Last evening, I dined at Rendezvous, a relatively new restaurant in Central Square that has garned some excellent press. And after my meal, I would agree the good press is well deserved. It is a more modern looking restaurant, clean and with a nice bar area.
I sat at the bar and first perused the wine list. The list had a diverse selection and relatively modest prices, with many bottles around $30 or so. There were many interesting choices on the list of wine by the glass, not your usual mass production suspects. I chose a glass of the 2004 Château Coupe Roses. Languedoc, France, a blend of Carignan & Grenache ($7). It was a pleasant drink, with some interesting fruit flavors, and a bit of an underlying earthiness. I was happy with my choice and would order it again.
I decided to order a couple appetizers. I began with the Charcuterie of the Week. Charcuterie are usually sausages, confit, and other similar types of prepared meats. My dish contained duck prosciutto, warmed duck live pate, and Lyonaisse sausage. I later learned that all of this is prepared on the premises, an impressive endeavor. The food was excellent, very flavorful and each with its own unique taste. Presentation was very good as well, the plate also bearing a couple tiny pickles, some olives and greens.
My second appetizer was the Potato gnocchi with braised rabbit, roasted chestnuts and piave cheese. Another winner! The gnocchi were cooked just right, and the entire dish was very flavorful and all the ingredients worked perfectly together. It was a good sized dish as well. The chestnuts certainly added an interesting taste and texture to the dish.
I had a bit of room left so for dessert, I ordered the Spiced apple fritters with cider ice cream and caramel sauce. What a decadent pleasure! The fritters were like little apple donuts. The caramel sauce came in a little dish so you could spoon it on the fritters. There was a good sized scoop of cider ice cream that made an excellent accompaniement to the warm fritters. The perfect fall dessert.
Service was very good and I had no complaints at all about my experience. I was thoroughly impressed and will definitely return to try more of their dishes!
(Originally posted 11/22/06)
I have been back to Rendevous twice more since my first visit, and my experience has continued to be good. On my second visit, I had two appetizers, a scallop dish with an orange sauce and a plate of fried oysters. The scallops were very tasty and the oysters were delicious! The oysters had a light cornmeal batter and were cooked just right.
On my third visit, I had the charcuterie again, this time with duck proscuitto (still superb!), rabbit liver pate and mortadella. I normally am not a fan of mortadella but this was excellent, spicy and flavorful. Whoever is making the charcuterie there certainly is doing a fantastic job!
I also had an Indian fish stew, with haddock, shrimp and mussels in a broth of coconut milk, curry spices and chiles. Again, a superb dish with plenty of fish and just the right combination of spices and flavors.
Service has been excellent on all of my visits. I continue a hearty recommendation for Rendevous!
(Originally posted 1/19/07)
Last Friday evening, I went to dinner at Rendezvous with three other people. The four of us had an excellent meal. The food , service and wine were all very satisfying. Another very pleasing dinner here and I would again highly recommend this restaurant! For the wine, we had a Dominio de Tares from the Bierzo region of Spain. This wine has the Mencia grape. At $32 a bottle, it was a good buy and the wine was muchly appreciated by all. It went well with all of the different foods, not being too heavy.
Rendezvous
502 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA
Phone: (617) 576-1900
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