drwex | Restaurant review: Rendezvous, Central Square (MA)

On recommendation from

tamidon I had a dinner at Rendezvous, in Central Square. I promised I'd write it up, so here it is.

When looking at the menu online I was sold by their "duck 3 ways" entree.

taura_g noted the warm chocolate cake as a decisive factor. Unfortunately in the end neither of us had room for dessert.

I had the ceviche because I liked the idea of combining blood orange, pomegranate, mint, and chilies. I thought the dish was good, with very nice presentation. They made a change from the menu, using lobster in place of the scallops. My sole complaint with the dish was that the lime used to make the ceviche seriously overwhelmed the other flavors. The mint was not noticeable and the chilies were nearly absent. The pieces of blood orange and pomegranate had some of these flavors but the shrimp were overwhelmingly lime-sour. I liked it, but the person at the table next to me definitely did not.

(As with many popular places they've crowded in the tables so that one is less than an arm's length from one's dining neighbors at the two-tops. It was impossible not to observe and overhear the people adjacent to us.)

The appetizers are sized large; it is apparently common for people to order two appetizers as a meal. I figured that meant no dessert - ah well, the cheviche experiment was good enough for me.

A word here about bread: they had a VERY good sourdough as the table bread. I'm finicky about my sourdoughs - most of the commercial versions suck and even some local bakeries don't get it right. This bread won in terms of both flavor and texture. I should have asked where they get it.

For entree I had the duck;

taura_g had the lasagna. She liked hers - I'm not a big fan of either pine nuts or cauliflower, but I do like to see people making something other than the default boring lasagnas. This was different enough to be enjoyable without risking being yet-another-failed-lasagna-experiment.

The duck was somewhat disappointing. The grilled breast was, frankly, underdone. I understand the appeal of rare meat, but in this case it meant the breast was tough and chewy in the center. The outer bits, which were more thoroughly cooked, were much better. The sausage was OK, but not nearly garlicky enough for my taste. Duck is a strong flavor and it needed heavier seasoning to make a good sausage. The confit was a total winner, though. Crispy and well-cooked, with some combination of seasonings I didn't recognize but that complimented the meat very well.

The service overall was good, particularly with timing the dishes, but our waiter lost some points for missing a few basics. I ordered an aperitif and a glass of wine to come with the entree. He didn't show up with the glass to pour my wine until I was more than half done eating the plate, so I declined it. To their credit they pour the individual glasses from bottles at your table, and give you a chance to sample before hand. I like that a lot better than just delivering a pre-poured glass, take it or leave it, which so many places do. The waiter also didn't seem to realize that you fill the lady's glass first before the gentleman's. I never got to waiter in a place of the quality of Rendezvous and I learned this stuff. He also never made the routine "is everything OK" stop at our table after the entrees appeared. Yes, it was busy but still...

On the way out we had a brief chat with the owner. Apparently they've been in business for two years and it's working well, despite the odd location. They have valet parking on Friday and Saturday evenings and they take reservations (a big deal for me). They also called me back to confirm the reservation earlier in the day. I know that reservations can be a money-loser for places that could fill their tables but I hate to wait and I don't bomb out on my reservations. I think the call-back system is a good compromise and it definitely tips me into the "likely to go back again" column.

So in summary, fairly good three-star food at three-star prices. Enough good things to make me feel like I'd want to go back, maybe with enough seafood-eaters that we could sample several things.