Miss Yunks did some serious research to pick a restaurant for her birthday dinner. She checked several Cambridge menus and reviews before making a decision. She finally narrowed it down to The Blue Room in Kendall Square. What solidified this choice? The hubbarb squash gnocchi.
But I’ll start at the beginning. I don’t have any photos of this meal because the dim lighting really wasn’t conducive to blog-worthy photos, but it was a nice atmosphere for dinner. I started the evening with a violets are blue cocktail, made with raspberry infused vodka, creme de violette, fresh sour, cranberry juice, and a fizzy finish of maine root blueberry soda. It was a berry delicious martini! We leisurely perused the menu and enjoyed some items from the snack section. We shared warm artichoke, spinach, and feta spread served with thin crackers and fennel and chili marinated olives. The dip was warm, delicious, and unlike any spinach dip I’d ever had. The olives were really tasty as well.
For my meal, I chose the only vegetarian option on the menu. I actually chose it about a month ago when I picked The Blue Room. While I do think it’s odd to only have one vegetarian option, one meal is all I need and this dish sounded so amazing. When I took my first bite of the hubbard squash gnocchi, served with parmigiano-reggiano, tuscan kale, lentils, and thyme-brown butter sauce, I was in foodie heaven. The combinations of flavors and textures was so out-of-this-world-delicious. I insisted BF take a bite and he said out loud, Mmmm! He ordered the grilled grass fed hanger steak and enjoyed it, but enjoyed my gnocchi even more!
I was stuffed after my meal, but BF insisted we order a dessert. We split the cardamom creme brulee. Our server brought it out with a birthday candle and BF sang to me. Robyn, one of the friendly managers, brought over complimentary dessert wine. I’m drawing a blank on the name right now, but it was a great sweet and bubbly treat. I believe our dessert was complimentary also, thanks to Robyn.
I will mention that our particular server was not the best, but it was a busy Friday night and they made up for any lulls in service with the fabulous food and warm welcome from Robyn. I highly suggest you head to The Blue Room immediately and order the squash gnocchi! I’ll be dreaming of this dish for a while and hope to attempt a re-creation at home!
6 Comments
I live really close to this restaurant and have never been – so thanks for the review! the gnocchi sounds perfect!
The cocktail sounds fabulous!
Happy belated birthday. I’ve heard of blue room but I’ve never checked it out. I’m not usually a fan of gnocchi but yours sounds quite different and I would of course love the kale and lentils.
Happy belated birthday! I love the Blue Room, although I’ve only been there for their over-the-top brunch. That gnocchi sounds heavenly and I’m surprised that they would only have one vegetarian option considering how they use so many great local ingredients!
Happy belated birthday! I’ve never actually been in to the Blue Room. I go all the time in the summer for lunch when they set up the grill outside though. That spinach, artichoke, and feta spread sounds incredible! And so does that dessert!
Hubby and I went there for brunch a long time ago and had the most FABULOUS bananas foster pancakes. I still dream about them! This reminded me that I need to go back!
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[…] Day dinner. Gnocchi was fresh on the mind from reading menus to pick a restaurant for birthday dinner and from reading about Katie’s homemade gnocchi on The Small Boston Kitchen. There was no […]