A few weeks ago, I had a business trip to Boston. Luckily, one of my longest friends lives in Cambridge (at least for a few more weeks) so we met up for dinner. It was an incredibly rainy night, with wind so strong that I couldn’t pull my suitcase down the sidewalk because the wind kept turning it sideways. Liquid Art House looked to be just a few short blocks from the Back Bay Train Station, but in that weather, it was no easy task. We walked into the restaurant dripping and cold, but were immediately in awe of the space.
It has a gallery quality to it with art tucked away in every corner and huge personality in every area. Very cool.
And the menu was museum quality as well…
We had a hard time choosing, but decided to start with Wild Mushroom Homemade Dumplings with porcini cream, shitake crisps, and sour cream.
Wow.
These things were awesome. Not exactly what I would expect of a dumpling, but oh so flavorful, rich, and delicious.
We also split the duck confit “starter,” which could have easily been a main. This came with medjool dates, urfa aioli, micro arugula, and queso azul de valdeon.
The duck skin was so incredibly crispy with mouthwatering tenderness and it was perfectly cooked inside. The dates were a great compliment and the whole dish was a great combination of rich and bitter and sweet and sour, so no bite got remotely boring.
For our entrees, we split 2 dishes.
The first was the Australian Lamb Loin with potato puree, green olive & mint gremolata, roasted grapes, and parmigiano reggiano. This was sauced table side.
This was some of the most tender, most melt-in-your-mouth lamb I’ve ever had. My brain couldn’t quite understand how olives and grapes would come together, but as soon as I tasted it, I knew it was a match made in food arty heaven. Everything about this dish was incredible and we lapped up every last morsel.
But I still can’t decide which was better… that lamb or these Local Scallops. They came with cauliflower, snap peas, pickled carrot, pomegranate gastrique, and vadouven-labneh.
First of all, this was one of the most beautiful plates of food I have ever seen.
But it wasn’t even as beautiful as it tasted. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and sprang to life in my mouth. The scallops were slightly caramelized and some of the best tasting, most flavorful scallops I’ve ever had. I could not get enough of this dish and kept going back and forth between this and the lamb and honestly couldn’t pick a favorite. Each one alone could qualify as one of the best dishes I’ve had all year.
I wish I could have seen the desserts here, because I’m sure they would have impressed, but we were just stuffed to the gills and couldn’t even dream about one more bite.
This meal was sensational. Honestly one of the best all year. And I’m glad I got to share it with my Eh-er before she leaves us for the west coast.
Total Nom Points: 9 out of 10
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