this is how princesses feel
the place: gaslight, 560 harrison ave, south end
the date: wednesday, 03.18.09
the plan: cocktails, apps, and dessert
tuesday was, as they often are, an utter disaster of a day. and all day, I fixated on cocktails and beignets from gaslight as the thing that would fix the day, but I couldn’t fit a visit into my schedule. so on wednesday, I dragged m (fresh off the plane from the midwest and dying for a return to city civilization) along to help sate my craving. and really? there is nothing about this experience that leads me to believe gaslight isn’t the solution to any bad day.
drinks, of course: oh, the drinks. I started with the fleur de lis, which was apparently also our waitresses favorite. violet liqueur, gin, peach, white grape juice, and champagne all add up to a martini glass full of happiness and slicked with ice. absolutely everything I wanted when I started thinking about these cocktails the previous day. m had the l’acolyte— essentially a deliciously orange sidecar. next round, m switched to wine and after some great input from the waitress went with the white grenache which was exactly what she wanted— think a bit drier and not quite as fruity as a reisling. excellent. I stuck with the cocktails, this time having a boston common, which is an adorable little mint-green thing made with vodka, elderflower liqueur, and basil. it was sweeter than I was expecting, but the basil helped cut that and keep it on the refreshing side. with dessert, I had a glass of muscat and it was sweet and jewel-like and the perfect ending drink.
to start: we did apps instead of dinner, but definitely didn’t skimp. we started with two things we weren’t particularly interested in sharing— m had the garlic soup which was incredibly tasty and somehow extremely garlicky, but also very light. I loved it, but the protein component was mussels, which aren’t my favorite. besides, I had more important things to attend to— like eating escargot like it’s my job. now I’ve the escargot at gaslight before and I do not remember it being this good. gaslight is my favorite french restaurant in the city, but I’ve always felt that sandrine’s had the best escargot. I may have changed my mind. these were tender and garlicky and buttery without feeling greasy. there was enough butter/herb/garlic liquid in each cup when the escargot was removed to dip one bite of bread, but not so much that you felt like you’d been drinking butter. I don’t know how they achieved that balance, but it was absolutely heavenly. each snail was transformative. I was blown away.
for our second course of apps, we split the frites with aioli and the crispy goat cheese salad that was on the restaurant week menu— they were serving all the components of the prix fixe menu a la carte, which not all places do and was a really great way to extend our apps options. the frites there are good, maybe not as good as brasserie jo, but I haven’t been there in a while. the aioli wasn’t too heavy and I enjoyed it. the salad wasn’t anything to write home about, but was tasty and serviceable with a light and tart dressing that perfectly balanced the goat cheese.
sweet treat: and then there was dessert. m almost didn’t get anything, but then decided on the champagne sorbet with blackberry and a parisian macaroon, again from the restaurant week menu. I cannot explain this sorbet. it was light and fizzy and sweet the way you’d expect from champagne, but it was so much more. we could not stop eating it. or talking about it. it’s possible that sorbet could bring about world peace if everyone could just try some. I don’t know how they did it. and the cookie was nothing special and should have been an afterthought, but was actually so unexpectedly good that it made m angry. I debated for a bit between the orange cranberry bread pudding on the restaurant week menu or the chocolate beignets I’d been thinking about for almost 48 hours at that point. I went with the beignets. except, they brought me the chocolate cake. I couldn’t find the waitress and I was in such a great mood I decided it was fine and just ate it. I mean, it’s good, but it’s still another flourless chocolate cake. so I mostly just stole bites of m’s sorbet and enjoyed my wine. however, as we were paying, the waitress noticed my plate, realized what had happened and insisted I take the order of very warm chocolate beignets that she brought me to go. so that was breakfast on thursday. mmmmm… perfection.
on top of all the perfect food and drink, I always love the space and the atmosphere at gaslight. it’s so casually indulgent and really brings that neighborhood brasserie feel into play. and the service there is impeccable. the hostess took m’s suitcases without even a frown, the sommelier chatted with us several times, and the waitress was one of the best I’ve had in ages, even before the to-go dessert— I wish I had gotten her name, but she was sweet and funny, knowledgable about the food, wine, and cocktails, and attentive without being overbearing. I haven’t needed a fun, pampered night out as badly as I did this time and it couldn’t have been more perfect. definitely one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve ever had.
