Good choices: Crab and avocado timbale; creamless spring pea soup; foie gras and shiitake shumai; grilled lamb rack, spring vegetable ragout; Indonesian curry pasta, coconut shrimp; sake-miso marinated bass; key lime tart; cappuccino parfait.
BLUE GINGER
583 Washington Street, Wellesley
(781) 283-5790
Restaurant reviewed 05/11/98 by Alison Arnett
"Where are the good places," people often ask me, "the really good restaurants?" It's as though I'm holding back, playing my cards close to the vest. Not so; I tell all.
The temptation does cross my mind, however, when a restaurant as good as Blue Ginger comes along.
The first spoonful of a spring pea soup, brilliant green as grass, fragrant as the first mowing, explodes in my mouth. Have I ever tasted anything so wonderful, so true to its elements, I think. Just peas, no cream, with a little salad of finely julienned snow peas on top. Do I want to tell the world?
Would it be a crime, I muse, to hide the foie gras and shiitake shumai, which are brought out in a pretty woven steamer and spooned one by one into a shallow bowl of caramelized shallot broth? The essences of Western and Eastern luxury are melded within a humble dumpling and the result is silky smooth, boldly savory. The broth barely hints of sweetness, just enough to contrast with the foie gras and mushrooms. I'm entranced enough to be a fan, to feel a little conspiratorial, holding on to the delicious secret.
Only for a moment, though. It wouldn't be right. Besides, Blue Ginger wouldn't stay a secret for long, even though it is in the western suburbs, out of the spotlights of Boston. Yale-educated Ming Tsai, previously sous-chef at Silks in San Francisco and executive chef at Santacafe in Santa Fe, and his wife, Polly Talbott, chose Wellesley after researching cities across the country, Tsai said in a telephone interview. After the spot was chosen, a former grocery store, his parents insisted on feng shui advice for good luck.
There's a feeling of confidence one notices immediately at Blue Ginger. The big rectangular room is cleverly divided, and decorative elements are sleek and spare, tones of blue against gray, a soothing rock fountain at the front, interesting light fixtures and steel sculptures on the walls. The simpleness serves to draw one's eyes to the kitchen, exposed to the diners, where Tsai directs the action of leaping flames and flying hands, as a most eclectic mix of cooks keeps pace with his orders. It's quite a show, buttressed by generally smooth and attentive service.
But the food, with its restrained and balanced approach to joining Asian and even Southwestern elements to Western cuisine, is the real draw. Crab and avocado timbale was beautiful, glistening in contrasting pink and green. More impressive was the flavor, the crabmeat so clean and fresh against the tongue, the avocado a perfect medium to hold the limey vinaigrette. Salmon carpaccio brought more undiluted tastes of the sea, the thin slices brimming with flavor. Only stale brioche points marred the effect.
Tsai, who credits his interest in food to working in his mother's Chinese restaurant in Dayton, Ohio, never tips into the silliness that fusion cuisine sometimes suffers from. The mild Chilean bass had soaked up its marinade of sake and miso so that it was deeply rich and slightly sweet, sparked by the bite of wasabi oil and the saltiness of the soy syrup.
Duck breast marinated in achiote, the Asian seed that gives a very subtle flavor and slightly orangish hue, was paired with raisin chutney, the duck pink and moist against the vinegary sharp tastes of the chutney spiked with Thai bird chilies.
Several dishes have accompaniments fashioned like sushi. One of couscous and chayote, a squash-like melon, was cute but the couscous inside the sleeve of chayote seemed unseasoned.
Not so the Indonesian curry pasta with coconut shrimp and Asian vegetables. Intensely seasoned with a laundry list of spices and herbs, the pasta gave off heady flavor without too much heat; it was intoxicating. The shrimp, lightly encrusted with coconut batter, was nutty rather than sweet, and one could actually taste the shrimp, not always true of this increasingly popular dish.
Some of the dishes hew more toward a Western model. Grilled lamb rack with the loin resting on the rack was delicious, demanding that each little bone be gnawed at, all of the cabernet glaze be savored. Seared halibut with excellent mashed Yukon potatoes, light on the butter, came with balsamic-glazed tiny red onions and slivers of artichoke.
Not everything worked as well, though. Wild mushroom and spinach risotto spun too many elements, with an abundance of cheese, into rice that was gummy within seconds of serving. A carrot reduction around the edges did give a bit of sweetness, but seemed to clash with the risotto.
Spring rolls are on every menu, and perhaps I'm just tired of them, but these of shiitake and leeks were dull. And although the oysters, a special one evening, were everything one could want, perfect, plump and briny, there was no shallot mignonette despite the waiter's insistence that we just couldn't see it.
Desserts, by pastry chef Alia Rejeb, were pretty to look at and wonderfully satisfying. Jasmine rice pudding in a puffed tortilla that looked like an overturned hat managed to keep the integrity of rice grains while definitely conveying the silkiness of a custard.
A vanilla creme brulee was disappointingly thin in texture, but key lime tart, with just the right amount of acidity and an excellent buttery crust, was delicious. A cappuccino parfait mousse topped with a hazelnut dacquoise shaped like a little lid captivated the eye first, then the palate. The wine list is varied, helpfully listed from light to heavy body; and has a good selection of wines by the glass.
Blue Ginger is unusual, not only because of the food or the room, but because it's a neighborhood restaurant of a type not found too often in the Boston area - sparklingly urbane, cutting edge, but, at least for those in the wealthy western suburbs, right around the corner. Those of us who live farther away will just have to travel - now that the secret is out.
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