MENTON just may be the best of Boston

Not to sound snotty.. but I’ve been having some pretty delicious meals. FREAKING AMAZING meals to be exact.. and mainly in the seafood area. I’ve been on a seafood craze/binge – every dinner I crave some sort of fish and shellfish ;D Can’t help it!!! I was born by the ocean and grew up in freaking New England.

Now before I begin, I admit, while I’ve had good food in Boston, very few places really blow my mind.  I feel like I’m cheating on L’Espalier, but I think I may have found my newest favorite Boston Restaurant where I’ve had one of the BEST meals of my life!!!

Menton

Yep. As soon as we sat down Barbara, yes THE Barbara Lynch, walked by and waved hi to us *faints* Lovely!

The Bubblies & Wines of the Night:
NV Simmonet-Febvre Cremant de Bourgogne
MV Roagna Barbaresco “Opera Prima XVI”
NV Margaine Champagne 1er Cru Brut Rose Willers – Marmery

Amuse Bouche —
Tarragon Veloute
Blood Orange, Beets, Guanciale

Creamy and super buttery tasting. Of course, as an amuse, you gotta eat it all in one bite… but I savored it in many bites.. teehee…

Mini Hot Buttery Croissant #1 of 20… hahaha

Words can’t even begin to explain how freaking delicious these things are – crack crack crackity crack!!!! Trust me, even if you come here ONLY for these, it’s SO worth it!!!! But then everything else is great too!!!

Asparagus Gelee
White Sturgeon Caviar, Lobster Crudo, Wild Onion Flower

This gelee actually didn’t taste like asparagus. It was a soft, but firm consistency.. I LOVED the raw lobster – I’m so glad I’m finding raw lobster someplace other than Japanese sushi restaurants!!!… So fresh and tender… one of my favorite sashimi’s… and the caviar on top gave a nice salty balance to the whole dish!

Black Bass
Sea Urchin, Clams, Little Gem Lettuce

From the creamy uni to the slight chewy snap of the cooked down lettuce… and the delicious cute little clams…and then of course the perfectly cooked black bass. Flaking apart with a crisp seared skin. ALL was consumed and licked up clean!

GM gave me and UNI our own crossiants ;D

East Coast Halibut En Croute
Ramp Puree, Fennel, Puffed Wild Rice

When my mom was pregnant, she basically ate halibut every single day. So I guess it was meant to be that I’d love this firm white fish.  A perfect light sear on the halibut with a little salad of fennel and other herbs on the side… and of course the puffed rice. SO so so good. Such a simple element that took this dish to a WHOLE new level. Fantasmic.

Gorgeous Bottle of Wine

Rolls :D

Sour dough, french and wheat. We ate them – but then asked for more croissants [of course!!! I told you we had like 20 of them, AT LEAST!!!!]

Complimentary —
Fava Leaf Agnolotti
Fava Bean, Parmesan Cream

This was so creamy and literally just melted in your mouth… a little bit more bite to the pasta would’ve been nice or a chewier middle but I thought it was heavenly. Z seemed to want more of that bite/chew to it – but I was happy gobbling mine up and the thought of it was just afterthefact. Hahaha. #fattie AND have I mentioned my love of fava beans?! LOVE LOVE LOVE. Perfectly cooked… just enough snap to them… yummm…. spring is a-coming :]

Terrine of Foie Gras, Ris de Veau and Rabbit
Muscat Grape, Cepa Vieja, Rosemary Raisin Toast

The terrine was sooooooo creamy!!! We ended up eating it on the croissants [of COURSE]… the chutney it came with was as beautiful as it was THE PERFECT additional element to the bite! Perfect bite of salty sweet, creamy, chewy… oh MAN!.. and of course with the croissants, BUTTERYYYY and flakey!!!… The terrine NEVER lost the spotlight but wasn’t overpowering either….

Seared Foie Gras de canard
Ginger, Rhubarb, Tellicherry Pepper

I’ve only had one seared foie gras go wrong, this was the exact OPPOSITE of that bad experience. Delicious, silky with just enough sauce.  The leaves provided a nice fresh element to the semi seemingly-“heavy” bites.

Assiette of Rabbit
Black Trumpet, Almond

Rabbit Sausage,Meatball, Kidney [in the puff pastry] etc..
It was like a deconstructed rabbit made into delicious forms of yumminess. To be honest I was slightly hesitant about the kidney pie but it was my favorite!!! Flakey outside and a creamy inside full of flavor – didn’t taste like organ meat at ALL, if you didn’t tell me it was kidneys I would’ve had NO idea!  More kidney pies please!

Marcho Farm Veal
Vidalia Onion, Fava, Radish

Tongue, Sweetbreads, Loin

Super super tender tongue… as was the loin, but the sweetbread was just fantastic. Super creamy and amazing…. I’m a sucker for sweetbreads and this was a great surprise. I’m liking these deconstructed animals on my plate. It’s also a great way to get people to eat different parts of an animal.

Artisanal Cheeses

Condiments

Thin crisps, pistachios, cooked apples & raisins, white honey and candied almonds

In no particular order —
Winnimere, Vermont
Brillat-Savarin, Normandy
Challerhocker, Toggenberg
Veendekaas Reserve, Netherlands

The cheese at 9 o clock was my favorite but freak me sideways [haha trying not to be too vulgar] I can’t FREAKING remember what kind of cheese it was – obviously they’re all cow’s milk… but OH MAN, I was devouring it like no other. Dip dip in the honey <3

Extra Honey and Almonds

Blood Orange and Cocoa Nib Sorbet
Almond Biscotti

I don’t like eating blood oranges, but I love them in desserts – the flavors are just explosive. This was a light little dessert – the nibs totally pack a punch and add such an great crunch factor [which I LOVE]  The thin thin crispy “biscotti” on top was the perfect additional crunch and flavor. So well thought out but oh so simple.

Double Espressos

Spiced Chocolate Cake
Madeira Sabayon Mousse, Banana Glace, Dehydrated Marshmallow
Okay, it technically WASN’T our anniversary but still – cute :] Even the menus that they gave us had happy anni on it!!! Just a week off so it’s okay :]

Mini Macarons

These were SO yummy. I’m obsessed with macarons so this was SUCH a perfect little sugar sweet finish to the end such an amazing night.

Even though the dinner ran super late, they still gave us a kitchen tour.  Awesome.

The staff already had their beers of the night ready for their nightly meetings – haha. I felt like I was intruding but everyone was super nice to us.

Me and Aya

She’s the adorable petite pastry Chef who created those amazingly orgasmic buttery crossiants…. she even sent me home with a box of 8 buttery frozen creations to bake on my own <3 Look how ecstatic I am holding my bag of ready-to-bake croissants :D

GM Alec Riveros and I

This guy was SO nice – the entire night he made sure our croissant plates were full and was just a blast to talk to… he even playe along and talked to UNI ;D Now THAT’S dedication [come on giving UNI his own serving of croissants?!?!? Fatties galore!!] OBVIOUSLY this fat girl benefited from getting doubly the amount :D

This place is AMAZING and I will be back very very soon! Romantic, quiet setting and amazing staff – great service and just a great great great restaurant. A little hidden, definitely my new seafood happy place! YUM! Thanks Barbara for making me have faith in the Boston food scene again!