Dinner: Petit Robert Bistro

Sorry I haven't been around for a while my blissful two weeks of free time have come to an end now but man was I living it up until now. No really, I have been sitting on my butt with friends and husband doing absolutely nothing for two weeks. And it has been wonderful but now I am back and ready to interact with the world, kind of.

To celebrate a friends birthday a couple of weeks ago, we went to Petit Robert Bistro in the South End of Boston. It was on a Tuesday night so our reservation that started out as six people and ended up as nine was not that big a deal and the staff handled my continuous calls to change our numbers with friendliness and grace.

Once everyone had arrived we were led to a lovely table on the quiet side of the restaurant. We had to walk through the bustling kitchen to get there but overall it was nice enough placement that I didn't mind. Of course with that many people it was pandemonium and it took over half an hour to get our drinks in order. The cocktail menu is printed on the back of the regular menu which is was a nice touch and allowed you to think about how your drinks would accompany your food.

They have some great cocktails including a selection of Kir Royale variations that made me very happy, the lemon, vodka, and champagne cocktail wasn't half bad either. If you are unsure of what to order make sure you check your friends menus as well since there were several versions of the drink menu.

The menu is not so small that you cannot find something to eat and not so extensive that you get lost. However, once we started ordering we discovered that they were out of the dish many of us were excited to try, the Lobster Mac and Cheese. Our reservation was at 8:00 so I am guessing get there much earlier if you want to try this signature delicacy. After some deliberation I decided to go with the Lobster Bisque (a decision I simply need to stop making, I have had perfect Lobster Bisque once at Commanders Palace in New Orleans and no one has ever lived up to it), and the Coq Au Van over buttery noodles.

As you may have guessed from my observation above the Lobster Bisque was sub par. The flavor was bland and uninteresting and there was almost no lobster in the dish. Part of me wants to attribute this to the recent red tide and the subsequent lobster shortage, but I wish they would just take the lobster off of the menu if this is the case because their current bisque did not impress at all.

The Coq Au Van on the other hand was wonderful. While their choice of Linguine noodles instead of a smaller shaped noodle was a little odd the flavor was wonderful. The chicken literally fell off of the bone and the wine sauce was savory with just a hint of sweetness. The sharpness of the wine sauce blended beautifully with the buttery noodles and created a smooth rich flavor.

In addition to being delicious this was a very filling dish and I probably could not have eaten as much as I did had I started with my original appetizer choice of the Mac and Cheese.

For Dessert my friend had a Lemon bar with a candle in it and I had the One Giant Profiterole! My friend Pam has claimed Profiteroles as her war cry, so when I ordered this it started people crying Profiteroles!!! around the table. This dessert was truly One Giant Profiterole complete with creamy vanilla ice cream sitting in a sea of rich dark chocolate.

I give Petit Robert a B. I recommend Petit Robert for a intimate dinner for two or for a large group.

One word of caution, we had a vegetation in our midst for this trip and while there was a mushroom risotto on the menu other than salads this was the only real vegetarian option. In other words if you have a friend who does not eat meat this might not be the place to take her.