Restaurant Project: M

Dear LJ,

I am so, so very sorry that I've been avoiding you. Stress and depression make it hard to write, and then not having written makes it even harder. But I miss you, and I need to get back to you. So, here's starting on my backlong.

So, way back when, bess and cristovau had claimed M, when we got around to it, telling us that they wanted to take us to Moonstones. Aside from the fact that it looked like an awesome restaurant, there was no way we were going to turn down dinner with friends - especially ones we don't see often enough - so we said yes, and made plans.

The first thing I noticed about Moonstones is that it was big, and easy to find, and that there was plenty of parking. (Most of the restaurants we can find for this project are in the Boston area, where those are extreme rarities.) We went in, and the staff was incredibly friendly, and everything was huge and spacious - while there were other tables, they felt far enough away from ours to be in another zip code.

Their menu has a combination of tapas/small plates and regular-sized dishes; in the interest of science and experimentation we felt we needed to try some of both. We started out with a handful of tapas for sharing. The marinated olives and hummus (mostly enjoyed by cristovau and myself, both of us rejoicing in finding someone to share our olive love) were delicious - the olives were both mild and deliciously salty and briny, and the hummus was light and lemony instead of dense and grainy like it sometimes is. The seared scallops with truffled potato was perfect in every way - the scallops were moist and sweet, and the potatoes were not too earthy (I am generally not a fan of truffled anything, but even I liked this). And the chianti-glazed meatballs with mascarpone polenta were excellent as well. The meatballs were good, though they were very mildly seasoned, but the polenta was, again, perfect.

For a main course, I ordered the Catalan-style braised chicken with tomatoes, pine nuts, and spanish dumplings, and it was awesome. The chicken was meltingly tender, and the flavors of the sauce and the meat just blended together into a spicy rich meaty tangy smoky marvel. The dumplings - little cornmeal balls - were wonderful for soaking up extra sauce.

umbran ordered the smoked pork chop with polenta and spiced apples, and loved it thoroughly; it was smoky and sweet and properly done. bess ordered the butternut capellaci, which were my second-favorite dish of the night - sweet, creamy, smooth, luscious ravioli-like things that just hit the perfect blend of texture and flavor. cristovau ordered the steak frites with rosemary fries and braised romaine, which was also surprisingly (to me) good. I'm usually not a fan of Slab O Red Meat, but this was crisp and charred just right, and the texture on the meat was good. The fries were crisp and not-greasy, and the braised romaine was unexpectedly good, for hot lettuce.

Luckily, the restaurant offers a dessert sampler plate, making our decision there even easier - tiny tasting portions of a handful of truly excellent-sounding desserts. The zeppoli was a pleasant surprise for my Jersey-girl heart; it was just a perfect mouthful of hot-crisp-soft-cinnamon-sugar-yum. The bread and butter pudding was rich and buttery with a good crust. Their chocolate pate was, in essence, like a flourless chocolate cake, but a little lighter - bittersweet, not too rich, and felt a lot like eating a mug of cocoa. The truest standout, though was the guava pudding. Sweet and tangy, fruity and smooth, and amazingly balanced; I would go back for that alone.

All in all, it was an amazing success, both in company and in food. Each dish left me thinking, 'no, THIS one is my favorite!' and there were so many others on the menu that sounded wonderful that I didn't get the chance to try; I can't wait to go back.

And now that it's written up, we can get back on track. Any thoughts for N?