A Tasting at Clio (Boston, MA)

I read recently that Clio, one of Ken Oringer's restaurants in the Eliot Hotel in Back Bay will be closing while Uni (also his restaurant) will be expanding into its space. I was a bit bummed by it since I recently tried Clio and enjoyed it. So, I thought I would blog about my experience there before they close, in case you guys would be enticed to go try it out! Plus, it's one of the only photos I took with my new Sony a6000 before it was stolen when my house got broken into the second time ... sigh.

Anyway, I had grabbed a Gilt City deal for a tasting menu at Clio, which was a pretty good deal for this restaurant. Clio has had a number of great bartenders behind the bar and albeit some have moved on to new restaurants, they still had a nice cocktail menu when I went. Being a root beer lover (don't give me that Dr. Pepper nonsense), I obviously went with the Sarsaparilla Flip (sarsaparilla spice rum, root beer reduction, egg white, nutmeg brulee, $14)

Dinner starts with an amuse bouche of nori with white umami cream cheese, lemon cream cheese - a rich umami bomb.

The first course was a Chilled Courgette (zucchini, basically) Soup, marinated mussels, rose geranium, truffle vinaigrette

The soup is a local marrow squash with smoked salt foam.

The soup had a subtler flavor, highlighted the marinated mussel.

Skuna Bay salmon crudo, lemon verbena, harissa, amaranth, nectarine

Gorgeous plating, and gorgeous salmon. Loved this dish.

Glazed Mako Shark, braised yuba, smoked dashi, confit citrus, Thai herbs

I think this was my first time trying mako shark, and how did they know I love yuba? Yuba is bean curd / tofu skin, thin and chewy and usually stacked. It's one of my favorite things because of he texture, and great here with the meaty yet tender shark. There's a lot of flavors on this plate with the smoked dashi broth.

Palate cleanser: Herbaceous ice topped with dill and espelette pepper. Didn't taste like much after that shark course, but I suppose that's part of the point.

A pre-dessert drink: Clarified milk punch (pineapple, apricot, lemon verbena)

A lot of people now already know I'm a big, big clarified milk punch fan, thanks to Faith and Flower in Los Angeles turning me with their English Milk Punch.

Goat's milk panna cotta, marcona almonds, orgeat, wood sorrel, strawberries

Strawberry is prepared three-ways and served with olive oil cubes. My favorite part here is perhaps the olive oil cubes. It's overall a nice, somewhat light dessert.

The petit four was a flavored marshmallow instead of the usual fruit pate or chocolate truffles.

The 4-course menu was a pretty good amount of food and certainly showcases Ken Oringer's restaurant. I thought the dishes were done very well and there are unique and creative touches in each dish while keeping the menu appealing to dining conservatives. As you can see, Clio was a type of restaurants to attract older clienteles and business types. It was certainly a wonderful restaurant and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. I'm a bit sad to see Clio go, and hopefully you'll have a chance to try it before they close!

Clio
370a Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 536-7200
http://cliorestaurant.com/