Opposites often attract and work well together, as evidenced by Grafton Street, a marriage of bar food and fine dining in an upscale pub environment. My husband and I ate there for the first time on Saturday night to celebrate some personal milestones.
Grafton Street has clearly found success in Harvard Square; we made reservations nearly a week before and time slots were already limited. We arrived to find a bustling, trendy restaurant and bar within walking distance from the Harvard T stop (on the red line). The crowd in Grafton Street was an eclectic mix ranging from young couples on early dates to groups of middle-aged friends catching up. I enjoyed the atmosphere, although the proximity of the bar to the restaurant area was a little distracting, mostly because of the TVs.
Given that we were celebrating, there were no-holds barred in ordering up several courses of food, and, of course, fun cocktails to wash the food down with. Grafton Street has a nice list of beers on draft, a decent wine list, and several unique cocktails. I ordered a drink that I now unfortunatly forget the name of (and cocktails aren’t listed on the website); I can say that it was a mix of sparkling wine, fresh raspberries and some other fun libations. It was served in a small champagne flute, but other than the portion being smaller than hoped for, it was good. It was less sweet than expected - actually pleasingly tart. My husband ordered a sangria which had nice, complex flavors of fruit and wine.
We started our meal with Roasted Pear Salad and One Magnificent Cheese. The Roasted Pear Salad had an excellent dressing and the pears were cooked to perfection. The generous slice of Great Hill Blue Cheese didn’t hurt, either. One Magnificent Cheese was as advertised – magnificent! It was a large wedge of Lamb Chopper sheeps’ milk cheese served with honey, candied walnuts, and grilled bread. The cheese was slightly dry to bite the way that a good parmesan is, but was much creamier in the mouth with a slightly sharp consistency that paired perfectly with the sweet honey and nuts. (Can you tell that I love a good cheese?) My cheese reverie was interrupted by our dinner entrees arriving earlier than anticipated, leading us to feel a bit rushed.
For the main course, I had Pan-Roasted Duck Breast which was cooked in a pomegranate reduction and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. On the side was a sweet-potato and confit hash mixed with spinach (I had expected the spinach to be a separate side from the hash, but it worked together). My entree included three perfectly cooked medium-rare slices of tender duck breast, and one leg (another surprise). The duck had the perfect amount of fat to flavor it but it wasn’t overly fatty and it had a wonderful flavor. The pomegranate seeds added a nice texture that popped in the mouth. The sweet potato-spinach hash was alright but not evenly seasoned – some bites were very salty, and some lacked seasoning altogether. I also split a side of mushroom risotto (it was a gluttonous meal) with my husband and it had the same inconsistent seasoning – some bites of the risotto were offensively salty and altogether it wasn’t a very good side dish. The risotto wasn’t creamy or soft enough and it was overwhelmed by a very heavy gravy-like sauce.
My husband was perhaps smarter than me on this evening and ordered a lighter meal of a Cuban sandwich with fries. The fries were downright disappointing – not crisp enough on the outside, and rather mealy on the inside. My husband liked his Cuban but found the aioli was not spread evenly leading him to feel like each segment of his sandwich was of a different variety. The mustard-seed aioli and pickles alternatingly overwhelmed the rest of the sandwich to me, but I’m not a Cuban aficionado like my husband (who would have preferred less of the spicy aioli).
This meal would not have been complete to me without dessert. We split the flourless chocolate cake. The menu stated that it was served with coffee ice cream and a coffee-white chocolate chip cookie, but our cake came – without warning – with mint chip ice cream and a cookie that was more like a shortbread sandwich with chocolate filling. All three elements were delicious, but they did not complement one another. The mint was too sweet to pair with the cake and the shortbread just introduced a buttery element that didn’t work. However, the cake was wonderful, it was rich like a typical flourless chocolate cake but slightly less dense and creamier. I really enjoyed the soft texture and dark chocolate flavor.
Service was good and our meal came to approximately $100 after tax and tip. While Grafton Street fell short on a few items, I would definitely make a return trip to this Harvard Square establishment. Next time, I look forward to trying the pub fare with a good draft beer.
