In almost any neighborhood with fewer restaurants than the North End, the North Street Grille would be a real jewel. But even in the North End, it has its fans. The formula here is to put a serious chef (Michael Scelfo) behind some bar food and some fancy food, in a setting modest enough to be comfortable. And there is a certain risky fun in having only a few Italian influences, with more touches of Asian fusion and ’50s comfort food. But what would seem amazing at Café D, in Jamaica Plain, seems just expensive at the North Street Grille.
There is lots of good eating here, though, and real pains have been taken to pick some good, inexpensive wines. A list that starts at $14 per bottle and $4 a glass, served in oversize glasses to bring out all the aromas, is a strong core concept for many diners.
The breadbasket has a single slice of crusty peasant bread, quite a large slice at our table of five. It comes with an herbal compound butter with plenty of garlic. This same bread is grilled to top a large bowl of Prince Edward Island mussels ($9), served with a simple marinara touched up with chives and pieces of raw garlic. This would make a good supper for some people, as would any of the salads ($8) with optional grilled chicken ($12). The mixed-greens option featured thin-sliced Vidalia onions, blue cheese, pecans, and apricots for an appealing note of sweetness. The heirloom-tomato salad brought the last of the Cherokee purples and giant yellow tomatoes, with feta cheese and some greens. A special appetizer described as Buffalo chicken in potato skins ($9) has five small, crisp skins filled with spicy barbecued meat.
The brief list of bar classics may lead you to spend a little too much on very fine versions of old favorites. For example, “North Street’s monthly burger” ($10) was quite a large piece of meat, closer to rare than the medium-rare ordered, but delicious; it’s served on a bun as rich as challah or brioche, with an enormous plate of thin, crisp, salty French fries. Dry-spiced steak tips ($12) had the same basic layout, minus the bun, plus a little salad. The tips came medium, as ordered, and the spice rub wasn’t overpowering with salt and pepper.
“Seconds” are a short but expanding list of economy bistro platters, some with very nice touches. “Crispy-skinned Coho salmon” ($17) had the lean, meaty quality of wild salmon, with skin crisp enough to enjoy on its own. It came with an underlayment of “lobster hash” — lobster meat with a cake of onion and potato — and roasted asparagus. Alaskan halibut ($18) had a similar vertical presentation: a nice piece of fish with crisp skin, this time on a pancake with artichoke, an asparagus base, and a grilled shrimp on top.
The North Street “ribeye steak fritte” [sic] ($19) was a very tender, well-marbled entrecote, with blue cheese (or perhaps gorgonzola), and more fries. Baby-back ribs ($18) were a half rack, about six ribs, unfortunately poached and then grilled with a hoisin-based sauce. This double treatment makes the meat fall off the bone and renders out some fat, but also removes flavor. The plate was saved, however, by perfectly placed slices of sweet potato and spicy coleslaw with peanuts and cilantro.
