Barre Bites

The Upper Deck

2010-03-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, last night I went to The Upper Deck for the very first time. I don't think I had ever been in the building back when it was part of the Pine Ridge Ski Area, either.

I won't be going back.

Now, I didn't expect much... it's a "sports bar" after all. I knew better than to order fried food, or nasty Bud Light on tap. But when I scanned the liquors behind the bar and saw the bright blue bottle, I figured a Bombay Sapphire and Tonic was a safe bet. The bartender poured with an amazingly heavy hand for such a top-shelf Gin. He asked whether I wanted a lime. He topped the very large plastic cup with Tonic from a bar gun. I watched the whole thing. However, I am quite certain that whatever was in that blue bottle, it was not Sapphire. And whatever came out of that gun was not tonic. It was the nastiest, most disgusting G&T I've ever had. Horrible. Ick.

Cherie, being ever so much smarter than me, ordered a bottle of Bass. And together, those two drinks cost us $10.

The reason we were there was to support a friend who does stand-up. The place was absolutely packed, and incredibly loud. When we got there, a guy was doing a solo guitar act, and was not bad. I suppose one expects to be ignored when doing classic rock songs in the corner of a noisy bar. Next up was our friend, and the loud, drunk crowd would just not shut up. I know doing stand-up is hard, but I can't begin to imagine how one would do it in a room full of drunks shouting at each other, and paying absolutely no attention to the comic.

Out on the deck many of the patrons were smoking cigars. Not exactly in compliance with the Barre Health Code, I'm sure, but the smoke mostly stayed outside.

I suppose on a regular night when there isn't a fundraiser for baseball going on, it might not be such a bad place to get a drink. But if you do, order bottled beer.

Worcester's Best Chef

2010-01-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

All of us here in central MA already know that Picasso's Ari is Worcester's best chef, but now he's going to have a chance to prove it. I got a preview of his entry in the Worcester's Best Chef competition, which he is perfecting as an appetizer this week. It's classic Ari: Lamb, Goat Cheese, Pomegranate Seeds and a few hundred other flavors all exploding in sequence like the Pops fireworks display. I have no doubt that this entry should win. Whether it does or not depends on factors beyond anyone's control, but here's hoping.

When the small town I grew up in was graced by the entry of a famous Detroit restauranteur, it led to a marked increase in the number of restaurant options. Place after place popped up to handle the runoff of people who didn't want to wait an hour to be seated. It hasn't happened in Barre yet, but I think it could, and Ari getting some big-time media certainly couldn't hurt.

The big surprise last night was a seafood Dim Sum. Well, that's what Ari called it, but he conveniently ignored the definition of that term. There was no tea. The portions were not small. The preparation was not Cantonese. What we had was actually an oversized east-west fusion seafood sampler. Mussels with a peanut curry preparation. Tuna and Picasso's trademark enormous fresh scallops, both blackened in some crazy spice mix. A lobster wonton that was out of this world. (Cherie and I were splitting this ensemble, and there was only one wonton, so we had to cut it in half. In retrospect, I should have arm wrestled her for the whole thing.) And a huge pile of soba noodles with a peanut preparation, and a completely unwieldy watercress salad. It was stunning.

Last night's cocktails were a mixed bag. There are some exceptional new drinks on the menu: The Spiced Apple Martini is a whiskey-based drink which isn't my usual cup of tea, but the fruit takes it in a distinctly fresh direction that I really enjoyed. For after dinner (definitely not before!) there is the Nutty Carmel Martini, which tastes a whole lot like one of those complicated Starbucks concoctions, although there isn't any coffee in it. It is built on Godiva Caramel, which was introduced in October, 2007, and has managed to evade detection until now. I look forward to seeing this in more cocktails in the future. On the down side, I got a preview of the cranberry infusion they have in the pipeline. At least they said it was cranberry, but Ari & Phil had dosed the thing with so many sweet flavors, all I could taste was Hawaiian Punch. (Just to be clear: I'm sure that wasn't an actual ingredient.) I hope they go back to the drawing board on that one and try something a little more subtle. Perhaps they could hire Andrew for a couple hours of consulting. :)

At the end of the night, Ari twisted my arm until I'd try the goat cheese cheesecake. Yes, that wasn't a typo. I'm all for trying strange food, so I wasn't averse to the idea. I was just full. However, when a cheesecake with raspberry coulis and a caramel drizzle is placed in front of you by the proprietor, full is not an option. I wish I could say that the introduction of goat cheese into a cheesecake is a masterstroke, but, in fact, if he hadn't told me, I never would have guessed that it was there. It was just a damn fine cheesecake. Not dense, not crumbly, just the way cheesecake should be. And thankfully, there was nothing swirled into it (I hate that). If he still has some left, don't let the goat cheese scare you. Put some of your dinner in a to-go box, so you have room to try it. As you might expect from Ari, the portion is easily big enough for sharing.

Picasso will be closed this week for their usual January break. Nice timing to let Ari get 1000 samples of lamb magic ready for the big show.

Let's hope Worcester's best chef gets the recognition he deserves next Sunday.

New Bartender at Picasso

2009-12-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

Picasso has a new bartender. His name is Phil. Come on... that's funny. Anyway, he is personable and served us a couple great cocktails. The era of Andrew may be over, but it looks like the era of great cocktails at Picasso lives on.

Also last night, Ari's team managed to prepare mussels that were a 10/10 on the Indian/Thai hotness scale. (That's about an 18 out of 10 on the Barre restaurant hotness scale.) It was exciting, but I think 8/10 will be sufficient going forward.

The rest of the food was, of course, exquisite. And the wacky locals at the bar are always entertaining.

Picasso in the T&G

2009-03-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the review of Picasso in the Worcester T&G. I don't know what everyone is complaining about.... This is an exceptional review, and I didn't think it was that poorly written. I did have to re-read a couple times (like the weird comment about Vikings), but all of us have off sentences here and there. I'm puzzled what it would take to get this guy up to 4 stars, since I don't think he had a single negative thing to say.

In Brief...

2008-11-02T16:43:00.001-08:00

The Farmers Table is kaput. Another one bites the dust...

Yummy Garden is good again. Good place to take the kids (great fries and steamed broccoli, and the kids like the chicken fingers).

The Farmers Table

2008-05-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

There is a new breakfast place in the old Relish spot, at Listening. Cherie and I took the kids there on Sunday, and we were generally pleased. Cherie started by giving the poor waitress the single most complicated eggs order I have ever imagined, much less actually heard. The eggs came back not at all like Cherie had intended, but I don't think that's really a fair criticism.

I had an egg sandwich with bacon, prepared "any way you see fit" (after Cherie's egg order-from-hell, I only thought that was fair), and it was excellent. On bread that I think they probably made themselves. We ate early, and this sandwich kept me full until dinner.

The kids loved the eggs, pancakes, granola, fruit, and home fries. The potatoes had a dominant herb, which Cherie tells me was rosemary. They were really good.

I should mention that there was also a buffet, which had pretty much everything on the menu on it, but at $12, I didn't think I could do it justice (the entrees were all about half that price).

Oh, and the coffee was really good, too.

Harding Allen Rises as Relish Falls

2007-12-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

Harding Allen

Last night, we attended a function at the Harding Allen Estate. This is my first time there since they finished putting the all-season tires on the tent. It's mostly not a tent anymore, just a big function room with a fabric-draped ceiling, some solid walls, and crystal chandeliers. The addition of that space allowed them to turn the too-small, too-crowded old restaurant room into a spacious lounge with couches and a pretty large bar at one end. So now, when you walk in, instead of chaos, you are greeted by a charming, calming space. The Christmas decorations make the whole place look like a spread from Martha Stewart Living (a little much for my taste, but nicely done). Now, if they can get their act together on the food and the service...

To be fair, the chicken we had was very good. It was stuffed with something mushroomy, and wrapped in a thin pastry shell. Everyone at our table who ordered the chicken was very happy. However, neither of the women who ordered the fish ate more than two bites. At a function like this, you'd expect haddock to be baked or grilled, not a giant fried slab that looks lost without french fries and cole slaw. It was as if they drove the fish straight up from one of the Friday specials at one of the 13 pizza joints in town. Odd.

The service was less than I would expect at a relatively small function. Slow to clear the tables, etc. Perhaps it's hard to find enough staff this time of year.

Relish

Alas, it appears that Relish is no more. Their web site, phone, and sign have all disappeared. I haven't found anyone who knows the full story, but I'd guess that Glenn's food and prices were too far out-of-range for Barre. For those of you keeping score, that makes four restaurants in that space since Listening opened in 2000. Let's see what we can learn from this about what kind of restaurant might succeed in that peculiar location:

1. Have Low Aspirations. Ari's restaurant was excellent, had a steady flow of regular customers, and I hear that it even made money. But when you compare what he was able to do there to what he's done in Picasso... well, there's no comparison. The Listening space is just too cramped and segmented for a big, bustling, successful restaurant.

2. Don't Be Rude to your Customers. Anyone who ever ate at the Blue Dog knows what I'm talking about.

3. Serve Good Food. We went to South Street Cafe (I think that's what it was called) exactly once. Iceburg lettuce with croutons from a box is NOT a Caesar salad.

4. Don't forget you are in Barre. Given the square footage and peculiar arrangement, I can see why a high-brow restaurant would seem to make sense here. When you can't do high volume, do high margin instead. But the population of Barre does not have enough wedding anniversaries and birthdays ending in zero to support a place like this. And Barre is so impossible to get to that relying on bringing people in from Boston, or even from other central MA locations is not realistic.

What Barre really needs is this space is another pizza place.

Just kidding.

Picasso has a Web Site

2007-10-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Picasso in Barre MA now has a web site. Click that link to visit them!

In Brief

2007-07-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

Dreamers

Dreamers is in the old Quabbin IV spot on 122. It's a bar. On the plus side, the drinks are downright cheap (I swear they only charged us $2 for a draft Blue Moon Belgian White), the space is clean, bright, and open, and it is very kid-friendly. On the down side, it's a bar, and the food is what you would expect in a bar. Fried or microwaved. Even the Friday fish special had that manufactured feel.

Uncle Sam's Pizza

They deliver. Promptly. Other than that, it's just another pizza place. (I think that makes 9 places with Pizza on the Menu in Barre.) The pizza is better than most in Barre, but nowhere near as good as the one on the kid's menu at Picasso.

Picasso's new Drink Menu

Cherie and I had a chance to sample some of the fancy martini-esque drinks at Picasso. Man! That bartender is a genius. I'm usually not much of a fan of these "schnapps in a martini glass" drinks, but that's not what these are. He uses a mix of flavored vodkas, liquors, and real fruit juices to create incredibly delicious treats. We'll be back!

Relish in Yankee Magazine

2007-05-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

Relish made it into the travel rag of record for New England: Read about Relish, Barre MA

Picasso Update

2007-05-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

Despite our best judgement, we decided to take the kids to Picasso again. Vivienne made a complete mess. The guys in the hazmat suits had to come out to clean up our table. Really, I promise we won't try with the kids again until we have some confidence that the food isn't going to all end up on the floor. On the plus side, Cedulie and Remy were well behaved.

We're thrilled with Picasso. The menu hasn't changed much since it opened, but Ari is rotating in more specials (there were at least 5 on the board last night). I had the "Fish Cakes" which is a really peculiar dish. The "cakes" are reminiscent of crab cakes, except they're bigger, and served in the middle of a big green salad. I'm glad I didn't order a salad to start. But don't get me wrong... I loved it. Cherie also had a salad-ish entré, with excellent grilled shrimp on it. Perfect fare for hot late-May days.

But the big news: A full bar! Ari's hired a bartender, and he says the new "drinks menu" will be ready next week. It sounds like the usual list of things that aren't martinis, served in martini glasses (*tini's). I'm sure Cherie and the girls will love it! Ari says he is sticking with only "top shelf" liquors, which is consistent with the lack of a TV, and generally higher-brow-than-Barre atmosphere of Picasso.

The patio is open, too. Looks like seating for 20-30 out there, and it is naturally shady from 4-sunset. I should be a great place for the locals to get some after-work drinks.

Picasso

2006-12-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

Ari's new restaurant, Picasso, has finally opened in the old Ricco's space. We've been there twice now, and it is fantastic!

The first time, we brought the kids. Don't bring you kids. The "children's" menu is a small assortment of dishes that children would never eat. In my humble opinion, a children's menu should be a selection of unappetizing prepared foods that are heated in the microwave. Gourmet children's food is just silly. But anyway, this is much too nice a restaurant for little kids, so we won't be doing that again.

The second time we got a sitter.

Picasso does not have a liquor license yet, so it's BYOB for now. Bring something full-bodied because the food is... the word succulent comes to mind. We went with a 2001 Sonoma Cab which was perfect.

On to the food. In total, we've tried Lamb Kabobs, Shrimp Mediterranean, Chicken Picasso, Cioppino, Bruschetta, Caesar Salad, Four Cheese Pizza (from the Kid's menu; Remy didn't care for it, see above), Molten Chocolate Cake, and Tiramisu. (That's from two trips, and we indulged a bit on the second trip.)

Everything we've tried has been exceptional. The portions are huge, and the flavors are intense. Ari uses relatively few ingredients across a wide variety of dishes, which is risky, but works wonderfully here. For example, we saw the same French Feta in the Bruschetta and the Shrimp dish, but it was a welcome visitor in each case. (Ari pointed out that it is less salty and creamier than typical Feta, and we agree.) Some highlights:

The Chicken Picasso is total comfort food. It combines flawless garlic mashed potatoes, chicken, spinach, and portobella sauce. Cherie made that "uuuuuuu" noise, you know, that noise, several times.

The Kabobs were insane. I generally don't order lamb, so I'm not sure how much of the flavor is inherent in the meat, and how much is from the preparation, but whichever... wow.

Cherie really liked the Shrimp Mediterranean on our first visit. I tried it on our second visit, and I liked it, but frankly after the appetizers and a Caesar salad, any of which would have been a reasonably sized meal, I wasn't that hungry by the time it came. So I had it leftover the next day, and it was much better, although a bit heavy for lunch.

All the portions are huge, but the appetizers are not to be missed, so plan on bringing some food home. And save room for dessert. They are clearly being made fresh in the kitchen (not always a sure thing for desserts in these parts).

Our huge meal (two appetizers, full Caeser salad, side salad, two entrees, and two desserts) set us back $70 without tip or wine. Easily worth it.

Four thumbs way up for Picasso.

Relish, Take Two

2005-09-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Cherie and I were back at Relish last night (it was my birthday last week, so we had a valid excuse!). There have been a few changes since our first visit, so I thought a follow-up was in order.

First, they've fixed the ambiance issues. This time they had appropriate, quiet, music playing, and the overall feel of the place is now better matched to the quality of the food.

Second, the service was a little better. Last time we were there, the waiter was overwhelmed and they had the bus boy helping with drinks and such. This time, there was a hostess and a waitress, and the whole operation seemed to be running very smoothly. Of course, there weren't as many people in there as last time, which certainly helped.

Finally, Glenn, the proprietor and chef, tells us that he's submitted all the paperwork to get a Beer & Wine license, and hopes to get a BYOB license very soon.

It was the same menu as last time. They expect to switch to a new fall menu (of which we saw a preview) at the Autumn solstice.

Cherie started with the Chicken Dumplings again, which she said had a slightly smaller portion (not necessarily a bad thing for an appetizer) and a little less gravy than last time. She said they were very good. For my part, I started with the Coriander Crusted Tuna which was very tasty, and just the right size for an appetizer.

Cherie had the special, which involved Scallops, Bacon, Curry, and Rice but we couldn't taste the curry at all, so maybe the waitress misspoke. Anyway, the scallops were exceptionally fresh, which will make pretty much any preparation sing, and she was generally satisfied with them. The only complaint were the collard greens on the side, which had such an overwhelming vinegar flavor that it quickly overwhelmed the delicate treatment of the scallops.

I had the Beef Tenderloin, very rare of course, which I was pleased to see was what I've always called Filet Mignon. (A little googling has revealed that Filet Mignon is the end cut of the Tenderloin - who knew?) It had a horseradish sauce which was very good, although I'm not too big on having sauces on excellent cuts of meat, and this was an excellent cut. The best part, though, was the crispy potato hash side dish, which was total comfort food. Alas, the other side was those vinegary collard greens, but I was able to avoid them pretty easily. And it left room for dessert!

Cherie skipped dessert, but I had to try the homemade cinnamon-raisin ice cream. Ooooooohhhhhh. It tasted like sticky buns! A+ on the homemade ice cream!

Service: Excellent
Food: Excellent
Ambiance: Excellent

Yummy! What you want!

2005-08-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Yummy Garden
South Barre

We had a pretty lousy meal at Yummy Garden. We'd been back once since the ownership change, and had a reasonably good meal that time. (Although we missed the sound of the proprietor screaming "Yummy! What you want!" into the phone every few minutes.)

This time, however, the server was hopelessly confused (language issue), and all the food had a kind of burned flavor, like they had cranked the oil temperature up too high. Even the kid's French Fries, which have always been the best you could find in Barre, were a little off.

We won't be going back there any time soon.

Service: OK
Food: Bad
Ambiance: OK

Relish, Initial Review

2005-08-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Relish
35 South St (at Listening, just off the common)
Barre, MA
978-355-3455

Cherie and I went to Relish last night. It's in the old Ari's - Blue Dog - South Street Cafe location, but it could not be more different. First, they added a room, so there is about twice as much inside seating. But more than that, they've done a lot to make it feel like a nice restaurant, instead of a dilapidated Berkeley café. Nice linens on the tables, more space between tables, putting dishes in the built-in china cabinet on the wall instead of dog-eared copies of The Politics of Ecstasy, that sort of thing. The bar is gone in the kitchen, although there is still one table in there (and no risk of being thrown out for bathing recently, like in the Blue Dog days).

We sat at the "private balcony" table, which overlooks the yoga center. It's a nice idea, but I'd recommend against it: the mosquitos drove us in by dessert despite the bevy of citronella candles. A screen perhaps? Anyway, the main reason we wanted to eat out there was we figured it would be shoulder-to-shoulder in the main dining room, which is no longer the case. They still have seating on the outside porch, which was completely full when we arrived. They had a radio on in the main dining room which was probably why nobody was in there ("Blister in the Sun" is a lovely song, but not exactly what I'd consider a romantic mood-setter). The climate was pleasant, both inside and out.

There is no alcohol available yet, which to me is unconscionable ("a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine"), but we made do with some fun non-alcoholic concoctions. At a minimum, they need to get a BYOB license.

The menu is short, just seven entrees, plus several appetizers and desserts, but it covers all the bases (even vegetarian). As you would expect, vegetarian chili is on there (must be a condition of the lease). I started with a cup of that, which was very big for a cup, and it was very good. Summer squash was an unexpected touch, although I miss Ari's cashews. The beans were small black beans, not kidneys, so it was more of a rich, thick black bean soup than a chili, but I liked it very much. Cherie started with Chicken Dumplings in Mushroom Sauce. Awesome! The sauce was extremely rich -- best to split this one, I think.

The entrees are what I think people call "fusion." The main ingredient being something you'd find in traditional european fare, but with sauces and sides that bring in surprising complementary flavors. For my part, I had Fresh Tuna, Ginger crumbs, green onion corn bread, and spicy lime tartar. It was simply amazing. The "ginger crumbs" are a light bread stuffing thoroughly infused with ginger flavor. The "spicy" in the lime tarter is, of course, wasabe, which is really the only thing to consider with fresh tuna. I asked for the tuna "extremely rare" and the chef came through, serving basically raw fish, cooked just enough to seal in the herb crust. This is the kind of food you only get when a restaurant is new: carefully selected ingredients, focus on presentation, exact preparation. Think Struck Café circa 1987, rather than Struck circa 2005. (The chef and proprietor of Relish has worked for the Struck folks, both restaurant and catering.)

Cherie had the Roast Pork Loin with mango mojo and yams. She's been spoiling us with pork tenderloin at home for the past few years, so the extra chewiness of ordinary pork loin was a bit of a disappointment, but other than that her meal was excellent. The yams reminded me a little of Tatnuck's sweet potato fries, with that barbecue-ish flavor. By the time I got to try her dish, the mango sauce had left the pork and found it's way into everything else, but she assures me it was a very nice complement to the meat.

In a refreshing change for gourmet food, the portions are huge; every party left with at least one "to go" container. Knowing you'll get two meals helps take the sting off the prices just a little. To be fair, the prices are still low compared with what you'd pay in Boston or Providence for a meal of this quality. But at $90 for the two of us (appetizers, dinner, dessert, tip; no wine), this is easily the most you'll pay for a meal west of 495 and east of Northampton.

As we lingered over dessert (Chocolate Bread Pudding for me, and Banana Crepe Suzette for Cherie; both excellent, and both much too large), we pondered the special occasions we could use as excuses to come back again and explore the rest of the menu.

I strongly recommend you give Relish a try. Perhaps by the time you get there, they'll have wine, too.

Service: Good
Food: Excellent
Ambiance: OK

About the Title

2005-08-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog, "Barre Bites," was the name of a wonderful Worcester Magazine article which mercilessly skewered the restaurant scene in Barre a few years back. It included a hilarious review of the downstairs bar at Col. Issac Barre (now storage space for Quabbin Pizza), and a pretty unfair, though funny, review of the Barre Mill.