Because of Covid, most of my trips recently have been road trips along the West Coast. Not that I mind, I did get to see some awesome places and try some amazing wines from Oregon, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, but I was definitely itching to get back on a plane and go someplace new, yet far away. Boston seemed like a great choice because I (nor my husband) had never been, and we had a friend living there who we could hang out with, show us around and get some amazing recommendations from. Months before travelling, my friend and I settled on giving Tasting Counter a try. It definitely sounded like my kind of restaurant: A small number of seats and you get to sit around the kitchen watching people cook. Two of my favorite places do it similarly, so it felt like a no-brainer to me.
They do either lunch or dinner service. Lunch runs $95 for three courses and drink pairings, while dinner will run you $295 for nine courses and drink pairings. They do it by a ticketing system, so you just buy the ticket and you are done. All you have to do is show up, sit down, and eat. You get to choose your beverage pairing in advance, and they allow for wine, sake, beer, or house-made non-alcoholic pairings. There were four of us going, and two of us chose sake, one wine, and the fourth the non-alcoholic because they heard that the restaurant does some really cool and unusual things. We also chose lunch, because my friends were a bit apprehensive about the dinner price.
Sadly, Covid still affected this trip, as our friend’s boyfriend came down with Covid that morning, so they had to miss out. Luckily, the restaurant was very understanding and told them they can rebook in the future. My husband and I still definitely showed up for our seats though, and we were quickly shown our seats sitting around the kitchen. It’s a bright kitchen so it was easy to see, and not quite as elaborate as Six Test Kitchen in Paso Robles, but very nice none-the-less.
Not long after being seated, we were provided with some welcoming bites of trout between sesame crackers, a caramelized onion tart and a macaron with black olive. I loved everything, even if they were a bit on the sweet side when it came down to it. But the flavors definitely were fun and interesting, and the onion tart tasted exactly like French onion soup (it was supposed to), and it was decadent and delicious. They even provided drinks for the nibbles, which is always a bonus in my book.
Up next was a some green garlic dumplings. These were small dumplings reminiscent of spätzle with a sea urchin foam. It was honestly an outstanding dish. Perfectly cooked dumplings packed with flavor, and just a hint of urchin to bring it all together. Next was an extra course of a Schisandra berry tea with an almond cookie. I had never even heard of the berry, and supposedly it contains all the flavors. It was a superb palate cleanser. The second course was sea bass with white asparagus, peas and hazelnut. It looked so pretty when it arrived, and for a fish dish, I really enjoyed it.
Dessert was our last course, and it was described as a cheesecake, but honestly it was more like a carrot cake/cheesecake hybrid because who doesn’t love a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting? Add in some pistachio and blood orange sorbet, and we had a fantastic dessert. They even provided some parting morsels with a miso caramel madeleine, a knotweed and peppercorn bon bon and a Bartlett pear fruit chew. They even provide a menu to take home so you can remember your experience.
But how were the drinks? Amazing! Everything was paired very well, and I got to try some unusual wines from all over the world with my courses, and the sake was also interesting. Sadly, because my friend who wanted the non-alcoholic pairing was not there, I didn’t get to try it at all, but I did see someone down the counter from me get it, and they definitely went all out on their preparations for that as well.
Afterwards, we had a socially distant meet-up with our friend who cancelled (the one without Covid), and I told her I was very disappointed in my meal. Only because we did lunch, and everything we had was so delicious and interesting, I wanted more! I even looked to see if they had tickets some other time over the weekend, but they were fully booked, so sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. However, there may be a reason to visit again soon (it may involve bells), so if that happens, we are definitely going to be heading back for the full dinner experience. If you’re in the Boston area, I can not recommend Tasting Counter enough for an excellent experience and some tasty and interesting food.
Score: 5/5
Recommendation: Dinner. Get more courses, please!
Tasting Counter
14 Tyler St
Somerville, MA 02143
