Ribelle

Turns out my slight break from blogging lasted two months - whoops! Nothing crazy going on, just life in general keeping me occupied. That doesn't mean I still haven't been cooking and eating up a storm, though! To prove the point, some of these posts may turn back the clocks a bit.  This particular post actually takes us back to Christmas time...

Each year at the holidays my mother likes to celebrate by taking our family to a restaurant that is a bit special. In years past we have done restaurants like Clio, Menton and Market. This year I thought Ribelle would be a great choice, not only because of the stellar reviews, but also (selfishly) because my mom would be driving out to Brookline, thus saving us a long ride on the T! Ribelle is the brain child of Tim Maslow, who worked under David Chang in New York for five years before coming back to the Boston area to take over his father's restaurant, Strip-T's in Watertown. After transforming the nighttime menu and making Strip-T's a go-to destination, Maslow found restaurant space in Brookline for his own project - Ribelle.

I must admit, I was a bad blogger because I did not get photos of the menu! So I am doing my best to describe what we ate that night, but it's hard to remember a meal from 2+ months ago! All you really need to know is that the food was spectacular - very creative with layers of flavor.

Carrots with Hazelnuts, jam and mustard seeds

Gnocchi

Homemade Pasta with Littleneck Clams

Duck

Octopus Rigatoni

Mussels

Waygu Beef

Olive Oil Ice Cream and Smoldering Cinnamon Stick

The highlights for me were the carrots, the duck and the octopus. I hate cooked carrots, but they remain one of Nick's favorites. If all cooked carrots tasted like these, I would list them among my favorite food items. The duck was outstanding - every bite of this dish was layered and bright. When someone can actually cook octopus well I am theirs for life because so many people turn it into a rubbery mess. This smokey sauce on the rigatoni combined well with the slight char on the octopus.

If you haven't been to Ribelle yet, I highly recommend taking the trip to Brookline to visit Maslow's solo venture (even if you do have to take the T!)