Boat Street Cafe by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor
We had a lovely dinner at Boat Street last night. After a stroll around the nearby Sculpture Garden with an out- of-town friend, we headed over to the restaurant, only a few blocks away. When you finally spy the sign and turn off Western to head down to the restaurant, you feel like you’ve discovered a hidden gem (photo top left), a romantic and intimate space.
My husband, Frank, ordered a French 75: a delightful cocktail of brandy topped with Champagne and zipped up with a little lemon and simple syrup. I’m ordering this next time! For appetizers we started with a plate of padron peppers- little peppers simply roasted with fleur de sel. That’s it. Addictively delicious, you could eat them like popcorn (photo bottom. Sorry! in the dim light, we didn’t get great photos). We also enjoyed a fresh and vibrant pickle plate- picture perfect with small wedges of watermelon, beets, slender carrots, radishes, peppers, mushrooms- topped with a swirl of scarlet colored pickle juices and a little cluster of red currants (photo top right, and again, photo doesn’t do it justice) . Next, we shared a roasted white peach salad with a perfect half peach, very fresh, small arugula leaves, and flavorful roasted almonds.
For an entree, I ordered Renee’s famous flan. Last night’s version featured corn, spinach, and chevre. (Chef owner Renee Erickson demo’d this dish at Summer Camp a few months ago and I’ve been wanting to try it ever since.) Served in an impressively large and deep individual souffle dish, puffed golden brown over the top, the flan’s dramatic appearance caused a stir in the dining room. Three other diners separately came over to our table to ask what it was!
Frank ordered piquillo peppers stuffed with Merguez sausage and served over polenta. Our friend ordered the clam “chowder:” a large bowl of perfect, small clams served with a few diced potatoes in shallot, white wine, and cream, with a crusty baguette on the side. All delicious, especially with a nice bottle of Sancerre.
You can’t skip dessert at Boat Street. We shared the bread pudding which came in a shallow bowl in a pool of creme anglaise and a dark Theo chocolat pot de creme served in a glass pot and topped with whipped cream, a simple and perfect end to the meal.
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