Festivus Gastronomicus
Review: Garden Of Eden
Jen and I were in the South End, where I’d just gotten out of work. We weren’t sure where to go for a late dinner, so we walked down Tremont looking for somewhere we could eat outside. We found the Garden of Eden, a small bistro focused on fresh ingredients. All the flavor of fresh produce like you get on the Central Coast, without the reasonable prices.
Garden of Eden
571 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 247-8377
http://www.goeboston.com/
(map)
Date: Thursday May 25, 2006
Meal: Dinner
We got a seat outside and looked at a very interesting menu in terms of descriptions, but not in terms of content. GOE offers very familiar fair (sandwiches, steak tips, etc.) with very whimsical descriptions which deceive you into thinking it’s okay to pay eight dollars for something that’s essentially a hot dog. The descriptions were so strange that our waitress couldn’t even tell us what some of the items were.
I ordered the chicken pot pie and Jen got bamboozled into the $8 hot dog. The chicken pot pie was more like a soup and was very lightly seasoned, allowing you to really taste the fresh vegetables. It wasn’t served like a pot pie, but was served in a bowl sandwiched between two rectangles of filo: nice touch. As good as the veggies were, the pieces were huge and very awkward to cut in a bowl full of liquid and the whole things wasn’t really all that exciting. However, the cabernet they offered was extremely good and I was all but forced to have a second glass.
When you walk into the Garden of Eden you can’t help but notice the great display of desserts and pastries they have behind a glass case in the front of the restaurant. So when the waitress asked if we wanted dessert, we had to say yes. Again, the menu and it’s descriptions far exceded the actual desserts in terms of quality and imagination, and both of our desserts tasted as if they had been behind that glass for some time. The chocolate on Jen’s eclair lacked depth, the dough was stale, and the creme tasted like bland pudding. My ‘Alhambra’ was old, dry, and didn’t appear to have as many types of chocolate as the menu promised. In short, dessert was a waste of time, money, and calories.
So we got a table outside and that’s what we really wanted right? There was much disappointment besides getting to sit outside that I don’t think I would really go back on my own. That being said, the menu has lots of vegetarian options, so I would consider it in the future if I was dining out with vegeterians.