Chef/owner Doug Organ decided that his excellent Arbor restaurant had priced and classed its way out of the neighborhood business he needed for weeknights, so he closed for a while to retool, re-price, and rename. He went from strictly Mediterranean to some Mexican and Asian flavors and comfort food, with many entrées at a moderate price point of $12.50 to $14.50.
Paradoxically, this move downscale and to commercial accommodation, while keeping the best of the old bistro, has made it a much better restaurant.
Take one of the new, cheaper entrées: Baja fish tacos ($12.50; $6.50/one taco as an appetizer). Organ is from San Diego, and he must have grown up on fish tacos. But these are better, because he’s learned kitchen technique. The tortillas are thinner and fresher tasting — they might even be homemade. The pieces of fried fish are buttery fresh, and the frying is superb. The pico de gallo on the side ($1.50/add-on for other dishes) is freshly made and contains actual cilantro. The black beans ($3.50/side dish) are fully cooked and savory. And the “special sauce” is based on a homemade mayonnaise. The portion is two of everything and four tacos, so two light eaters could split the dish. I’ve eaten fish tacos at a famous stand in Baja, California, that weren’t even close to this good.
The same great frying technique makes something special out of semolina-fried calamari ($8.50), which is served with fried jalapeño slices. The dip is a lemon-caper mayonnaise with a garlic kick, but with frying this fine, you don’t actually need a dip.
Roasted-carrot and ginger soup ($7.50) gets all the richness out of the carrots (and a dab of yogurt), squeezes all the spice out of the fresh ginger, and offers just enough chives and hot pepper to emphasize without dominating the basic flavors. Tuna tartare ($9.50) is close enough to sushi quality, shredded into a tasty little heap with sesame oil and seeds, and it comes with pickled ginger and wasabi on the side if you really want the sushi flavor. Three fried wonton skins will turn you against potato chips forever. Moroccan Medjool date and orange salad ($8.50) is a holdover from Arbor that still runs on a whiff of cinnamon and some shreds of mint. Boston Bibb salad ($7) is a fine job, with thin-sliced radishes providing extra interest.
Among the main dishes, it’s hard to pass up the two or three daily fish specials, which have recently included tilefish, monkfish, and bluefish. We got the mahi-mahi on the prix fixe dinner ($24.50/three courses, all with choices, but you do have to start before 7 pm). It was outstanding for the species — nearly as richly flavored as grouper — on a platform of excellent whipped potatoes, with some crisp and bright green beans as well. (You can get about three times as many green beans as a side dish for $3.50, and you often should.)
Duck confit with green lentils ($17.50) is another possible choice on the prix fixe. By itself it’s a large leg of duck, cured though not with a lot of spice, and re-crisped beautifully. The lentils are kept individually granular, and I suspect that French Puy lentils or the new black lentils are getting a trial here. The flavor is bacony-earthy.
The other $12.50 dinners — a hamburger, a tuna burger, and Spanish black beans and rice — all looked quite substantial. But the real “hungry man” special is pappardelle with lamb meatballs ($14.50). It’s ribbon pasta, yet it’s cooked as al dente as it would be in Italy, with the meatballs providing a different lamb-rosemary flavor that also inflects the sauce. There could have been more sauce; I couldn’t have handled another noodle or meatball, though.
Saving the best for last, the “world-famous Moroccan-spiced lamb” ($22.50) is still on the menu, a little trimmed down and perhaps better for it. Each medium-rare slice bursts with flavor. The toasted couscous is the large-caliber Israeli style, fun to crunch and actually capable of holding a browned flavor of its own.
The wine list is pared down: bottles are bunched at $28 and $38, with some luxury choices above that. For food purposes you’re fine at the low level, based on my samples of Cellar 8 Zinfandel ($7/glass; $28/bottle); Torremoron tempranillo ’04 ($7/$28); and an ’04 Ockfener Scharzberg ($6/$28). The first is a very nicely made zin that the berry-fruit fans of the grape remember from the old days. The second was recommended as a substitute for merlot, and it makes a good one. The third is about the lowest level of this Saar River reisling, which gets pretty amazing in fatter years. In 2004 it came out crisp and just off-dry, with a slight spicy nose that pinot grigio drinkers will like. All three were great with this varied menu, but the real treat is sangria ($7/glass; $15/half liter; $30/liter). It stands up even to Asian flavors, with a hint of mint along with the usual red wine and orange. Decaf coffee ($3) and espresso ($2.50) were superior, and tea ($3) is made properly, in a china pot with loose tea or herbal teas in a filter.
