A friend and colleague of mine surprised me this morning by shooting me an email with a very detailed review of Mooo restaurant, a new modern and upscale steak house hot spot. The place has some pretty big shoes to fill, occupying the former location of The Federalist (which was spectacular, though the name even screams ostentatiousness!) at the XV Beacon Hotel. So I figured I'd post it here; I love the idea of having guest reviewers on TheDish, as it offers a refreshing change to my writing style and my taste in dining. So, without further ado, let's see how Mooo measures-up, from the mind and palate of Mike Profit (damn he has a good name, eh?!):
Mooo
15 Beacon St
Boston
Website
Reservations
By Mike Profit
I'm not a steak house guy normally. Too in your face and frankly I can source excellent meat and cook it exactly the way I like at home for a fraction of the cost. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Moo. Slick interior with attractive front of house staff. Table was ready on time and bar staff was fine. We had an excellent waiter; very low key, but knew the menu and gave recommendations. We were at no times rushed despite a clearly busy evening. Busboys were attentive and we always had glasses filled with water. One of our party is a foodie too with her own wine cellar, so she selected an excellent 2005 Dauvissat Les Forest Chablis, and my personal fav, a 2004 Marquis Philips Shiraz from Australia. With 27 pages of wine to choose from you'll find something you'll like, if not afford!
We mostly skipped the apps (although a couple of people had the endive salad). The Roquefort was an excellent foil to the bitter endive. Two girls in the party did the wise thing and ordered an appetizer as their main course and shared the sides. One chose the beef carpacio and it was a whole plate of excellent hand cut wafer thin carpacio. I had the beef wellington, with spinach, duxxelles and fois gras ($44). I am often wary of ordering a wellington at a restaurant because I've had them dry and flavorless. However this was cooked to perfection (medium rare) and served beautifully. Very rich and decadent. I did steal some of Dave's bone marrow butter (simply because I'm a marrow fiend, ever since I read From Nose To Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson (a British visionary chef) which was unctuous and heady with it's richness.
Of course being a steak house, they **** you over with their pricing structure. You order your slab of meat and then you have to choose your side (priced between $9 and $17) and sauce (an extra $2-3). The waiter explained that the sides would serve between 2 and 4 depending (which was a bit annoying, because we didn't know what would serve who). So in the end we over ordered and got: Truffled cauliflower (fantastic cauliflower in a cream sauce with shaved black truffles), creamed spinach (fine - it's creamed spinach!), wild mushrooms (these actually were mostly wild which was encouraging - I'm a big mushroom fan too and thoroughly enjoyed these), potato skins with aged gruyere and bacon (feeds the inner sports fan within you), and a mushroom risotto with Madeira (can't go wrong with a good risotto!). We only managed to eat about half the accompaniments, which was a shame.
We skipped desert (we were on expenses after all!).
Overall, it was an excellent meal. Lots of beautiful people (somewhat sullied by our presence), but we received excellent service, very competent food and a thoroughly pleasant location. I will go again, when I don't have to pick up the tab ;-)
Great review Mike, and I look forward to giving Mooo a try some time. If you are interested in writing a review on TheDish, please email me!
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