a narrow escape

i am currently watching the game on nesn. though i am faithfully watching my team, i also feel the need to write about caffe umbra before the nine bowls of soup i've had in the past few days chase away my food memories.

as carrie and keith had had a rather subpar experience at mantra for restaurant week, we made a reservation for cutcat (carrie, keith, eric, erica and me) at caffe umbra to erase that memory. [a note on mantra: please do not go to this restaurant; not only is the food reportedly uninspired, the restaurant illegally charged keith more on his credit card than he had written on the receipt.]

dinner itself was really great! i was favorably impressed, although i did detect slight inconsistencies in service and food quality that are typical of restaurant week (even though they shouldn't be). the service was actually pretty uneven: i asked for sugar for my tea and the server totally forgot, and water didn't make it into our empty glasses for some time.

however, excellent food made up for it. i had a "salad" of smoked eggplant, fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and really good, thick balsamic vinegar. i've never had smoked eggplant before, and it was really amazing - concentrated flavor, kind of chewy. it paired really well with the mozzarella, and the balsamic vinegar was probably the best i've ever had - it was real balsamic vinegar, thick from being aged for a long time. it reminded me a lot of the salad i had at chez panisse, even though technically they were completely different.

my main course was chicken under a brick, which caffe umbra is known for. it was good, but not fantastic; it was, to say it snobbily, merely standard. the greens with it were a little bitter for my tastes.

the dessert was second best after my first course - i got the sticky toffee pudding, which is also a house specialty (it always sounds weird to say that about any restaurant that isn't family-run or a diner, rather than some hip, upscale joint). i have never had sticky toffee pudding, and i'm inspired to make some soon - it has this lovely round flavor that is extremely satisfying. i think it would be even better when it's cold outside. and with whipped cream...it was basically a slab of caramel in steamed-pudding form. mmm.

something i hadn't noticed in previous visits with my family is that caffe umbra is loud. one would think that restaurants would have solved this problem, as it's not particularly challenging. there are a million ways to fix bad sound - use softer materials, pay attention to how the sound bounces around, etc, etc. i don't know why it gets ignored, since it's one of the most important things. if i go to dinner with someone, chances are, i wanted to talk to them. some restaurants seem to think that's a strange idea. at any rate, in pretty much all other respects i was quite happy with the place. it wasn't as good as pigalle, but i'm happy to see that the food hasn't lost any of its luster.