed of crisp lentils and other spring vegetables. The beef carpaccio ($7) was simple, providing the perfect stage for highlighting the delicious meat. With both these dishes, a colorful plate of crunchy vegetables complemented the softness of flesh.
For the main course, we sampled two of the rustic pasta dishes. The gnocchi ($20) was doughy and chewy, but not excessively heavy—a fine feat for gnocchi. It was served with a bouquet of mushrooms. In fact, the dish seemed to be more mushrooms than gnocchi, a clever formula that prevented the pasta from seeming overbearing. But the fettucelle ($14) stole the show. We weren’t surprised when we learned that this delicate pasta was made fresh in the kitchen by clearly skilled hands.
The noodles glided down smoothly, dancing in a savory mixture of duck ragout and tomatoes. The duck was prepared as the best duck should be—it literally fell apart as we bit into it. The only disappointment on the menu was the rapini ($5), a side dish that resembled broccoli. We couldn’t be sure if the dish also tasted like broccoli, for an overzealous cook burnt it to the point where the taste of charcoal overshadowed any of the other flavors.
Desserts ($7), like the rest of the menu, remained simple but delightful. We tried the panna cotta, which was basically a flan sans the traditional burnt caramel flavor. The light vanilla pudding was garnished with thinly sliced marinated strawberries that added an extra tart to the strong vanilla flavor. The chocolate-amaretto torta played up the second half of its name and was complemented by rich swirls of chocolate and caramel sauce. The pastry at Centro was amazingly fluffy and offered a counterbalance to the more substantial main courses.
For two lovely hours, our palates were carried off to the delights of a charming little Venetian town. The bustling scene at the Good Life was a welcome change after the hearty meal. We realized that if the date at Centro didn’t fare too well, there would always be a sea of singles at the Good Life next door (or a House formal in a courtyard) from which to choose. But the excellent Italian cuisine and the hefty price-tag of $50 per person make Centro a restaurant better saved for that special someone.
The Blue Room
One Kendall Square, Cambridge
(617) 494-9034
The unsung hero of the 1990s economic boom was the continuous business traveler, the frenzied foot soldier of the New Economy. Hopping from Dallas to Dulles, he lived a never-ending parade of airline lounges, airport bars and expense-account meals in strange cities. But for those who missed the Internet boom and its resplendent wonders, this one-part exciting and two-parts vertiginous lifestyle has been conveniently encapsulated at the Blue Room. This bustling Kendall Square restaurant is just two T stops away, but with an unremarkable décor and unplaceable cuisine, it seems a faceless world unto itself.
This is not to say the Blue Room is without its charms. Packed to its exposed wood rafters on a rainy Sunday night, the restaurant attracts a hearty dinner crowd of families, MIT types and the aforementioned business travelers. White tablecloths have been cast aside in favor of exposed metal tabletops, leaving a casual sort of place where you can ask to have a bite of your neighbor’s entrée (or at least that’s what the guy sitting next to me found appropriate). Finding high-quality food in such a low-pretense atmosphere is certainly admirable, and this is what the Blue Room aspires to achieve. Though the restaurant brags about the Niman Ranch lineage of its meats and aspires to some impressive culinary heights, there is nary a drop of snootiness to be found in the entire place.
The sizable wine list, for example, has a playful informality, with whites and reds divided by personality rather than type or terrain. Bottles of Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay turn up in the “Mid Weight, Refined But Lively” section, which could easily double for an appealing personal ad, while “Rustic, Spicy and Earthy” (too PSLM for me) houses Shiraz and Carmignano. Though leaning heavily on Italy, the cute categories are a veritable United Nations, with Argentina, Turkey and even Massachusetts fielding delegations.
It is this same cosmopolitan ambition that lands the dinner menu in its utopian troubles. The eight entrées alone strive to represent Middle Eastern, Asian, Southern and Mediterranean influences. Elsewhere, the round-the-world tour continues with Caribbean appetizers, French cheeses and Indian desserts. In the Blue Room’s brave new world, Asian vegetables with soba noodles, ginger, soy and sesame ($17) can turn up next to braised lamb shank with dates and almonds, couscous and harissa ($22). This is not mere “American eclectic” or “world fusion,” but an attempt at true culinary globalization.
Just like real supranationalism, this would all be great fun if it actually produced satisfactory results, and occasionally it does. The skillet roasted skate with morels, fava beans and asparagus ($19) was a very nice rendition of a fish that seems to be turning up on more menus by the second. The ample portion of skate was perfectly cooked, with a nice crust on the outside, but still extremely tender inside. The dish did not need to be literally swimming in butter, but the morel mushrooms were also fresh and flavorful. In another entrée bright spot, the pork and garlic sausage player in the Blue Room’s mixed grill ($21 for the sausage and two tasty, if unexceptional, portions of squab and sweetbreads) was well-prepared and pleasingly garlicky. Even spicy mustard and sautéed onions would do this link a grave disservice.
Both of our desserts hit their marks as well and were part of a very appealing list of five closers. The sweet rice “pudding” with coconut and mango ($5) is indeed a delicious rice pudding, well-accented by the fruit and two crisp cookies. The clove ice cream that accompanied the toasted phyllo pastry with dates, honey and pistachio ($6) was perhaps the big winner of the night. Additional choices included warm chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream ($6) and very appealing caramelized banana napoleon ($6). Meyer lemons seem to be popping up just as frequently as skate these days, and the Blue Room is not one to miss a trend, throwing them onto the menu in a sorbet with anise seed biscotti ($5). Dates—the interpersonal kind, not the fruits—seem to often only be as good as the last moment, so the Blue Room can at least promise to send you off to that House formal on a high note.
The Blue Room’s weak spots seem a product of an overeager desire to please and misplaced worldly ambition, like an annoying kid in section. The roasted red onion tart with Stilton and aged balsamic vinegar ($9), for example, was a solid effort that just missed the mark. Combining the strong flavors of Stilton and balsamic with sweet onion and buttery pastry is a great idea. But the theme here appeared to be “thick,” with the pastry shell too soft and doughy and the red onions chopped too large to allow the dish to really come together. The mahi-mahi cakes with yucca and mojo de ajo ($8) were the biggest shame of the evening. Their strange culinary fusion appears to be “Miami meets Idaho,” with most of the mahi-mahi cast aside for chunks of potato. Normally when ordering a seafood cake, I am afraid too much breading will push out the featured flesh. Now it’s comforting to know that I have something else to fear.
Our “cold appetizer” (the menu divides its lighter dishes by temperature rather than character) was spring vegetable antipasto with crispy flattered ($9). The waitress promised that this would be a spunky, impromptu plate of the chef’s whims. Perhaps exhausted from culinary globetrotting, the chef did not seem to put too much effort into ours. While the eggplant spread was great on the house-made flatbread and the marinated fennel showed signs of life, the various pieces of unadorned cauliflower, asparagus and potato fell very much into the “I could make this” category.
One thing I certainly could not do, though, is provide near the level of service our waitress gave. She was genuinely nice and very well-informed, and she seemed to enjoy what she was doing. She almost sat down and drank a glass of wine with the table next to us and certainly knew more about wine than either of her customers did. Noting the nearby Kendall Square Theater, she started by asking us if we needed to be out by a certain time and suggested the possibility of crafting a light meal from just the appetizers (though this did not include a warning to not let the mahi-mahi-potato-potato cakes enter the plan). Those thinking about using taking a date to the Blue Room should be forewarned that your server could very well be friendlier and more interesting than the person across the table.
In addition to the hopping dining room, the large brick confines house an open kitchen and medium-sized bar with televisions, which seems a nice place to grab a quick drink before your movie. Along with a very solid collection of New England and Old England (try the Fuller’s) beers, the Blue Room amusingly offers a quart of Budweiser ($6.25), which they will bring to your table in the same chilled marble presentation as a bottle of white wine. You have to admire a place that offers sweetbreads and squab but can still artfully serve 32 ounces of pure mediocre American beer. Specialty drinks include Nick’s Red Sangria (glass $5, pitcher $19), vodka-blackberry lime rickey ($6) and—if things aren’t going too well—a “Dark and Stormy” ($5.25), an appealingly brooding combination of Gosling’s rum and ginger beer. A few of those could certainly work well with the “where the hell am I?” feel of the entire place.
Like the life of a business traveler, the wide-reaching attempts of the Blue Room obviously appeal to some. Careful selection and an open mind help a lot, as does the ability to suspend the desire for coherence, which really can get tiresome at times. The feelingless anonymity of the dining room should appeal as a dating scene for either sexual deviants or true romantics. The couple deeply in love does not need roses and cozy décor in order to swoon over each other, nor does the interesting conversationalist require sensory overload in order to invigorate his companion. The Blue Room’s sparse brick walls offer only bizarre Betsy Cullen photographs for distraction, so if you come, bring your A-game, order a quart of Budweiser and prepare for an interesting, if uneven, culinary jaunt around the world. A few destinations may not be worth the effort, but at least you are out of Harvard Square, somewhere.