is the shuffleboard in the back?
the place: 28 degrees, 1 appleton st, south end
the date: friday, 05.01.09
the plan: pre-show cocktails and apps
it’s not every day that you go to a restaurant (or anywhere, really) that is exactly what you expected it to be in almost every way. 28 degrees is a place I’d never been, but always felt I understood completely. it would be hip. it would be aggressively, almost excessively hip. I’d looked at the website a lot while my ex was designing a website for a now-closed restaurant being opened by a friend of ours that strived to be a similar kind of hip, so of this I was sure. it would have a single-color theme (based on that same website, blue). it would be populated (both customers and employees) by that girl, her boyfriend, her too-drunk on cosmos girlfriends, and all their very gay friends. it would probably be good, but it would definitely not be comfortable. I hadn’t actually been actively avoiding the place, but it had probably been somewhere I’d chosen not to go more than once. but, when m suggested it for drinks and apps before our friend dane’s cabaret showcase, I couldn’t think of a real reason not to go there, so off we went. and, it was everything I had expected. the only difference from what I had imagined, was that I didn’t actually hate it.
drinks, of course: the new spring special drink had just been added to the menu that evening (so new the website hasn’t yet been updated to include it) and honestly, even if I really had disliked the place as much as I expected, I might have been won over by this cocktail. it was mint and soda and lime and vodka and rhubarb simple syrup. if you’ve taken anything from this blog, it’s that I like any variation on anything mojito-like. I also passionately love rhubarb (rhubarb is the only fruit pie I like). so, I was pretty excited. I had two. they were amazing.
to start: since I hadn’t eaten lunch and we had an entire evening of cabaret to get through, apps were definitely key. we split the curried crab cakes with pineapple-scallion salsa type topping and a “chipotle aioli”, the proscuitto-wrapped shrimp, and the fettuccini with ramps, bacon, and parmesan. the crab cakes were great, though I am never going to understand the appeal of the chipotle aioli. it’s on every menu, everywhere and I’ve never tasted it and thought “yes! I understand why this is the new trend.” the shrimp were okay, but ultimately made me think of hot dogs— the flavor was more complex, but the texture was almost identical. m didn’t like them very much at all. but the pasta! the pasta was definitely a surprise— the smoky bacon and the fresh ramps were in a creamy parmesan sauce and the pasta was light and tender and the whole thing just sang of spring. I was impressed.
so, the cocktails were enjoyable and the food was good. but the space gives me a headache. it’s excessively blue and the water theme is somewhat overdone— beyond the screens showing weird beach scenes, they have a panel of water above the bathroom ceiling. the entire thing made me feel a bit like I was at the bar on a cruise ship for hot singles. and the crowd was definitely exactly what I had pictured. oh, and the very sweet, but easily confused and oh-so-tanorexic waiter could have walked out of the imaginary 28 degrees in my head. all of the pieces add up to a place that I still wouldn’t choose to go to, but that I suppose I might stop choosing not to go to. if that makes any sense at all?
