A restaurant that can successfully slip into a supporting role in a night on the town is no small thing. A bad restaurant can have a miserable impact on what was to be a wonderful time, but a good restaurant can turn an evening into a night to remember. Recently I found a tiny restaurant that boldly stepped up to the task.
Carmen Restaurant in the North End was the perfect precursor to opening night of the Holiday Pops at Symphony Hall. In fact, Carmen proved to be the perfect setting for any wintertime feast.
For starters, Carmen gets major rusticity-points for it’s location in the North Square – one of the oldest and most historic sections of Boston that strikes the perfect visual balance between old world and new world: curious cobblestone streets lead to expansive views of Boston’s unique skyline.
This quaintness extends to Carmen’s intimately spaced dining area where the brick walls absorb intoxicating candlelight and warm aromas. Ample detail was put into decoration, and this minutia sticks in the subconscious. Carmen has that classic Dickensian feel to it: warm and safely seated before a plate of comforting food.
The food at Carmen does not disappoint. My dinner companion and I started with the absurdly delicious flatbread appetizer. Not a dish that was easily shared, it came topped with goat cheese, caramelized red onion, roast walnuts and, most surprisingly, red grapes.
The moist dough was righteously yeasty while remaining subtle enough to let the other ingredients take over. The goat cheese was tart and expansive enough to act as an appropriate, but never intrusive, base to the sweet onion and nearly disintegrated grapes, while the roasted walnuts brought a welcome crunch and nutty sweetness that balanced the sugary-sweet grapes and onion.
The braised duck with farfalle (bowtie pasta) was served in a light and honest dressing made with seemingly little more than extra virgin olive oil and nutmeg. Not enough can be said for this dish that would ever do it justice, so I will offer a few choice words: duck, pasta, nutmeg.
With one stage of our outing successfully completed, I cheerfully settled into my seat in Symphony Hall. However, as the Pops began assembling onstage, I began to feel sorry for those who now had the difficult task of following up such an opening act.
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