steven M. wrote: >I spoke to my friend Wesley of R.Wesley's who said that he was at >the meat market on Tuesday and saw a package there for Chez Henri, >so they must be open for business by now. He said he thinks the chef >there is someone who formerly worked at Providence, so the food >can be expected to be top notch. I'll have to check it out next week. >Does anyone have the exact address? The exact address is 1 Shepard St. (just off Mass. Ave.). It is in the old location of Chez Jean. The _owner_ is Paul O'Connell, chef/owner of Providence in Brookline. I can't remember the name of the chef offhand. My wife and I went there this Saturday. Since the restaurant had just opened this past week, we were expecting some "opening glitches." I'm happy to say that we didn't experience any. Service was well- paced and the food was excellent. The menu has a few items which are similar to items at Providence, but the emphasis of the restaurant is quite different--so some of those items which sounded similar, actually turned out to be quite different. Chez Henri offers an updated look at French Bistro food. The prices are somewhat more reasonable than Providence, but are not at all low. Appetizers are mostly in the $6-$10 range, entrees mostly from $14-$21. Desserts are around $4 or $5 (I can't remember). There was also a prix fixe menu for $28, including appetizer, entree and dessert (interestingly, the prix fixe menu items were not listed on the regular menu!). The wine list is decently broad (not much depth), with most bottles in the $20-$40 range, and approximately 6 wines by the glass. I actually thought that the list was better matched to the food than the list at Providence (though the list doesn't have all the top names that Providence does). The restaurant is relatively sparsely decorated, but it feels right-- quite comfortable and inviting. It was not as noisy as I would have thought, given the lack of noticable sound-dampening materials, and the proximity of the tables to each other. It's a shame that the nice big windows in front have only the side of an apartment building as a view. I ordered from the prix fixe menu, and started with a grilled squid salad, with a tomato and papaya salsa, atop a small mound of shredded cabbage. The squid were perfectly grilled--tender, and not at all rubbery--and just a bit spicy, with a good taste of the grill. The salsa was good, but a bit bland--I thought the papaya could have been a bit riper and sweeter. The shredded cabbage, though, was quite good. My wife had a green salad, which was quite good, but not exceptional. My entree was a perfectly grilled duck breast (rare) with a wonderful cherry sauce. The duck was served atop a very good potato pancake-- thick with a crispy outside and soft inside. Lightly sauteed watercress was a great vegetable complement to the meal. My wife had cod which was prepared with apples and calvados. I am not a big cod fan (it can be pretty boring), but this was excellent. The cod was served with a mound of crispy, perfectly fried onion rings. One interesting area of the menu was the available side orders of starch--tostones (twice fried plantains), yucca frites, etc. The chef seems to like variations on the "normal" starches. My wife ordered tostones, as she really likes them (we make them at home occasionally), but there are not too many restaurants around here where you can get them. The tostones were very good--much like the ones we make. For dessert, my wife resisted the warm chocolate gateau (warm chocolate cake seems to be a repeated theme from Olives to Providence to Chez Henri), and ordered instead the "pot au chocolate," which was a chocolate custard (quite pudding-like) in a cup. It had been dusted with cinnamon. We were hoping for something a bit denser and intensely chocolate, given the description by our waitress, but we are a bit fanatical about that sort of thing. It was quite tasty, though. I had a "banana millefeuille with vanilla ice cream" which was the only dessert with the prix fixe. It was quite similar to Greek baklava, with bananas substituted for the nuts, and was wonderful. The ice cream complemented the millefeuille very nicely. All in all, we had an excellent meal. Dinner for 2, with appetizer, entree, one side order and dessert (no drinks) was approximately $65 (including tax, excluding tip).
Boston, MA