Restaurant by the State House carries the culinary vote
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Type: European
Prices: Appetizers, salads $8-$14; entrees $21-$35; desserts $7-$9.
Good Choices: Foie gras terrine, tuna tartare with Ligurian potato salad; Alba truffles with wide noodles; potato wrapped ravioli; crispy duck; lobster with corn risotto; chocolate profiteroles, banana gelato, coconut sorbet; lime semifreddo.
Sound Level: Very noisy when crowded.
Hours: Monday-Friday: lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Caf� menu: Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Saturday, 5-11:30 p.m.
Reservations accepted. No smoking.
Credit Cards: All major credit cards.
Access: Fully accessible.
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NO. 9 PARK
9 Park, across from State House, Boston
(617) 742-9991
Restaurant reviewed 10/08/98 by Alison Arnett
I can breathe a little easier now. Barbara Lynch's No. 9 Park was a long time in gestation, and I can't count how many times I read "eagerly awaited" (sometimes written by me) next to the name.
Soon after the restaurant opened in mid-July, I made a first visit. The restaurant is a cool, minimalist tribute by architects C&J Katz to a few lucid colors - a pale blue, some taupes and greens - and to the power of gleaming dark wood. There's nothing decorative per se, save the blue beaded sconces, dusky green banquettes in one room, and a mural of black-and-white historical photos of the Boston Common. Somehow the three rooms - cafe and two slightly different dining rooms - are strikingly au courant and as refreshingly direct as Lynch herself.
Anticipation is a funny thing, though. At that first visit, the appetizers sparkled - a seared scallop over creamy corn over potato cake, a gutsy beet salad molded into a tower with assertive blue cheese at the bottom, a simple mesclun salad graced with herbs. But the wait for those had been lengthy and the stretch before main courses arrived was excruciating. People around us were voicing complaints, and the noise in the room - voices bouncing off the terrazzo floor - made conversation a sometime thing. When the entrees came, the fish dishes were fine, but not breathtakingly good, not at all what Lynch can do. Disappointed, I thought, it's too early but...
A second visit went more smoothly, the courses flowing at the proper pace, the room looking interesting rather than austere. Duck ham, cured at the restaurant, with foie gras and onion marmalade, was all salty, robust delights. A delicate mille-feuilles of Parmesan was a pretty little architectural construction with roasted asparagus and beef carpaccio and tasted every bit as good as it looked. The best appetizer was tuna tartare, the bracing flavor of the fish backed up with Lynch's earthy, sharp-tinged Ligurian potato salad.
Things were looking up, especially when we asked about a pasta sampler served to an adjoining table. Our waiter graciously brought us one, too. We devoured bites of orecchiette with basil, olives and walnuts; tiny, earthy bites of lamb agnolotti, and ethereal corn-filled raviolis with corn milk, exclaiming at Lynch's exemplary way with pasta.
There were a few thorns among the roses in the main courses - a lovely piece of salmon expertly seasoned with just a little truffle essence was undercut by a braise of overcooked borlotti beans. The generously proportioned lamb chop was perfect with its zesty little goat cheese raviolis. Potato-wrapped basil ravioli served in a wild mushroom nage, or broth, were not much to look at, but had a wonderful depth of flavor (Lynch is the rare chef who makes potatoes plus pasta a virtue). But a dish of confit pheasant leg, breast, and foie gras cooked in Riesling was both messy in appearance and muddy in taste, with a tough cabbage and potato cake at the bottom.
An amazing lime semifreddo, singing its citrusy virtues in the most lilting of sopranos, consoled us for dessert, making up for a sweet corn creme brulee that was pleasant but bland.
It took a third visit and several months after opening before Lynch's talents blossomed for me. By now, the rooms seemed familiar and friendly, a table near the front window giving our party a panoramic view of the Boston evening. The wait staff seemed smooth as silk, and even a dropped plate was handled with aplomb. An amuse-gueule perched on a little-footed plate - salty prosciutto wrapped around a ripe fig with a slightly gritty gorgonzola sauce - was irresistible. Peekytoe crab gratin, which had seemed ho-hum the previous visit, was a marvel of smooth textures against a crisp triangle of cracker bread, slightly bitter tastes of spinach countering a creamy potato cake. And the rich foie gras terrine with deeply spicy pears was astonishingly good. In fact, Lynch commented in a phone interview later that she views each appetizer as a little meal in itself, and that came through in these.
This time, the main courses were wonders, too. Crispy duck was deeply mahogany, meltingly tender and sweet, yet crisp outside. Half a lobster was grilled, still moist but smoky in flavor, and served with a timbale of corn and risotto topped with a sprightly panzanella salad of bread, tomatoes, and plenty of red vinegar. Soft wide noodles tossed with black trumpet and chanterelle mushrooms and then graced with incredible aromatic shavings of truffles made the coming of fall seem a blessing rather than a regret.
Vanilla bread pudding, an oval island in a sea of caramel, was lovely, but the dessert prize, one of the best I've tasted in months, was the current craze, profiteroles. Yes, those French cream puffs again, but not at all traditional in the hands of pastry chef Licia Gomes. There was chocolate sauce poured from the traditional little pitcher. The puffs were marvels of lightness. But stuffed with banana gelato and flanked by a big scoop of coconut sorbet, they gained a new winning persona, a delightful twist on a classic.
Some pieces of No. 9 Park need smoothing - the fish dishes, except for the wonderful lobster, were nice but not memorable; the noise level can be uncomfortable especially when a piercing laugh bounces up and down around the room, and the spacing of the courses can still be uneven. But the generous spirit of Lynch's cooking, not in portion size but in intensity of flavors, now shows through. The wine list, chosen by Cat Silirie, is not only expansive but has some great bargains for under $25, something both women hope the restaurant will be known for.
With her strong sense of place in this old, old building, Lynch, a native of South Boston who cooked at Olives and at Galleria Italiana, is on her way to creating a Boston landmark. No. 9 Park is worth the anticipation.
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