The Beacon Street Tavern, Brookline

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, I love more than dining outdoors when the weather is nice.  Relaxing over a nice meal, savoring a glass of wine, and relishing in perfect temperatures equal heaven to me.  This past Sunday was one of those delightful days where I wanted to spend all day outside, and wasn't ready to give it up when night began to fall.  Luckily John was like minded so when I picked him up from work his first request was finding a patio somewhere to dine and grab a cocktail or two.  Knowing that the Boston/Brookline line of Beacon Street was close by, and contained several spots with outdoor seating, we made a beeline for it.  It came as no surprise however that Sunday of Memorial Day weekend- well everyone had the same idea.  We finally decided to settle in at The Beacon Street Tavern, agreeing to wait until a table opened up outside at the inside bar.  

We took two seats at the bar and the bartender immediately helped us, however our troubles began when we attempted to close our tab to move outside when our table was ready.  The table was ready very soon after we had received our drinks, so perhaps the bartender wasn't anticipating hearing from us, but for the life of me, I could not get the bartender to acknowledge us and he proceeded to assist every other person before finally making eye contact.  OK fine- a slow bartender isn't going to ruin my evening.  So finally, we closed out, and were shown to our table outside.  Perfect table to sit back, enjoy a good meal...perhaps a few more cocktails.  We were excited.

We looked through our menus, discussed our options, looked through some more, decided on our meals, talked about other things, did some people watching, looked through our menus again, did some more people watching, talked some more- you get the point- the waiter was MIA.  We sat for a good 20 minutes before even being greeted, and then finally we had to call him over to see if he was actually our waiter.  His response was that it was busy.  Well no- it isn't that busy you're just choosing to spend your time charming the big table of 12 people, rather than assisting your small table of 2.  So we order.  John chose the steak tips, served with an iceberg lettuce salad and sweet potato tater tots.  I decided on the grilled veal scaloppini.  My veal was amazing.  Three thin pieces of veal, marinated in what seemed to be lemon juice and herbs, grilled and then placed over a gorgeous salad of fresh arugula, wild mushrooms, thinly shaved radish and a lemon caper dressing.  All of the flavors melded so well together from the light freshness of the lemon throughout to the peppery arugula, and the salty capers.  The mushrooms were a lovely earthy addition and together the whole dish really came together. It is a dish I would happily eat again.  

John's steak tips were equally delicious with fantastic seasoning, and cooked to his liking.  Though I normally detest iceberg lettuce, his salad was fresh and refreshing with just a light, acidic dressing to contrast the hearty meat.  Finally-the tater tots were very tasty, good seasoning in the potato, though they appeared to just be mashed sweet potatoes rather than the great grated potato that I remember from the authentic tot.  For some reason I really love the idea of grated potato in those- it just adds a wonderful texture variation.

Despite the food being delicious, the service never did recover.  After clearing the plates our waiter did mention that he'd be back to give us dessert options, instead he came back with the check.  

Beacon Street Tavern- this is not the first time I've dined with you- I love your food.  It is delicious.  Others have also made note of bad service, I refuse to allow it to ruin my opinion of your food- but it does make it less appealing to eat with you....