Boston: Lunch at Eastern Standard Kitchen

 

After my “Making Your Own Vermouth” seminar at Boston Cocktail Summit, we headed next door to Eastern Standard Kitchen for a late lunch.

I hadn’t eaten all day and it was nearly 3 PM. Knowing we were about to start a food and booze crawl, I let my bi-polar eating habits shine through. First I ordered a cocktail (duh) and then I got the chips and onion dip to start. A friend got their flatbread to share while I decided to stick to a lady-like salad for lunch.

The grilled flatbread featuring tomatoes, olives and of course cheese. In this case it was camembert. My friend said he used to get it without olives because he didn’t like them but once they accidentally sent it out with the olives and he tried it. He doesn’t try to to change it anymore saying the chef knows what’s up.

After looking over the cocktail list, I went with the Jasmine (gin, Cointreau, Campari, lemon) though I eyed my friend’s Charles Lindberg (gin, lillet blanc, orange juice, apricot liqueur) . I decided I liked his drink more and would have stolen it but I knew there were more cocktails to come.

 

 

When I first got my salad, I wondered why the edges of my seared tuna were green. Our bartender couldn’t quite remember all the ingredients for the herbs rub and went to check. It turns out it was actually very simple with olive oil, salt, pepper and finely minced parsley. Once you get past the color, the tuna worked quite well in this light yet hearty salad. It was just what I wanted.

Eastern Standard Kitchen won Best High Volume Cocktail Bar at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail. Although we were there at the tail end of a later lunch, it was still fairly busy. I would have to come back to see this bar work when it’s slammed but after seeing how the Boston bartenders worked together at events, I don’t think they would even break a sweat if busloads of bachelor parties, tourists and fraternity brothers came through its doors…at the same time.

Eastern Standard Kitchen

528 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215 — (617) 532-9100

 

© The Minty  2012