Friday, May 23, 2008

Tapeo

Tapeo
266 Newbury St. Boston MA
Cuisine: Spanish Tapas
Vegetarian Options: Vegetarian Friendly
Price: $7-$10 per tapa

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Tapeo’s, a two story restaurant located on trendy Newbury Street, offers tapas in a rustic Spanish tavern like setting. The downstairs, is cozy and intimate with pots and pans on its brick walls. The upstairs of Tapeo’s is vibrant and lively and has a nice view overlooking Newbury Street. During the summertime, the outdoor seating at Tapeo’s is the place to be. There are only a handful of vegetarian friendly restaurants on Newbury St and Tapeo’s offers several tasty vegetarian tapas.

Food:

As a vegetarian, I love tapas and depending what you order, it can be a healthy low carb meal (a difficult find for a vegetarian). For mother’s day, I took my parents to Tapeo’s for dinner. Both my parents are vegetarian and between the three of us, we had six vegetarian tapas and one dessert. Generally I would recommend 2-3 tapas a person but we were looking for a light dinner. The vegetarian tapas are very similar to its sister restaurant Dali, but what is great about Tapeo’s is they do accept reservations and you generally do not have to wait long for a table. The garlic soup, my favorite, was off season and was thus not available. We instead opted for the asparagus soup, a thick creamy soup, which was too bland and needed a bit of spice. The sautéed artichoke hearts and portobello mushrooms were simple but filled with flavor. I really enjoyed there Queso Con Miel, a fried goat cheese mixed in a sweet onion and honey sauce. We were glad we saved room for dessert, the tarta de chocolates, was a rich chocolate delight.

Service:
Service was great for the most part. Our waitress did forget to bring us our bread at the start of the meal but she was very friendly and helpful with the menu. However she did seem a bit rushed with the bill.

We had a fun time at Tapeo’s and I will continue to return for great food and a chance to dine on Newbury street.

Pros: Great food, Reservations accepted, Outdoor seating available during warm months, Several Vegetarian Tapas

Cons: Street Parking, Tapas can be expensive


Tapéo on Urbanspoon

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Teatro

Teatro, 177 Tremont St, Boston MA
http://www.teatroboston.com/
Cuisine: Italian
Vegetarian Options: Vegetarian Selective
Price: $15-30

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Last night I went to Teatro, an upscale Italian restaurant overlooking Boston Commons. Renovated from a synagogue, Teatro’s décor is elegant yet trendy with an arch like ceiling that gives you the feel that you are dining in an ancient Roman theater. Located in theater district and next to a movie theater, Teatro makes for the perfect date spot.

Teatro offers unique yet tasty cocktails, and I ordered the White Grape Cosmo, which as the name suggests, is made from white grape juice and the green grapes in the drink was a nice touch.

For appetizers we had the arugula salad with lemon, and olive oil and the Eggplant Francesca with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. The arugula salad was nice and light, pretty standard, but I always like to have some greens with my pasta. The eggplant Francesca, a side dish, (also served as main entrée) was excellent! It is an eggplant dish ( similar to eggplant parmesan) that is lightly breaded and baked with cheese in a fresh tomato sauce. I am not usually a fan of breaded eggplant because it always tastes fried and heavy but in this dish the eggplant was soft and juicy.

Teatro's menu has a few vegetarian dishes and I had the Spinach and Mascarpone Ravioli with crème Fraiche & Parsley. The ravioli tasted fresh and was filled with spinach and a touch of mascarpone cheese. The sauce was smooth and silky and was not heavy like most cream sauces. My friend who is non vegetarian ordered the Chicken Marsala and said it was one of the best Chicken Marsala dishes he has had in a long time. For dessert we had the Pineapple Gratinata with Pineapple Sorbet and Passion Fruit Syrup. This dessert was okay, not too heavy making it a nice healthy option.

The service at Teatro was a bit slow. Our waiter was friendly, but was not very attentive and was slow in bringing and clearing our dishes.

Overall I enjoyed my time at Teatro, a great date spot, that offers a few good vegetarian entrees in an upscale elegant setting.

Teatro on Urbanspoon