Restaurant Review-Stephi's

For those of you living in the greater Boston area, I'm sure you've heard of a little show I'm kindof obsessed with-'The Phantom Gourmet'. My husband and I love this show, in fact it is one of the few shows we can actually watch together (he prefers the history and military channel, while I prefer TLC and Bravo). So, every Sunday morning we watch this show, mouths drooling as the 'Phantom' reviews restaurants around the Boston area. If we're feeling particularly adventurous, we'll even venture out to one of the places reviewed.

Last night, we went out for my brother-in-law's (BIL) birthday dinner, and I thought I'd live out my inner phantom and review the restaurant.  We went to one of my BIL's favorite spots-Stephi's on Tremont.

Outdoor Seating

Tremont St. South End, Boston

This restaurant has the best of both worlds, because it's casual dining, so you don't have to get too dressed up or fancy, but the food is outstanding and definitely what you would expect to find at a fine dining restaurant.

Appetizers:
I'm pretty embarrassed to admit, but we actually scarfed down the appetizers so fast, that it wasn't until my BIL teasingly remarked, "didn't you want a picture?" that I realized, I didn't take any pictures! Total blogging fail on my part...  Not only did we chow down the apps because we were starving, but they were delicious.  We ordered two apps for the table, the pretzel crusted crab cakes and the thai pork spring rolls.  The definite winner of this round was the spring rolls. While the crab cakes were really yummy-they were served with a mustard dipping sauce, I have had many a crab cake, and these didn't quite stand out to me.  The spring rolls on the other hand were so tasty! I'm not usually a huge fan of spring rolls, especially when I don't know exactly what's in them...but these were delish! They were tangy yet sweet, the pork was definitely marinated and tender, and the filling had wonderful cabbage, carrots, and cilantro for an extra kick.  They were served with an equally scrumptious sweet and sour dipping sauce, that was finger licking worthy.

Main Courses:
All the items looked amazing on this menu, and it was a toss up for me between a few. I had already looked at the menu online and narrowed down my choices (natch) but when we got there, we realized the menu was slightly different, which I took as a good sign, that they must have creative chefs who change the menu up based on what ingredients are fresh and in season. The three of us each got a different dish, so we could all try each others and judge :)

My husband ordered the crispy duck:

It was served with roasted sweet potatoes, corn husks and a really tasty sweet, tangy mustard sauce.  Let me tell you-I have never tried duck before, and this was amazing!! The skin was so crispy and the meat tasted like a mix of chicken/turkey, but wasn't dry at all.  Overall very good.

On to the birthday boy, my brother in law order the pan roasted cod:

This dish was amazing! It was a pan roasted, crusted cod served on top of corn & bacon chowder (ummm can I just say YUM-I could've had a bowl of this, and called it a day ) But it didn't stop there...it was served with oven roasted potatoes and a bed of crispy thin onion straws. SO GOOD!

My dish-get ready....braised veal and gorgonzola tagliatelle:

Is your mouth watering yet?! Mine is all over again :)  This dish was amazing-we all voted it the best dish of the night-we basically didn't talk for about 15 minutes after our meals arrived because we were too busy devouring our dishes! This pasta was nothing like I've ever had...it had roasted yellow and red tomatoes, braised veal (which I've never actually had either, but was delicious), tagliatelle pasta, served with a balsamic reduction sauce and melted gorgonzola on top. It was to die for!


Dessert:

Okay, you didn't think we wouldn't save room for dessert, did you? We were all pretty stuffed at that point, but we just had to splurge-it was a birthday after all...of course we got three different items and rated them all.

Sorbetto-

This was a light, refreshing dessert-served with lemon and mango sorbets.

White Chocolate Cheesecake- (YUM)

This cheesecake was delicious-the crust was made from Nilla wafers, and it was served with a raspberry sauce.  I love cheesecake, and this one was at the top!

My dessert choice-toffee bread pudding:

This dessert was probably, no lie 500 calories...but seriously worth every bite.  The bread pudding was warm, but firm-not gooey or crumbly. It was surrounded by a homemade caramel sauce, and in the center was ooey gooey toffee. OMG foodgasm-this dish was so good! I can't believe I couldn't finish it, but I was just that stuffed.  I debated taking it home, but decided it would get too mushy and it was better left in my memory as the perfect delectable dessert it was :) Probably the highlight of the meal for me :)

This was my second trip to Stephi's, and I know with my BIL down the street, I will be back again.  Although, it can be a little pricey, you definitely get your money's worth with the huge portions.

Stephi's on Tremont is beantown wife approved :)



What are some of your favorite spots in your city??


xoxo Liz