Traveling Foodie in 4" Stilettos: Amazing Pre-Birthday #34 Dinner & Cocktails @ Steel & Rye, 95 Eliot Street, Lower Mills, Milton, MA

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Amazing Pre-Birthday #34 Dinner & Cocktails @ Steel & Rye, 95 Eliot Street, Lower Mills, Milton, MA

On the eve of my 34th birthday, my girls took me out to Steel & Rye, a restaurant that apparently has earned and deserves all the buzz! Chef Chris Parsons really shows off at this venue!

We arrive on this could evening to much appreciated free valet. The evening has started off great! The entire staff is amazingly welcoming and friendly.

Meringue and candle sent from the kitchen for our bday!

Bartender eye candy aside, Derric is the real deal and started the night off right with a few lovely, thoughtful craft cocktails. I offered that my palate was longing both bourbon and chartreuse.

He made this beauty:

Derric's creation: A Diamondback made with Laird's Applejack (.75 oz), Rittenhouse Rye (1.5 oz), Green Chartreuse (.75 oz), Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth and Absinthe.

Steel & Rye is an industrial space with tailored, refined lines. Clean wooden lines are accented by steel, glass, and brass. The ceilings are sky high and vaulted in bare wood, nautical fashion with pulleys and wires.

Interesting light fixtures impart dim, soft light and large, high and low windows with tall, paned doors adorn the space.

There are light painted brick backgrounds and blonde, softwood partitions with faux windows to section off areas with booth-like seating. Strategically placed plants and red chairs at the bar and surrounding high tops add a pop of much needed life and color to the decor.

Bar fare starter offering. Soft, thick bread with fresh, softened butter.

We enjoyed a few other appetizers.

The smoked bluefish was good with the pickled red onions adding a bit of zip and texture. The butter cracker was pretty unremarkable. I would have preferred crostinis or the like for firmness and added texture.

Smoked bluefish, pickled red onion, butter cracker

I loved, loved, loved the burrata (for two). The creamier, more interesting cousin of mozzarella, was served in a lake of emerald, peppery arugula and walnut pesto with warm lentils and salted, roasted beets. The layers of flavors and textures was smart along with the beautiful color of the dish.

Burrata served wtih arugula and walnut pesto, warm lentils, and salted, roasted beets.

I am such a huge fan of burrata, that I wrote an entire article/post about it as I've had it at multiple places in different states. You can read about it, here. This dish will definitely be added soon.

While Derric continued to send out fabulous cocktails from the bar to our table, he made yet another off-menu concoction, De La Louisiane, made with:

1 oz Rye

1 oz Benedictine

1 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

2 dashes Peychaud bitters

Absinthe rinse

Drink and smile.

Our entrees absolutely did not disappoint with my absolute favorite being the home-made spinach fettuccine with savory, saucy, hearty wild boar Bolognese, shaved Pecorino and juicy, olive oil-poached tomato!

Spinach fettuccine with wild boar Bolognese, shaved Pecorino, and olive oil-poached tomato

The salmon entree was simple, yet perfectly autumnal in its construction. A nicely cooked (medium) salmon filet was served over Tuscan kale with Sparrow Arc Farm (a 40-acre family farm in Maine) heirloom turnips, seckel pears, lady apple, and mostarda.

The strangest, though not entirely unpalatable dish was the home-made buccatini pasta tossed with sweet lobster, tender, smoky braised pork belly, beautiful delicata squash, sauteed spinach, brown butter, and sage. The combination of lobster and pork was quite interesting. I found the smokiness of the pork belly to overwhelm the delicate nature of the squash and lobster. Buccatini bites like an udon noodle before you realize it's hollow. It was my first experience with this noodle and I liked it a lot.