The Vanity of Bonfire
My wife and I had reservations for dinner last Friday evening at Bonfire, Todd English's new Boston restaurant in the Park Plaza Hotel.
It was pre-theater so we were in a hurry. This is not the place to dine if you have a show to catch. Or for that matter, if you want authentic, well-prepared food, competent service and value for money.
The service was slow and inattentive and it took almost an hour to get our main courses, which was regretably about 12 minutes before curtain up.
The food was mediocre - a mish-mash of cuisines from Mexico to Argentina.
And the prices were stiff. Dinner for two - appetizer and main course - with a modest bottle of wine is in the $100 plus range. That's not exorbitant but it is alot to pay for mediocre fare and spotty service.
I had to make a decision - the opening act of Massenet's ephermeral opera Thais or Todd English's steak tacos? I chose Thais and believe me it went down far better than Todd's mixed up degustations.
I used to like Todd English way back when. He trained in Italy and seemed to know how to produce creative yet authentic cuisine. But then he became a rock star and food empirist and from media reports his ego has turned him into a bloated and stale shadow of his former self.
That just about describes Bonfire - a place that should be up in smoke.
By the way, I'm not the first or the most knowledgeable person to pan Todd - see food blog super chefs.
It was pre-theater so we were in a hurry. This is not the place to dine if you have a show to catch. Or for that matter, if you want authentic, well-prepared food, competent service and value for money.
The service was slow and inattentive and it took almost an hour to get our main courses, which was regretably about 12 minutes before curtain up.
The food was mediocre - a mish-mash of cuisines from Mexico to Argentina.
And the prices were stiff. Dinner for two - appetizer and main course - with a modest bottle of wine is in the $100 plus range. That's not exorbitant but it is alot to pay for mediocre fare and spotty service.
I had to make a decision - the opening act of Massenet's ephermeral opera Thais or Todd English's steak tacos? I chose Thais and believe me it went down far better than Todd's mixed up degustations.
I used to like Todd English way back when. He trained in Italy and seemed to know how to produce creative yet authentic cuisine. But then he became a rock star and food empirist and from media reports his ego has turned him into a bloated and stale shadow of his former self.
That just about describes Bonfire - a place that should be up in smoke.
By the way, I'm not the first or the most knowledgeable person to pan Todd - see food blog super chefs.
posted by Tony DiRomualdo at 7:41 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Uncle Anthony! I didn't know you had a blog...great place to voice your opinons...if only grandpa had one, would be about 100 pages long but family gatherings may have been more quiet :)
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