Sorellina

Scarletti
Sorellina, also designed by Celeste Cooper is where we ate in Boston.  The design is wonderful.  Old meets new, or you could say new meets old.  There are touches of new fabrications from the floor to the bar.  I love the beautiful draped curtains that frame the room which you rarely see in restaurants.  The room is spacious with an enormous wrap around bar that almost shines.  The seating is warm and inviting.  Loved the banquettes as one end of the seating with chairs on the other end.  Each banquette, where your  dinner partner sat, had a small cozy pillow for your back to rest against.  Another added touch, was the china.  At each seat, like most restaurants, already have the place settings there but the these plates are high end china that you might have at home.  A beautiful tree that appears to have drawn on with an artists pen.  I believe  I have seen these plates at Barneys but more than likely Celeste designed them.  The lighting glows too.  The ceiling has rectangular white blocks hung from above that not only create an ambiance but helps reduce the noise that happens in restaurants with very high ceilings.  There were many other nuances but I will spare all the details. It was my own private New York City in Boston.

The food was very good.  We started with 3 different appetizers to taste.  Raw yellow tail in a simple Asian soy and jalapenos on top.  A classic at this point but very good.  On a white rectangular place was served the chefs interpretation of zucchini blossoms.  3 zucchini blossoms, small and delicate and deep fried.  They were not stuffed but solo and underneath each of the blossoms was a swath of goat cheese and underneath that a swath of rich honey.  Very good and clever.  But the ultimate, that I am still dreaming of was the octopus.  Sliced pieces of rich soft octopus that had been poached in red wine served over Israeli cous cous that had been cooked in squid ink.  So good.  The different textures and taste was absolutely sublime.  Loved this.

For a main course I went with the roasted Loup de Mer served over peppers, sliced potatoes and sliced fennel roasted in a reduced vinegar.  Really good.  The waiter told us that this dish was had been written up because it is served whole (the fish vs. being served filleted) and very few restaurants in Boston do that.   That made me laugh.  So Boston.  Serving a whole fish is not something that new and different.  Fred went with the Cod.  Not as good as the Loup de Mer.  A roasted piece of Cod served over a ratatouille. 

It was late so we bagged dessert but if I did live in Boston or if this restaurant was in NYC, I’d be back.  Not only was the food really good but the service was great and the space created a really unique airy groovy vibe that I loved.