It's been a while since we ended up at
Union Bar and Grille on Washington Street, so we went last night for C's 28th birthday. We have always liked it there - from the beginning of our relationship (and their opening). On a side note, pretty much every single time I've been there, I've been sick...what gives?
Anyway, we sat down and nearly immediatly had their a-MA-zing cornbread. I would forgo an appetizer because of that corn bread. No, seriously...but I didn't. We decided to share the tuna tartar to start, which they nicely split for us on two petite plates. The tuna was quite different with tastes like smoked salt and a spicy lemon juice. There was minced ginger and garlic and chives, oh my. Topped with (very cute) fingerling potato chips. I honestly was not a huge fan and I absolutely love tuna tartar. Maybe it was the lemon-y ness that threw me off (who has ever heard of spicy lemon?) but it wasn't my favorite.
Our next course arrived before our silverware did (more on that to come) but they were worth the wait. We both enjoyed our entrees - I had the roast lamb and C had the smoked duck breast. There were 4 lamb ribs served with a Jerusalem artichoke and potato gratin, wilted kale, and a mission fig jus. Lovely - I found there was quite a bit extra jus for my taste, though I enjoyed it. C's meal was much different - smoky duck, topped with smoked salt, over an apple chutney and what I've dubbed "spinach and semolina not-so-gnocchi" cakes. He liked it and to me his duck looked perfectly cooked and very nicely presented. The "not-so-gnocchi" cakes were different, albeit misleading, but I'm not sure why they are the way they are...creative differences I guess!
We rounded out the evening with a warm apple crisp with fresh cream and caramel, a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Simple, sweet, good.
Our service was good, mostly. Our food runner cleared all of our app plates and silverware except my knife. Which was used. By me. She also left if in the place of my fork...another odd point. That didn't totally bother me except that she never came back with NEW forks and knives...so, she then held our food for a minute while someone else had to come and mise-en-place us. It was interesting.
Our water was always full, though no one poured our wine for us. Could be "new american" in service, but I like someone to be attentive to an empty glass.
And, an annoying part for me was there was no candle for C. I get it, he's 28, he doesn't necessitate a candle. He's not whining or stomping his feet on the floor, he orders a "big boy meal", but why did the woman offer one on the phone when I made the reservation? I mean, don't giveth if thou will taketh away! Or forget! Just one of those things that annoys me and should be such a simple, nice gesture but is so often overlooked.
I don't want this review to end on a negative note, so I will tell you that I will go back to Union. I might wait until I am not sick though...if that is even possible!
