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Mermaid Restaurant
Sitting in the serene Mermaid Restaurant, it's easy to forget that just steps away is tourist-jammed Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which at its worst can be as charming as "Animal House," and the Big Dig, which won't be charming until it's over.
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MERMAID RESTAURANT
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Where: 84 Central Street, Boston.
Telephone: 617-670-2033.
Prices: Appetizers $4.95-$8.95, salads $5.95-$9.95, sandwiches, $7.95-$10.25, entrees and pasta $8.95-$18.95, desserts $6.
Good choices: Warm portobello mushrooms with wilted greens; fresh tagliatelle with grilled chicken; wood-grilled and marinated sirloin steak sandwich; creme brulee.
Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.
Noise level: Nice and quiet.
Credit cards: All major cards.
Access: Fully accessible.
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The Mermaid, with its subdued decor, friendly service, and comfortably elegant food, is an oasis.
On the first floor of the Harborside Inn (not to be confused with the much larger Harborside Hotel in Dorchester), this intimate restaurant focuses on Italian cuisine, with Asian, American, and even some classical French touches. The intense flavors of grilled meats, mushrooms, and caramelized onions show up time and again.
For starters, the warm portobello appetizer ($6.95) proved a a good bet. The meaty mushrooms, sitting atop wilted mixed greens, tingled with balsamic vinegar. The sirloin steak sandwich ($10.25), layered with slices of tender grilled beef, onions, mushrooms, and Gorgonzola cheese, was so juicy it soaked the bread. In the fresh tagliatelle with grilled chicken ($12.95), the porcini infused the creamy thyme-butter sauce so thoroughly that the pasta itself seemed made of mushrooms.
The near-perfect creme brulee ($6) is reason enough to come to the Mermaid. Tap, tap, tap, and your spoon cracks the sugar crust and dips into a custard bursting with vanilla flavor.
Don't get too comfortable, though: After you've polished off the creme brulee, sipped your cappuccino dry, and settled the bill, you have to step back outside.
- Joe Yonan
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