Sweet and Sour in Boston

I walk by Metropolis Café every night on my way home from work. More often than not, I see this adorable old man sitting in a seat in the corner with an M on his hat (for Metropolis, duh), watching people pass by and waiting for the dinner service to begin. I’ve wanted to try this place for a while now; assuming it was a café filled with yummy Greek and Mediterranean food (surprisingly, there’s more of an American influence). Last night when we were trying to figure out where to eat, I brought it up. JP seemed interested so we did what we always do: we “yelped” the restaurant. I’m always curious about what others think of restaurants; trying to make sure I’m not eating at the latest health code violation (cough, Yum Mee …which is not, in fact, yummy, at all). Anyway, the reviews were all very positive (I didn’t read them, I just looked at the star ratings) and we decided to check it out.
We leave the house early for a few reasons, we’re starving already, I have cute shoes on so it will take me a little longer to walk, and it’s pouring out. Note to self, buy a second umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh when we’re at the mall today-ay-ay.
We arrive and get to our table quickly. I had already looked at the menu so I knew immediately I wanted the “Horseradish Crusted Salmon with warm cucumber crème fraiche and salmon roe”. We decide on the app (“Gnocchi with duck confit, Vermont brussels sprouts, rosemary jus and parmigiano reggiano”) and it comes out almost immediately (but not so fast that you’re wondering if it’s been sitting in the kitchen for a while). It’s heaven. Amazing. Warm. It’s how I wish chicken noodle soup always tasted. The brussel sprouts weren’t very flavorful (thank god), but they provided great texture. The duck was very tasty; I just wish (like I always do with duck) that there was more…like an entire duck more. Good God I love duck. I’m not a huge fan of rosemary, but it wasn’t too bad in the dish.
Now it’s time for dinner. Oh.my.God. I ordered the most amazing dish. My salmon came out and, I’m not gonna lie, it was probably the best salmon dish I’ve ever had. The salmon was perfectly cooked, and the skin was crispy (which is just the way I like it). The “horseradish crust” was something I’ve never seen before. It was a horseradish cake. Picture a crab cake. It’s seared on both sides, with the consistency of a crab cake. It wasn’t overpowering at all, and tasted amazing with the salmon, salmon roe, cucumber and the crème fraiche. I never would have thought crème fraiche and cucumbers go with salmon, but man, now I can’t imagine them not being there. I now consider it one of the great pairings in the food world, peanut butter and jelly, lamb and tuna fish, and now, salmon with crème fraiche and cucumber. I gave JP a bite and he loved it too. I tried his hangar steak and it was okay, the mashed potatoes were awesome, but I was definitely glad I ordered the salmon. I have a feeling every time we return to Metropolis Café I will be ordering the salmon.


At the end of the night we received one of those “how did we do” cards. I filled it out and told them, feel free to send me to send me the recipe for the duck gnocchi. I doubt they will, but a girl can dream.

I give Metropolis Café 4.5 out of 5 (which will be bumped to 4.75 out of 5 if they send me that recipe!).

We had nothing going on for Friday night and no plans for dinner. After deciding we didn't want to cook, Abby suggested trying a place she walked by every day to work, the Metropolis Cafe. We tried going here a couple of years ago for brunch, but every time we went, there was a 30 minute or more wait and we were never patient enough to try it.

I quickly opentabled the restaurant at 5:30, and there was an opening at 7:30. (There were openings all night long in fact, but that didn't deter us from making the reservation.) We walked over in the heavy rain, sharing one small umbrella, both our arms on either side got soaking wet. We arrived a few minutes early, but that wasn't a problem at all.

Metropolis Cafe is a small restaurant located on Tremont St, between Clarendon and Dartmouth. For some reason I always thought that the restaurant had a huge dining area that stretched well beyond the large center bar, but I guess not. As you walk in, you see the large center bar that can seat 10-12 people and running along the right side are booths and along the left side a few tables. That's it. The high ceilings really made the place seem that much bigger, and even though the center bar took up a lot of square footage, the servers and guest could walk easily around it and not bump into anybody.

When we arrived, all the booths were full, there were a couple of diners at the bar, and a couple that was having dinner in the corner. It seemed empty for a Friday, but it was early on in the night, and the weather might be affecting people's choices to go out. They only serve beer and wine here, but that was fine by us. We both asked for wine tips, and the waitress quickly answered our questions with no hesitation. (I asked her about the two Spanish reds on the menu, and she immediately suggested to get the Rioja.)

The menu is small, which I like. There were a couple of items on the appetizers list that sounded really interesting. We had a hard time deciding between the asparagus tare tare or the gnocchi with duck confit. (This normally would be a no brainer, since we are avid duck fans, but brussel sprouts were somehow incorporated on the dish and neither of us are that fond of brussel sprouts.) We decided on the gnocchi, damn if we didn't make the right choice!



The gnocchi was served in a soup-like fashion, with the potato filled goodness swimming in a brown broth. I'm assuming it's duck broth, or stock, but I didn't really know. The brussel sprouts and confit of duck were shaved over the top of it, as well as some thyme. I highly recommend this dish. We used up all the bread trying to soak up the broth, and had to restrain ourselves from licking the dish clean.

We had a little bit of a wait for our entrees, as the restaurant began to get full. We sat near the front window and could see a large group entering as well as a few couples. Guess we came at the right time and beat the rush.

When we ordered, I had a hard time deciding between the Tagliatelle Bolognase (made with veal and beef) and the Hanger Steak (with whipped truffle potatoes and endive salad). Again, the waitress came through quickly and with no hesitation and said get the steak, so I did. Abby got horseradish crusted salmon with a cucumber creme fraiche sauce...that sounded absolutely yummy.



My hanger steak was cooked perfectly, with a nice sear on the outside and perfectly pink in the middle. It tasted like most hanger steaks I've had recently at restaurants, which is not a bad thing. The steak was not overpowered by any special sauce or dressing, and the meat was allowed to speak for itself. The potatoes were very, very good and while the endive salad on time probably is meant to add some green to the dish, it didn't really do much for me. (Not that it was bad, in fact it was really good and offered a nice texture and some contrast when I paired it on the fork with a piece of steak and some potatoes, but it could have been left off and I would have been fine either way.)

Abby gave me a taste of her salmon, and WOW! As the Andelman brothers would say, "That is the dish worth driving to."

We decided against desert and just got another drink. Our bill wasn't that bad, considering we had 2 drinks each. Appetizers run about $7-9, and entrees were $18-$22, which I felt were about average for a place on Tremont St. At the end of the meal, I already knew I would be coming back to try to tagliatelle. I give Metropolis Cafe a 4 out of 5.