The other night I had the pleasure of attending a tasting event at 606 Congress in Boston. The restaurant, with chef Rich Garcia at the helm, is nicely appointed and was the perfect place to share a few new menu items. But these items were actually developed by Blue Ribbon, a foodservice group out of New York City, and then introduced to Rich and 606. Then we got to taste them.
Here's how it went...
After arriving and being feted with drinks - even some of those were created just for the restaurant - we got into the tasting. Here are some food shots and descriptions...
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| The Tasting Menu, Including Drinks |
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| The Michelada. They make it with Harpoon UFO, Lime Juice and Hot Sauce. Tastes like a beer bloody mary. |
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| Jeff Cutler and Rich Garcia |
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| The mingling prior to the Tasting Event |
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| Our Tasting Table at 606 Congress |
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| Our place settings at 606 Congress. They took some care to create a nice presentation. |
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| Bromberg Brothers Blue Ribbon Cookbook. Some great recipes inside. We received a copy as a parting gift. |
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| The funky design placemats at 606 Congress |
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| Menu and Logo from Bromberg Brothers Blue Ribbon Restaurants. Find them on Twitter - @BlueRibbonNYC |
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| Manchego and Mexican Honey Toast. Light and divine. Still warm when it arrived. B+. |
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| Another shot of the Honey Toast. The honey comes from Mexico and honey farms that Blue Ribbon operates. |
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| Spicy Egg Shooters. Pickled peppers and olive oil mayo. These had a little kick, but were perfectly balanced. A- |
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| Another shot of the Egg Shooter |
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| Who thought Hummus could be fancied up? White Bean Hummus Toast. Best dish of the night. A |
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| Another photo of the toast. Olives mixed in were perfectly salty for balance. |
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| Fried Rock Shrimp. These popped when you bit them. Perhaps one of the best preparations of shrimp I've experienced lately. Just so well cooked that I was pleased. Taste was very good. B+ |
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| The Rock Shrimp platter |
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| When I take food shots, I look for the best visual of the night. These win for that. While the Smoked Salmon Toast wasn't over-the-top as a winning dish, the fragrance was superb and the color was amazing. B |
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| Another shot of the Salmon |
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| Some of the honey. This was delivered so we could drizzle it on the "Northern Fried" Chicken Wings. |
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| The Wings - a Blue Ribbon specialty. Taste was very good and the best feature was probably the breading/skin. It didn't fall off by itself but clung nicely to the chicken so you had a very balanced bite each time you sampled the wing. B |
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| Wing on my plate |
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| Honey drizzled wing on my plate |
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| Rich Garcia explaining the dishes and the 606 Congress atmosphere and philosophy. |
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| They have some wine. |
In all, I had a great time and am looking forward to trying some of the other Blue Ribbon venues. They have a top-end sushi restaurant in New York City that I'd love to visit.
Have you been to 606? What did you think?
