It's getting to be time of year. No longer can I leave in the morning wearing a t-shirt, knowing that the chill will pass by midmorning. Now Boston is showing a small piece of its true colors- cold and windy. With that in mind, I decided to try a Portugese restaurant that's on my walking route between the apartment and school. I figure that as the weather gets worse and worse, I'll be less and less likely to feel motivated enough to walk back and forth, instead availing myself of the public transportation options. Anyway, on to the establishment!
Atasca is the name of the restaurant. It occupies the first floor of a tall building (there you go, that's it- I suppose it's either an apartment building or and office building, but I don't really know). Inside is a modest bar with perhaps enough space for 6 people as well as a number of tables with a few booths along one windowed wall. Outside, for those hearty diners or those dining in a more temperate time of year, are a number of iron tables and chair screened in by grapevines growing through a fence surrounding the patio and threaded with rope lights. Not a bad effect, really. The interior design is centered mainly around porceline- teapots, plates, serving platters, and some sort of wall-hung half-pitchers, designed to look as though they passed into the wall. The lighting is nice, if a bit dim, but it lends itself to the overall darkwood, warm yellow lighting and spnged wall decor.
Now, on to the imortant part. Service was prompt and friendly, as well as posessing a generally high level of knowledge concerning the cuisine. With the menu I was served a bowl of olives (colored black, but not 'black olives,- I do not know the type, though they were milder and more buttery in flavor) and a basket of sliced crusty bread with dipping olive oil. Along with the herbs and spices in the oil (red pepper flakes, ground pepper, basil, a parsely sprig, possibly some sort of grated parmesian like cheese) there were 4 cloves of roasted garlic (to go with the 4 pieces of bread, mayhaps). A quick side note- I love garlic, in all its forms. I thought these cloves would be strong and heady, but I instead found them to be delicately flavored and incredibly rich in texture- almost like a smoothed garlicy butter. They were great. Anyway, while I perused the menu, I ordered one of the 3 Portugese beers they carried, named just Super Bock. It was actually quite tasty, despite initial reservations, thinking it to be a weak, watery american-type lager. Instead, perhaps in homage to bocks everywhere, it had a mild flavor with a strong aftertaste- a very good aftertaste, but not like you would find in an IPA. Since I can't rememeber more about it, I suppose I will just have to have another at some point in the future to be able to deliver a more accurate description. Pity, that.
I ordered the fish of the day, Mahi-Mahi, which came promptly, piping hot after its grilling. The portion of tasty Dolphin fish was quite substantial, I'd put it very near a pound, precooked. Accompanying this was a pile of 'garlic' mashed potatoes, which were, honestly, mediocre due to a wimpy texture and lack of garlic flavor, as well as some cooked (sauteed?) snow peas, onions, and carrots- which were quite excellent. A few carmelized onions add a great deal to the snow peas, surpringly enough.
Three quartersof the way through the meal, I decided that I would check out their desserts and asked for the rest to go home with me and for a dessert menu. I was actually rather impressed at their selection of desserts, ports, espressos, brandys, and so forth. I exercised my willpower and forewent the port, and instead made the tough choice between some "homemade rice pudding with cinnamon" and the "lemon-port custard with caramel sauce." I chose the latter, hoping to get my fill of port from the dish. It turned out to be an excellent redition of the spanish/mexican dessert Flan, with a moderate lemon flavour, well balanced sauce, and a perfect texture. Unfortunately, I could detect none of the port, but that could merely be my unrefined palate.
Upon the conclusion of the meal, I decided I would return and try another path through their menu, perhaps trying one of their many appetizing-sounding starters instead of dessert this time. Overall, a very good moderately priced meal at a grand total of $35 at the end of the evening.
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