Restaurant Project: G

I have only just realized that, in spite of the fact that this happened several weeks ago, I never managed to get the chance to write it up - but I have a little bit of time now, and want to get it down before it completely slips my mind. So, without further ado, here we go - the 7th episode in the Restaurant Project, this time with special guest stars irseri and medeaschild!

I had gotten a lot of good suggestions for G, but life had been hectic, and finding time to go downtown for dinner was a challenge. (Though, incidentally, now that umbran is working near Newbury Street, that is likely to be much easier.) On the other hand, when we managed to eke out an evening for dinner and a movie with friends, they were good enough sports to be willing to play along and find a local G restaurant in order to get a Project dinner checked off the list as part of our time together.

We had originally picked out a Brazilian steakhouse that was supposed to be near the theater, but unfortunately when we drove to the site we found that the restaurant no longer existed, so we fell back on a second choice - Grassfields Steak and Seafood. I'm not normally a huge steak fan, and this looked a bit... mainstream, but the menu seemed decent, and at this point we were determined to do SOMETHING for the project, and it was what we had an address for in the area....

And it was a pretty darn nice restaurant. If nothing else, it rated head and shoulders above our first choice merely for existing. It was kind of generic, but nice. Decently lit, not too cold, and they managed to seat us immediately. And that was when the fun started - I hadn't expected any serious participation from our friends, but everyone decided that, in the interest of the project and research and science, it was imperative that we order as many diverse dishes as humanly possible, given that there were only four of us eating.

So we started out with appetizers of Zucchini Sticks and a Goat Cheese and Spinach Salad, both of which were, like the restaurant, pretty darn good. The zucchini sticks were light and crispy, and not at all greasy or heavy. They actually tasted like zucchini, and the peppercorn sauce they came with was decent and not too spicy. The salad had a good balance of dressing and spinach and cranberries and cheese, though it could have used more nuts. The bread they brought around was okay too, though nothing outstanding.

The biggest problem was when we went to order dinner - they were out of at least a few items that we tried to order. Ultimately, though, we all found food that was at least somewhat diverse and interesting.

I ordered Teriyaki Steak Tips (medium-well, because I am a heathen who likes my meat actually cooked), and they were good. Most importantly, they were done enough - I've gotten used to my food showing up either overdone or underdone, and that wasn't a problem here at all - and while the meat was done enough, it wasn't dry at all. The sauce was good, and not cloyingly sweet. And the veggies on the side were tasty, too - plain, but, like the meat, not overdone.

umbran ordered Steak Tips and Lobster Pie, which was fairly good. The steak tips were similar to mine, sans sauce, and the lobster pie was decent, if a bit heavy on the bread crumbs. He had rice pilaf on the side, and it was simple, but not bad. Buttery, mild, and not hideously salty or heavy. irseri ordered Steak Tips (yeah, kind of a theme, though his were medium-rare) and Scallops. The scallops were slightly overdone, but sweet and otherwise tasty, and the medium-rare tips were tender and not overdone at all. The only real failure for the evening was medeaschild's Petite Filet, which she said was over-charred and not that great. I am not enough of a steak connoisseur to judge, so I will take her word for it.

Then, of course, we had to order dessert. For research purposes. And dessert made up for any weaknesses in dinner. umbran and I split the Pumpkin Spice Cake, which was purely delicious - the cake wasn't dry at all, and tasted like nutmeg and pumpkin and fall, and the caramel sauce was rich and luscious and balanced the sweetness of the cake just about perfectly. irseri had Rice Pudding, which was thick and creamy and delightful, and medeaschild had the Avalanche, an ice cream sundae with caramel sauce and pecans and whipped cream which she pronounced to be Quite Good, and seemed to make up for the less than stellar dinner.

So, all in all.... okay. Not necessarily somewhere I'll be racing back to, but not a failure by any stretch of the imagination. Though it does leave me hoping for something a little creative and out of the ordinary for H. So, any suggestions?