Camberville Cuisine

The service was on the slow-and-inconsistent side at EVOO Saturday night. Our bread basket was refilled - twice - while we waited for our appetizers to appear. The cider Hyoun and Bitty ordered never showed at all; for appetizer, entree and dessert, having been seated at 5:30, we didn’t end up leaving until well after 8 pm.

But the scallops I ordered were perfect. Three large scallops, just a hint of searing, paired with a pureed porcini mushroom flan topped with a handful of mache, and the whole dish drizzled with white truffle oil. (Leftover truffle oil was quickly soaked up by the remains of bread basket number three.) The clarity and smoothness of the fresh scallops, the earthiness of the flan and truffle oil, and the slight crunch and tang of the mâche combined to make every bite unctuous, but not overwhelmingly so; simply layered and spiced with the kind of taste that sits blissfully on your tongue.

EVOO has the local, seasonal “New American” food vibe down well, my scallops being a prime example. On a previous visit, I melted over their “Duck, Duck, Goose:” a trio of duck confit, seared duck foie gras, and goose breast, served with lentils, green beans, and escarole, and topped with a sherry-ginger sauce. Their bread is certainly tempting enough to warrant the multiple baskets mentioned above, between the fruity dipping olive oil, the crusty peasant bread to sop it up, and the spicy-crunchy breadsticks for variety. My dessert of clementine-basil sorbet - another fascinating blend of sweet-yet-piquant winter clemmies with the heat of chipotle added to normally staid sugar cookies.

I know it’s trendy around this time of year to chalk up service errors to it being Restaurant Week, but EVOO has been open long enough (almost ten years now!) and is catering to a high enough standard that I expect a bit more attention paid. They did well in that regard the previous time I went on a weeknight, so until I get back there a third time (a ten-minute walk away, and it is starting to warm up enough that perhaps I won’t freeze on said walk!), I’ll go along with it and blame Restaurant Week. Maybe.

EVOO, 118 Beacon St, Somerville. 617.661.3866. Dinner M-Th 5:30-10, FS 5:30-11.

So this morning’s Boston Globe had an article about burgers, and an incomplete list of approved local burger joints. They failed to mention O’Sullivan’s.

I’m not surprised; it’s a half-mile out of Porter Square, across from the Ghetto Star, in a mostly-residential neighborhood. So even though it’s won Best of Boston awards for its burgers multiple times, and crowds spill out its doors on weekend nights, it still flies under the media radar somewhat. For the first few years I lived here, I dismissed it as the corner bar; only later would others let me in on the secret of O’Sullivan’s burgers, then be shocked that I lived around the corner from it and had never been. Granted, when I walk home in the evenings, it’s usually just too late to catch the kitchen open, and I need food to go with my booze, so the timing just hadn’t worked out.

Admittedly, it felt a little intimidating the first time I set foot inside. My mistake was going at lunch on a weekday afternoon; I was the only not-fully-white non-mustachioed non-male person in the pub at the time, nor was I wearing the uniform of a flannel shirt and jeans. The taciturn lunch crowd differs drastically from the chattering, neighborly folks in at dinner, who are there for burgers, beers, and sports.

So, the burgers? Huge. Lightly-toasted buns surrounding thick, juicy, flavorful half-pound patties result in monsters that you can’t fit your mouth around, not even on a frat-boy dare. According to their menu, they go through “400 pounds of ground sirloin a week,” and their burgers reflect this. Yet somehow, they still find room in each bun to slide in the requested toppings and condiments - bacon and mozzarella on a Papa Burger, onions and Cheddar on the Paddy O’ Melt (we are in an Irish pub here), and Swiss cheese and avocado on the Cape Codder, among a couple of dozen other options. Leftovers are a guarantee for me.

I haven’t ordered anything but burgers from them, but my mom gives the rib-eye steak a big thumbs-up. (She, too, had leftovers, until my dad came along and scarfed them up, not knowing she’d intended them for her lunch the next day. Oops.)

O’Sullivan’s Pub, 282 Beacon St, Somerville. 617.492.7773. Open 11 am-1 am daily, though the kitchen closes at 10:30 on weeknights.

Among my friends, we tend to have our “fallback” restaurants, and they seem to be mostly brew pubs (Sunset Grill and Tap being our most likely suspect). When you’re trying to accommodate a wide variety of tastes and dietary restrictions, as well as a general healthy appreciation for local brews, and a large group, they make sense. I’m just the opposite, though - most of the time, dining out is an opportunity for me to try food I don’t already know about. Which is why I was delighted when my moderately rebellious suggestion of Bangladeshi food last Friday was greeted with several, “Sure, why not, novelty factor” responses, and thus, we ended up at the Bengal Cafe in North Cambridge.

Bangladeshi and Indian food are fairly similar - many items on the menu were familiar to us from ventures to other Indian restaurants in the area (Namaskar and Diva, both being right in Davis Square proper). We ordered a round of paratha - the warm, slightly crunchy flatbread went well with the spicy entrees we chose. Dishes are dense and large. I went for the Bhuna, a rich, spicy goat and onion stew, and had plenty of leftovers (which were promptly devoured by my boyfriend). So many things looked delicious, though; next time we go, I’d like to try more of the appetizers. In particular, the Fuchka (puffy flatbread stuffed with a spicy mix of beans, onions, eggs, and potatoes) and the Haleem (lentils and meat spiced with onions and ginger) sounded interesting, and I’m a big fan of desserts in any culture, so I’ve got my eye on the Sondesh (they mention cheese), Shamai (rice noodles cooked in milk; not sure if it’s more soupy like udon or thick like pudding), and Misti Doi (sweet yogurt).

For a Friday night, it was relatively quiet; I would guess this is because it’s not located right in the square. Bengal Cafe is cozy and small, seating maybe 20 people, tops - aside from another couple, the five of us were the only people in the restaurant. It’s right on Mass Ave; the 77 stops in front of the restaurant, and it’s two long blocks out of Davis Square.

Bengal Cafe, 2263 Massachusetts Ave, North Cambridge; 617.492.1944. Daily lunch buffet, 12-3; dinner nightly from 5-9:30 (5-10 FSS).