Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Lineage, Brookline

A few evenings ago I finally got to check out a restaurant that Ive heard so many good things about. Lineage, located in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, opened in 2006 as an answer to Brookline's cry for more "new American" cuisine in their melting pot of restaurants. Using seasonal ingredients, likely from local purveyors, they have a menu that is known to be fresh, and frequently changing. The menu that I enjoyed was a wonderful showcase of summer ingredients, containing several different types of seafood and vegetables.

We started with a crab cake served over black beans and salsa. I have often felt a little swindled when ordering crab cakes out because often people load them up with fillers and very little crab, basically you end up with a bread cake flavored like crab. Lineage however loaded up their cakes with tons of fresh crab, to the point where it appeared that most of the breading was just on the outside of the cake. With the salsa and beans it was a delightful combination of spice with the mellow crab. The only mar in this dish was that after frying it appears that the chef had rolled the cake in a bit of salt that turned out to be a bit too much salt. However, other than that it was purely delicious.

For my entree I decided, after much debate honestly, on the day boat scallops with spring pea risotto, crispy shallots and a truffle vinaigrette. The scallops looked gorgeous, nicely browned on top and just slightly cracked from the searing, and were beautifully offset by the creamy risotto underneath brightened with the green peas. The risotto was wonderful- creamy and delicious, and mixed with the vinaigrette it had a wonderful contrast. The crispy shallots were a great enhancements to the varying textures. The scallops were big and lovely, and though I would have appreciated mine to be a little less "done", all in all they were wonderful.

It always makes me extremely happy when I hear wonderful things about a restaurant and find that they are true, especially when the concept is so simple. Good food, at good prices, delivered with finesse- you cant beat a well executed meal!

3 comments:

Lyss said...

I don't think I've ever had a bad meal at Lineage. I also enjoy the welcoming feeling that I get from the staff.

Anonymous said...

You should try Vlora Mediterranean Restaurant at 545 Boylston. It's only about 7 months old and it's a find! It's weirdly located BELOW street level in front of GNC.

I'll be looking forward to a post!

- A Reader

Anonymous said...

Dear Boston Foodie: Happened on your comment since I wanted to see if others had enjoyed Lineage as much as we did. One of our sites is www.spicelines.com which will give some feel for how we see food in your city. I would remark as well on a pleasant wait staff and an easygoing crowd that is not noisy---the ambiance is as signficant as the food.

We will be investigating your site to see what else might turn up of worth. Boston has always just had a handful of worthy restaurants.

wpd

Restaurant Reviews: A dead art?

Last December I declared 2023 the year I would return to food writing.  It was a bold statement (even now as I look at my last published dat...