Tosca may be the very restaurant that made me feel ok about living in the suburbs. I spent several years living in Philadelphia (which I consider food paradise -- more on that later). Moving back to Boston was a bit of an adjustment dining-wise, and then moving to the suburbs an adjustment on top of that! I first went to Tosca in September to celebrate my dad's birthday and recently went back with my husband for Valentine's Day. We are trying to eat out less since buying a house that needs some "updating" (read: looks like the set of That 70's Show), but since it is a social custom to eat out with your loved one on February 14th, we took the bait.
I adore the main dining room at Tosca. The exposed brick and wooden beams are reminiscent of a New England farmhouse... the upscale kind (think Ina Garten's barn). Depending on your seat, you may be able to gaze out the window and watch the passersby, or you may be able to watch the kitchen team hard at work. The staff manage to look hard at work in the most elegant way. Not at all like what I look like in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we were not seated in the main dining room, but the "Salon", which is one of the function spaces. As we entered the room, it became clear to me why I was able to get a reservation one week before Valentine's Day at Tosca. The Salon is a lovely space for say, a bridal shower, but I felt really isolated from the buzz of the main dining room, and it lacked any romance or pizazz.
While I fully realize that blog posts with pictures of food are way sexier than those without, photographing your food at a restaurant is apparently not always welcomed now that everyone on the internet has a food blog (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/dining/restaurants-turn-camera-shy.html?_r=0 ), so I abstained. I will include pictures of food I prepare at home, promise.
We started with the Crispy Point Judith Calamari and a Caesar salad. The calamari were gently fried, tender morsels of goodness that were beautifully complemented by the accompanying arugula and house pickled peppers. I hate mayonnaise, so I skipped the basil aioli, but it looked lovely for those of you who are into that kind of thing. At my husband's request, we had the anchovies served on the side of the Caesar. The dressing can make or break this dish, and this dressing was spot on, creamy and piquant with hints of lemon and sharp cheese (I know this flies in the face of my prior comment about mayonnaise... I'm a bit of a food hypocrite sometimes). I mostly enjoyed the Rosemary Pappardelle with duck ragu for my entree. The sweetness of the sherry based sauce could have been better balanced with some salt, perhaps from a grating of Parmesan. The pappardelle noodles were also a touch thick and borderline gummy in places. I wanted the S'Mores fondue for dessert, but to avoid total gluttony, we opted for a special "tasting" sampler that included a flourless red velvet cake with white chocolate gelato, some spicy sticky toffee pudding, and a third item that obviously failed to impress me as I cannot remember what it was. The highlight was definitely the gelato.
All in all, I would give our most recent experience a solid B+. (As an aside, my husband loved his meal, the Pork Costoletta -- I can't say much because I only had a bite, but that bite was delicious.) Tosca is not an inexpensive night out, but it's a great place to take your city friends if you are sneakily trying to convince them that they too should move to the suburbs so you can drink wine together every weekend.
I adore the main dining room at Tosca. The exposed brick and wooden beams are reminiscent of a New England farmhouse... the upscale kind (think Ina Garten's barn). Depending on your seat, you may be able to gaze out the window and watch the passersby, or you may be able to watch the kitchen team hard at work. The staff manage to look hard at work in the most elegant way. Not at all like what I look like in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we were not seated in the main dining room, but the "Salon", which is one of the function spaces. As we entered the room, it became clear to me why I was able to get a reservation one week before Valentine's Day at Tosca. The Salon is a lovely space for say, a bridal shower, but I felt really isolated from the buzz of the main dining room, and it lacked any romance or pizazz.
While I fully realize that blog posts with pictures of food are way sexier than those without, photographing your food at a restaurant is apparently not always welcomed now that everyone on the internet has a food blog (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/dining/restaurants-turn-camera-shy.html?_r=0 ), so I abstained. I will include pictures of food I prepare at home, promise.
We started with the Crispy Point Judith Calamari and a Caesar salad. The calamari were gently fried, tender morsels of goodness that were beautifully complemented by the accompanying arugula and house pickled peppers. I hate mayonnaise, so I skipped the basil aioli, but it looked lovely for those of you who are into that kind of thing. At my husband's request, we had the anchovies served on the side of the Caesar. The dressing can make or break this dish, and this dressing was spot on, creamy and piquant with hints of lemon and sharp cheese (I know this flies in the face of my prior comment about mayonnaise... I'm a bit of a food hypocrite sometimes). I mostly enjoyed the Rosemary Pappardelle with duck ragu for my entree. The sweetness of the sherry based sauce could have been better balanced with some salt, perhaps from a grating of Parmesan. The pappardelle noodles were also a touch thick and borderline gummy in places. I wanted the S'Mores fondue for dessert, but to avoid total gluttony, we opted for a special "tasting" sampler that included a flourless red velvet cake with white chocolate gelato, some spicy sticky toffee pudding, and a third item that obviously failed to impress me as I cannot remember what it was. The highlight was definitely the gelato.
All in all, I would give our most recent experience a solid B+. (As an aside, my husband loved his meal, the Pork Costoletta -- I can't say much because I only had a bite, but that bite was delicious.) Tosca is not an inexpensive night out, but it's a great place to take your city friends if you are sneakily trying to convince them that they too should move to the suburbs so you can drink wine together every weekend.
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