Eastern Standard Kitchen

After years of wanting to go to Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square, I finally went this past weekend. And it lived up to the hype.

We arrived about a 1/2 hour early and were seated immediately - very nice! It was quite chilly, but after a few drinks, we warmed up. The bread and cucumber/carrot salad they bring were delicious. I don't know what was in that butter, but whoa! It was good.

Drinks: I went with the Blueberry Thrill (tasty, although the first few sips were a bit different), my fiance got the Pineapple Express (he downed it, and he's not a big drinker), my dad got a tasty Mojito and my mom went for one of the Coolers (I can't remember which one, and it's not listed online), which was so strong, she had about 3 sips.

For our appetizers, I got the soup of the day. I don't remember what it was, except that it was EXCELLENT. I think it was the best part of my meal. My mom ordered the Ratatouille as hers - not as tomato-y as she expected - and my dad and fiance got the Mixed Green salad (pretty basic).

For our meals, I had to go for the Baked Rigatoni. The ricotta came as a big heap on top, so I scooped it right off, making it a WEE bit healthier. It was awesome and not as creamy or rich as I expected (it's still creamy & rich though!). My fiance got the Hangar Steak Frites - hard to mess that up! My mom got the Halibut, which she said was delicious, and my dad got the Apple Wood Smoked Pork Porterhouse, which he literally sucked clean! I tried it and it was very tasty!

The waitress even gave us a free "shot" at the end (meant to cleanse our palettes and be sipped), which was a nice treat!

My only two complaints are:
1) It's quite loud in there, so if you're going for an intimate dinner, you may have to talk a bit louder.
2) On my Open Table reservation, I put that it was a birthday celebration, but we never got a cake or anything. We were so stuffed anyway, who knows if we could have eaten it, but it would have been nice!