Another foray into Boston dining led me to Banyan Bar and Refuge, which bills itself as a modern Asian gastropub. I read about it in Boston Magazine where it was given top billing on two lists: The best 25 restaurants of 2015 and the 50 best restaurants in Boston 2016.
The bartender at the hotel where I was staying couldn’t warble higher and louder to sing its praises. There were other restaurants on the lists that sounded just as intriguing such as O Ya, Shojo—you can see I was attracted to Asian restaurants—or more traditional haunts like Barbara Lynch’s Menton or the very avant garde Tasting Counter in Somerville.
The bar and dining room at Banyan
Interestingly the night before my trip to Boston, I went to Evo in Portland where we had an extraordinary impromptu dinner that had so much style and taste—a hard act to follow anywhere and at one of out city’s best restaurants. And it was still on my mind when I began my dinner at Banyan.
In contrast to Banyan, the dazzling setting for beautifully composed food at Evo: Mike Gatlin at the Evo bar; spinach and persimmon salad with chick pea cakes; tenderloin of lamb
Banyan’s first distinction is that it moved into the former Hamersley’s Bistro space, a much vaunted dining establishment that cooed for decades in Boston’s otherwise muted dining scene.
That’s all changed and the city, including all the outposts like Jamaica Plain, Somerville and Cambridge, is a veritable hot spot of chefs making culinary news.
So I ask myself why do I always meet diners at our very finest restaurants in Portland who’ve come up from Boston to dig deep to dine here? You can spot them right away: well dressed and fairly cosmopolitan looking (the big jewelry and Cartier or Rolex watches are dead giveaways) compared to the relaxed look of Portlanders.
The answer that I get is that our restaurants are so much more interesting if not better, and it’s a fun adventure to come up to the charming Portland frontier.
The intimate, urbane dining room at Banyan
The Banyan space is introduced by a bar with 13 seats and the dining room beyond, with dried twigs hanging from the ceiling giving it that Tiki bar look with brighter lighting. It’s located on the South End’s Tremont Avenue strip where there are more restaurants than traffic lights.
You can tell immediately it’s a hot spot–abuzz with cosmopolites out for Asian. The room was crowded, the bar nearly full even on a stormy night at nearly 9 PM.
The menu is small plate shareables. I ordered four dishes. As often happens in restaurants serving small plates the progression of dishes is mixed up. I would have preferred to start with the vegetable course (grilled okra), but instead I was served smoked pork ribs first, the heaviest dish of the four. These were fall-off-the-bone tender and coated in a rich hoisin sauce enriched with sweet potatoes and toasted peanuts. The Asian component was obviously the hoisin—but it didn’t display the lightness and complexities of Asian-influenced cooking that I expected. The fusion was more American. Brian Hill’s version of his famous pork ribs with peanuts is a far better dish served at his superb American bistro, Francine, in Camden.
Comparison: ribs and peanuts at Francine; ribs with hoisin and peanuts at Banyan
The charred okra with pickled cauliflower was not a visually appealing dish; the vegetables were mushed together. It wasn’t until I stirred the vegetables around in the bowl that the dish started to look better. This turned out to be my favorite dish. The charred vegetables coated in a brown butter mustard and tamarind were an exciting study of flavors, mixing the sweet and pungent together provocatively; but okra is hardly an Asian staple. In Portland our passion for Asian fusion is better served at such places as Tempo Dulu, Pai Men Miyake, Empire, et al.
Top: superb plating at Tempo Dulu; charred okra at Banayn–before (left) and after (right)
Again I was reminded of a recent dish at Evo served at their Thursday evening lamb and whiskey dinner. There tender leaves of spinach interplayed with an incredible lamb bacon—strips of cured meat that were like candy—and persimmons that was such a dazzling starter course.
The next dish at Banyan was the biggest disappointment. At first it reminded me of Eventide’s famous lobster roll served on a Chinese style bun that’s soft and lovely in texture. Banyan’s fried chicken sauced with sesame mustard aioli, celery root and apple slaw was sandwiched in a bun that was as rubbery as a Goodyear tire. I had to drink a full glass of ice water to wash it down.
Banyan: fried chicken on Chinese style bun
The last dish was braised calamari in a sweet soy glaze. This was an odd little dish: the calamari were tender enough but muddled under some sort of coating similar to fried chicken fingers.
Braised calamari at Banyan
Touted as one of Boston’s finest, Banyan was wholly disappointing. The extent of Asian flavors and cooking techniques seemed lost in trendy preparations that were overwrought. Perhaps it was my choice of dishes at play; the gorgeous photos of food on its website were like nothing that I ate.
Granted it’s unfair to criticize a restaurant after only one visit, and Boston dining is far more varied than the breath of what Portland offers. The two previous dinners in Boston at Coppa and Boston Chops, for example, were wonderful. Still, I’m beginning to see why Bostonians come to Portland: our niche of fine dining might be far more focused than that bigger city’s mix.
Banyan, 535 Tremont Ave., Boston, MA 617-556-4211 www.banyanboston.com
Rating: disappointing given all the hype; perhaps another try with more people to sample the small plates might put it in a better light
Service: excellent
Ambiance: urbane, contemporary gastropub; full bar
Seating: bar dining and table seating:
Parking: street parking if you’re lucky, otherwise Uber, whose Boston rates are double the fare in Portland
$$$: moderately expensive, at least $50-$60 per person with 4 small plates plus cocktail and tip
