Regular entrées also are quite moderately priced. Pan-seared skirt steak ($20) was rare as ordered and highly flavored, as this chewy cut usually is. It was perfectly garnished with a garlicky apple “jam,” buttered blue potatoes, and a salad of arugula and shaved parmesan. “Crispy skate wing” ($20) was filleted from a large skate; sautéed quite crisp, without losing any of the excellent skate flavor; garnished, as is typical, with brown butter and capers (although 51 Lincoln adds some garlic); and served with soft cauliflower and butter with a hint of cheese. Hearty eaters might want a side dish of starch for a few dollars more.
The off-the-menu (but apparently always available) vegetarian special ($17) was a Biba-like square dish with four items: a terrific, cold eggplant mousse stuffed back into a mini-eggplant shell; salty potato strings with very spicy jalapeño ketchup; a peppery but remarkably good tomato Provençal with crumbs and cheese; and some perhaps over-braised endive. As opulent a platter as any a carnivore could order.
The wine list runs up the price levels quickly, but the cheapest selections are very, very good. How could Jeff Fournier resist the 2004 Domaine Fournier Menetou-Salon “La Charnivolle” ($27)? Menetou-Salon is near Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, producing an aroma of tropical fruits and herbs (like a New Zealand sauvignon blanc) rather than the typical new-mown-hay nose of Sancerre. A glass of Santa Rita carmenere ($6) was an outstanding example of this grape, nearly extinct now in its native Bordeaux but heavily promoted in Chile. This was the best carmenere I’ve tasted, with a surprising backbone and some vivid fruit and “meaty” flavors.
Decaf was about as good as it gets, almost as good as the French-press decaf I had at Le Soir, which used to occupy this space. Desserts also reminded me of some I had at Le Soir — especially the hot apple pie ($6), with its free-form shape and delicate crust, and the hazelnut-chocolate-caramel tart ($6), with its surprising topping of whipped crème fraîche. The latter is almost pure chocolate, with a caramel layer (like a Snickers bar) and nuts studding the chocolate.
Pumpkin flan ($6) has both flavors in a small custard with a sail of spun sugar and embedded pumpkin seeds. Pecan pie ($6) was large, gooey, and filled with nuts. One dessert you’d never have seen at Le Soir is the hot cookies ($6). They’re served half-baked, so you have crumbling and delicious gooey bites of a chocolate-chip cookie, a peanut-butter cookie, and a molasses-spice cookie, with a shooter of milk. Chocolate cake ($6) has flour in it; it’s just a nice three-layer cake.
Service was mostly very good, with one of the most knowledgeable waiters I’ve had in years; he even explained how to make watermelon steak. However, we lost him around dessert time, and the substitutes forgot to get our dessert order for a while and lost our coffee and tea order until reminded.
Décor is bold and stark (and I’ve already mentioned loud), and no one in Newton dresses that way, so the room is still developing an atmosphere. Our weeknight, it was a young crowd for fine dining in the suburbs, lured either by the sub–South End prices or early word of the superior food.
51 Lincoln | 51 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands | open Tues–Thurs & Sun, 5–10 pm; and Fri & Sat, 5–11 pm | AE, DI, MC, VI | Full bar | No valet parking | Access up slight threshold bump | 617.965.3100
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Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
