Bristol Lounge Dinner

Miss Yunks had the pleasure of dining at the Bristol Lounge in the Four Seasons hotel with her parents.  I hadn’t been here in a very long time, pre-vegetarian days! I remember eating steak here and loving it and I remember the biggest dessert buffet ever.  Unfortunately to this dinner, the dessert buffet is Saturday only and we were there on a Sunday.  Not really that unfortunate though because I had the best dinner and dessert I could imagine from an upscale restaurant.

I began by diving right into this bread basket. The rolls were warm, fresh, and utterly perfect.  I love when restaurants provide bread to munch while waiting for the main meal.  It’s always a challenge not to overeat the bread and to save room for the meal; this bread experience was no different.

We shared two tomato appetizers.

Mom chose a tomato tart.  The flaky crust on this individually sized tart was warm, buttery, and had a light feel.  The green and yellow heirloom tomatoes on the side were simply delicious.

Dad chose this heirloom tomato salad.  Green, yellow, orange and red tomatoes sliced and topped with a little salt were elegantly presented on a small white dish.  The colors were beautiful together and the taste was, well, the best heirloom tomatoes I’ve ever tasted.  This season I’ve really gotten into tomatoes and experimented with different types and colors.  This tomato salad  kicked off my Fall 2010 Tomato Obsession.

For my entree, I ordered the Four Cheese Gnocchi Gratinee – White Truffle Oil, Leeks, Toasted Bread Crumbs. The Bristol Lounge hand makes their pasta.  Fresh pasta makes any meal better.  Mixed with the creamiest garlic cheese sauce, this dish was out of this world.  If I had been standing, I would’ve been knocked off my feet. Good thing I was sitting in a comfy armchair and could totally relax while enjoying my dinner, one creamy bite at a time.

And the presentation is deceiving.  The gnocchi looks so small and lost in the giant white bowl.  Don’t worry, gnocchi.  I’ll save you! At first glance I thought the portion was small and thought I wouldn’t have any leftovers.  Once again my eyes proved bigger than my stomach and I stopped about 2/3 of the way through and shared the rest with my parents.  This is really a perfect serving size for such a decadent cream sauce.
We were all completely full after our meal and were cutting it close on time to make it to the theater.  However, we weren’t about the leave the Four Seasons without having dessert.  We chose the “Let’s Split It” Chocolate “Devil’s Food” Cake Tower Layered with Truffle Ganache, Vanilla Buttercream and Creme de Cacao (serves 2-4 people).  There were 3 of us; it was perfect.

When the cake arrived, it was clear this dessert could easily serve more than four people.  Especially four people that just finished a luxurious dinner.  Our server cut three slices for us to have a small bite and packed up the rest to take home.  After our three slices, we could have cut 6 more slices of equal size. This cake is huge.

It’s huge and beautiful and perfectly chocolaty.   I must have been in too much of a hurry to snap a photo of the inside of the cake.  You’ll just have to trust me that the chocolate cake layers were moist, dense, and had a rich chocolate flavor.  The vanilla frosting layers reminded us of an upscale Hostess style cake.  There is such a thing as too chocolaty, but this cake really was perfection.  We all agreed and therefore it must be true.  We enjoyed leftover cake for a few days!

And we literally just made it to the theater in time to run past the usher who was about the close the doors on us seconds before the curtain rose.  We made it to our seats just in time to enjoy the opening number of Wicked at the Boston Opera House.  And I didn’t even need to dig into the candy I had stashed in my pockets!