Restaurant Review: Summer, Winter
As unlikely as it might sound, my favorite upscale suburban restaurant is in a hotel, an extremely stereotypical suburban hotel, at that. As a general rule, I tend to avoid hotel restaurants, but, believe it or not, the restaurant at the Burlington Marriott is really something special. It’s called Summer Winter, and it is run by Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, the creators of Arrows in Ogunguit, Maine.
These guys promote the locally sourced ingredient philosophy. You can see that in the menu and, of course, when you eat the food. Peek through the windows at the balcony that rings the dining room where you’ll see greenhouses filled with freshly growing greens and pots of tomatoes and other vegetables. While you wait for your meal to be prepared and served, it’s worth taking a stroll through the garden, weather permitting.
We don’t eat at Summer Winter frequently, but each time we do, I make a mental note not to wait too long to go back. This visit was prompted by an email promoting their Friday Night “Date Night” where they offer a three-course fixed price menu. The menu was appealing, so we made reservations.
The meal started with the largest bowl of soup I’ve ever been served in a restaurant. The word “Tremendous” comes to mine. It was butternut squash soup laced with maple syrup with a spicy chile relish, sort of like Srichacha sauce. The relish sunk to the bottom, so it provided hidden bursts of surprise heat as we ate. It was delicious, and as we’ve just entered squash season, I want to try to make something similar at home. The portion was large, and we were sort of full after the first course.
The only actual choice in the menu was for our main course. Howard picked one, I picked the other, and we traded plates for a while. He chose grilled trout with a red curry sauce and an Asian noodle salad on the side. It was a winner. I chose the braised short rib, which melted off the bone. It was served in a large bowl with the braising juices, with jasmine rice on the side. The meat was tender and tasty, though it felt awkward to be eat the meat and rice from separate dishes. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was expected to combine the parts of the meal.
Both were great meals, though I had a slight preference for Howard’s trout. Maybe it’s also because I LOVE trout, and we’ve been having a hard time finding fresh trout to cook at home. We’ve been told it isn’t a popular fish. I can’t imagine why; it’s one of my favorites.
Dessert screamed Howard’s name. It was a plate of chocolate truffles, six different flavors, for each of us. We were stuffed, so took most of them home in the little Chinese take out box they were served with. What a nice after-dinner treat on Saturday.
The Summer Winter menu also has a large section of what appear to be tapas-like “Small Bites”. One of these evenings when we want to go out, I hope I’ll remember that a few of those with a glass of wine would make a nice outing.
French Fridays with Dorie: Gerard’s Mustard Tart
This week’s recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table was a success. This was part of French Fridays with Dorie. Gerard’s Mustard Tart was a tangy, quiche-like tart filled with carrots and leeks. I’m trying to think of other seasonal vegetables that I can match with the mustardy flavor for next time I make this.
It took a few days to get everything ready, but putting the tart together for a weeknight dinner was relatively quick. I started on Tuesday, stopping at the Lexington Farmers’ Market for the vegetables, and making the tart dough. On Wednesday, I rolled out the dough and prebaked the tart shell, and also went to the store for Crème Fraiche. Then, last night, Thursday, I made the filling and baked it for dinner.
The recipe called for 3 thin leeks and 3 not-too-fat carrots. I actually found thin leeks at the farmers’ market, a fraction of the size of what’s usually at the grocery store. I also found pencil thin carrots. I think the carrots were thinner than what the recipe expected, so I wasn’t sure how many to use. From the picture, it seemed like I wanted roughly the same amount of carrot and leek batons, so, I cut up and measured the leeks and then used the same amount of carrots. I ended up using the entire bunch of carrots. It was a heaping 2 cups of vegetables all together.
I didn’t plant any rosemary in my herb garden this year. However, I have winter savory, which is perennial. I’ve used it in place of rosemary all summer. It’s not exactly the same, but I find it close enough. The winter savory has a similar resiny flavor, and the leaves have a similar texture. So, I snipped a couple of sprigs of the savory and substituted them for the fresh rosemary in the tart.
The tart dough was different from what I usually make. My usual tart dough recipe uses slightly more butter and ice water and no egg, more of a classic pate brisee. I was interested to try to something different. I’m not sure how much I liked this recipe. It was hard to roll out evenly, it cracked a lot, and it didn’t patch easily. The crust was certainly more difficult to handle than what I’m used to. The end result was good-looking, but I thought the baked crust was slightly tough. I think when we do the next tart recipe, I might try a different crust.
One take-away technique from this recipe is using parchment paper on the baking sheet. When prebaking the crust, it didn’t seem necessary. What would leak? I tried it and learned that I could use the parchment as a sling to easily move the tart pan to the cooling rack. Usually that step is a little more treacherous because it’s awkward to pick up the hot crust with potholders. I just lifted the corners of the parchment, and the transfer was a snap.
To accompany the mustard tart, I made a simple salad with romaine lettuce and radishes and dressed it with a VERY mustardy dressing.
Howard’s opinion: “It was a very nice dish”.
A Plateful of Happiness 