|
Type: Eclectic
Prices: Lunch: sandwiches $4.50-$4.75; soups, salads $2.25-$5.25. Dinner: appetizers, salads $5.50-$6.75; entrees $11.75-$16.25; desserts $4.75.
Sound level: Quiet enough for conversation
Good choices: Reuben sandwich; warm romaine salad with crumbled blue cheese and walnuts; jumbo shrimp fra diavolo; marlin with lime beurre blanc; peach tart.
Hours: Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Reservations accepted. No smoking.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Diner's, Novus.
Access: Fully accessible.
|
BRICK CO. GRILLE
377 Walden Street, Cambridge
(617) 864-4745
Restaurant reviewed 10/22/98 by Alison Arnett
In an area of Cambridge hugging Concord Street and Huron Avenue, neighborhood restaurants are essential. After all, walking is the best policy; it can be difficult to find a parking place unless you have a resident sticker. But eating close by is a matter of pride, too. Cantabrigians have been known to speak in whispers about their neighborhood favorites to assure themselves of their favorite Friday night tables, the old Le Bocage on Huron Avenue being the prototypical example. It's been a community sign of chic to know where to dine without straying too far.
There's now another one in the 'hood, Brick Co. Grille, which opened on Walden Street in April. A tiny place with 30 seats and usually a single wait staffer, Brick Co. is the project of James McCall and Jamie Long. The pair had previously worked together at the Pillar House and the Harvard Faculty Club.
They are the chefs, and they send out menus and promotional letters, lots of them. They used ``sweat equity,'' McCall says, to transform the space, spending months cleaning and tearing down a wall to expose brick. They painted the room a lively yellow, chose the colorful Fiestaware plates, and hung the paintings.
Their dedication gives the place personality and warmth. It feels a little like wandering into a friend's house for a homey meal. Sometimes their cooking conveys just that; sometimes the dishes seem dated or stretch too far.
A grilled Reuben sandwich, a special one lunch early in the fall, was a credit to the genre: the corned beef was moist and plentiful, the sandwich carefully made so that the sauerkraut stayed inside, and the crust nicely grilled without being greasy. Putting Thanksgiving in a sandwich always seems unwieldy to me, but my companion's roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce boasted fine ingredients and signs of careful composition. When I asked for iced tea, the waitress, in a lilting Gaelic accent, said she'd just brewed a pot and gave me an extra glass of ice to cool it quickly. We ended the meal with a delicious, warm peach tart made on the premises and with a feeling of neighborly bonhomie.
McCall and Long concentrate on an eclectic American cuisine with a marked French influence. Grilled pizza topped with tomatoes and spinach one evening was an appealing idea, the flavors clean and distinct. A salad of warm romaine sprinkled with just enough garlic and a smattering of blue cheese and walnuts also had a spunky taste. And a very moderately priced house salad was more than generous, with carefully chosen greens, olives, and tomatoes.
Some appetizers, though, resembled '70s Gourmet magazine favorites. One example: tight rolls of phyllo pastry filled with brie, baked, and served with a sweet rosemary chutney that tasted a lot like plum sauce. Nothing wrong with the dish, but the feeling of deja vu, that one had tasted similar concoctions (when we called them hors d'oeuvres), was unavoidable.
If you've yearned for some of those dinner-party classics, this might be the place for you. Beef tenderloin covered with a generous layer of gorgonzola and served with a wild mushroom sauce was quite delicious. The beef was tender, the contrast with the strong cheese produced vivid flavor, and the sauce blended in well. Certainly nothing wrong with a classic idea. Shrimp fra diavolo (shrimp and linguini in a spicy red sauce) and a chicken roulade of breast meat stuffed with prosciutto, oven-dried tomatoes, and spinach were also dated ideas but well-composed and flavorful.
An '80s idea, blackened fish from the Cajun craze, was updated with marlin. Careful grilling of the fish preserved its delicacy while delivering the punch of the homemade spice mixture on its crusty exterior. A lime beurre blanc sauce added a citrusy tone to the dish.
A dish of wide noodles with a sage cream sauce and garlic was muddied by off-taste one evening, as though the cheese had been left uncovered in the freezer too long and become a little stale. And more butternut squash than a few slivers would have added some variety to the mixture. However, the mashed potatoes served with several dishes needed no qualifying statements -- they were flat-out great. No wonder the folks in the neighborhood hope to keep the place a secret.
With its very moderately priced wine list, designer beers, and attentive staff -- the owners keep a close eye on the dining room in between cooking stints -- Brick Co. makes for a pleasant stop.
However, the dessert offerings on two evening visits were from Alden Merrill, and each one was a little gummy -- from key lime pie to tiramisu to a chocolate extraganza -- and unremarkable. In fact, I don't believe I've ever before tasted a tiramisu that so closely resembled a cheesecake. McCall said they had been doing some in-house desserts, such as the peach tart I tasted on a lunch visit, but had stopped that. He added he and Long hoped to resume making some of the desserts soon.
That final touch would make a dinner at Brick Co. seem truly like a dinner party at a friend's house.
Tips & hits
