EVOO

As a result of the intellectual property coming out of Harvard and MIT combined with the flourishing Biotech community, Cambridge has become one of the main hotspots of new drug development in the US. The increasing number of companies moving into the area means that there is plenty of scope for restaurants to take advantage of the influx of customers. Much of the building has happened away from the centre of the suburb and EVOO, short for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, is in the Kendal Square development on 3rd Street. Centred round new tower blocks and small research facilities, the area is fairly sterile and EVOO is fairly anonymous from the outside. Once you’re in the restaurant it becomes apparent that the neighbouring pizza joint, Za, is actually part of the same premises although less formal in approach. EVOO loudly trumpets its position as “Best Eclectic Restaurant in Boston” on its website together with other favourable reviews so it seemed like a good place to try.

To start the waiter asked if I wanted tap water. Bizarrely, that was the last time he asked me if I wanted anything to drink even though one of the menu features was a wine pairing with whatever your food choices were. Unfortunately, the service never got any better with interaction kept to a minimum and dishes placed on the table with no comment.

After food was ordered a colander filled with baguette and bread sticks came to the table accompanied by a dish with olive oil with pesto and balsamic. Who knows what the thinking was behind the colander but a wacky bread bowl doesn’t make it taste any better. The bread was fine but nothing to get excited about.

The appetizer of choice was a smoked rabbit confit. This was listed as coming with wild greens, port soaked cherries, toasted pecans with Vermont cheddar and rosemary vinaigrette. The shredded rabbit had a fairly gentle but delicious smoked flavour. The cheddar had a good sharp taste but it was too overpowering for the rabbit so that combination didn’t work. However, the cheese blended well with the rosemary dressed greens very well so it paid to be selective with each forkful. The cherries were an excellent sweet compliment but the cherry reduction (X marks the spot) was impossible to get off the plate. Unfortunately, the toasted pecans never made it out of the kitchen.

The main course was listed as Surf ‘n’ Turf. The full description of the dish was “Crisp Fried Chicken Sausage Stuffed Soft Shell Crab with Grilled 'n Chilled Red Onion-Local Tomato Salad, Sweet Pickle-Potato Salad and Old Bay Cream”. It sounded great on the menu and my mental image of what to expect was no preparation for what turned up. Visually, the dish was a mess. Surely a basic rule has to be that a vertical sausage on a plate can never be a good idea, particularly when said sausage is pushed through breaded soft shell crab to make it stand upright. And definitely don’t do it twice on the same plate. The effect was of two diseased cocks with eczemic, mutating balls. First step before eating was to lay them flat to make the visuals slightly less disturbing. The sausage itself was not crisp fried, this referred to the crumb coating. The taste was pleasant enough and the same was true of the crab with neither element particularly exciting. The tastiest part of the dish was the potato salad that formed the base of the salad tower.  The inclusion of chopped sweet dill pickles gave a refreshing lift to the salad. The chopped tomatoes and red onions, topped with pea shoots added some crunch but little excitement. The size of the portion could have been cut back substantially and would have been just as satisfying. 

Dessert was a Cloumage pannacotta with a strawberry-lemon balm compote and pine nut tuile. Cloumage is a locally-produced cow’s curd cheese and it gave the pannacotta had a mild tangy flavour. The pannacotta worked really well as the star of the dish with the strawberries providing a fresh, sweet accompaniment. Having  orange as an ingredient in the pinenut tuile was a nice touch because the wafer tasted too much like a timber yard without it. The quenelle of cream that topped the dish was totally unnecessary and was removed immediately. Cream aside, this was the best of the three courses.

Overall verdict.
Reading the menu ahead of the visit I was expecting much more from EVOO. The food didn’t turn out to be particularly impressive so it was a slightly disappointing experience. The feeling that the waiter wanted nothing to do with serving at the table didn’t enhance the experience either. If EVOO is the best Eclectic restaurant in Boston it suggests that either competition was very poor or non-existent.

Would I revisit EVOO?
Possibly.  The food was not great but it wasn’t particularly bad either. One more visit would confirm whether the choices made on the evening were poor or if it has bigger problems than that.


Overall Rating - 2.5/5