At Waypoint ?
Then I will simply make a Zuni chicken at home! For a fraction of the cost.
Indeed, but I could go on forever. For the future of restaurants to be bright and shiny, pricing needs to be appropriate. This means yes, charge more for the rare, the unique, the highest of quality. Charge more for local, for organic, but stop charging too much for what does not justify a higher price. It’s not a critique on a singular establishment, but a plea for help to save the industry.
See: Draft beers, $12 vodka cocktails, $8 mocktails, etc. I’ve heard several complaints about a $70+ chicken and 10oz beer pours, but no negative feedback on the triple digit caviar prices.
Eh, what do I know? Clearly it’s working, what with the new school district and all … (mo money, mo problems).
I don’t even like chicken much, but I do like the Zuni roast chicken recipe and I can usually find a small enough chicken at Whole Foods. Need to make it soon! I do like the roast chicken at Branchline in Watertown.
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The whole chicken from Esperia Grill at $9.99 will do just fine too.
The new price for the whole chicken at Waypoint is now $49 (so I guess they didn’t sell enough at the previous prices). Considering that the Waypoint one has at least some side vegetables whereas the one at Branchline , at $39 (which is still overpriced), didn’t have any, both chickens are now at about the same price point.
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We split the half roast chicken at Branchline and took home the bones to make a delicious stock. I realize most people have bigger appetites than I do, but it was plenty of food for the two of us.
We often split the Branchline half chicken, and it’s plenty. We’ve discussed getting one to go, and having both dinner and the leftovers at home.
Wow, that’s a significant price reduction in a very short time. More power to them for trying to build in margin, but it makes me want to hide my wallet and really pay attention to the other prices. This reminds me of the $175 burger they floated at Alden & Harlow (https://www.hungryonion.org/t/175-burger-at-alden-harlow-cambridge-ma/2914). I assumed that was more about PR, however maybe it was about seeing if there were suckers who would bite.
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Going here tonight. The chicken is now listed at $49, but is also under the “Roasts (For 2-3)” section, which I presume means it can feed up to 3 people. Maybe a bargain at $16/pp? I’ll report back.
Can’t wait to read your report. Looked at the Waypoint menu a couple of days ago and the char belly and grilled sardine caught my eye but ended up at Alden and Harlow instead.
Went there with a group of 6 and shared a bunch of mostly very enjoyable dishes. We had (favorites starred)
Oysters on the half shell (two types from Barnstable)
Tallow Fried Peanuts**
Crab French Fries*
Octopus Polpetti*
Emmer Casarecci*
Cauliflower (side dish)
Compressed Apple pizza*
Roasted Bone Marrow
Seared scallops
Cinnamon Sugar Donuts**
Fruit Crostada
It came out to approximately $70/pp (including tip and a couple of drinks each). It was not cheap, to be sure, but only the scallops ($18 for 2 pretty small scallops) seemed out of proportion. We did not end up getting any of the larger “roasts”, and I would like to try one as they looked good going by to other tables. There are plenty of bar seats here, and it would be a great spot to drop in and have a few small plates and a cocktail.
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Thanks, you got a great variety of things, glad to hear you liked most of them.
Do you recall if chef Scelfo was in the house?
I’m not sure what he looks like, and we were not particularly near the kitchen in any case, so can’t say.
We tried Waypoint for the first time Monday evening. Here is my report.
The excellent:
Cocktails - not a big surprise as their bar manager came from eastern Standard, then to Alden & Harlow. Inventive and delicious.
Tallow fried peanuts. The ultimate bar snack. Hot, salty, and delicious.
Striped Bass crudo with popcorn and shishito crema - man he loves his popcorn and shishitos!
The very good:
Steak tartare - well seasoned (though many folks complain about Scelfo’s food being too salty, I felt this dish could have used a bit more salt).
The OK
Pistachio Knots. like garlic knots, but with chopped pistachios and honey. We enjoyed them, but they were the lowlight of the meal.
The we really wanted to like it more:
Blue crab and Strawberry salad with farro. Now if you name your dish this, I expect crab and strawberries to be the main two components. There was one good sized strawberry quartered in the dish. Had the description been Blue Crab salad with strawberries and farro, I would have been OK with that, but I expect more than one quartered strawberry in a dish where strawberry is one of the two main ingredients listed.
Hearth baked fruit crostada - excellent dough, nice creamy layer inside, almost zero fruit. Again, call it a cream crostada, and it’s excellent, but if you call it a fruit crostada, put some freaking fruit in it!
Overall, a very good experience. We both still prefer Alden & Harlow, but will return (as I really want to try the uni bucatini pasta dish).
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A bit late to the table, dining at Waypoint for the first time this Friday (12/8/17) evening. I have to say we not only enjoyed the evening, but found it very reasonably priced - counter to the tenor of much of this thread. We did not stray into roast territory, but we dined well. Favorites included the salt cod fritters, scallop crudo, smoked shrimp, and clam pizza. Cocktails: enjoyed the Submarine and Estate Grown, an interesting balance between savory and sweet; the Submarine had a nice saline undertone. My SO is not a fan of mezcal, and they graciously offered to reconstruct the Stowaway with vodka instead, which worked well. A reasonably priced Spanish Albarino featured a food-friendly and bracing acidity. We’ll be back.
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A friend and I had a really good dinner here a couple of nights ago. We shared the hiramasa crudo which came with pieces of blood orange and jalapeno plus some green tea and other drips of seasonings. It was very good; I thought the jalapeno should have been smaller, thinner pieces as to me it sort of overwhelmed the fish but my friend disagreed. We got the bread plate – 3 types of bread with two spreads: a smoked seaweed butter and a white bean puree (which normally has squid ink which I am allergic to) – all delicious. Then we got the raw and pickled vegetable salad with escarole, herb vinaigrette and crispy breadcrumbs. Fabulous salad, enough for 4 people though. And we got the Caesar salad with little gem lettuce which was wholly unnecessary given the size of the other salad but we left not one morsel of it. Then the smoked bluefish (listed as such but we were told it was Spanish mackerel that night which was just fine with us) with pureed yam with miso and a cured (?) but runny egg yolk and some sort of fish roe, looked like tobiko but hard to tell. The mix of flavors when you got everything in one bite was spectacular. Last up the wood roasted char belly with crispy skin and ceci beans – the fish was completely amazing, the accompaniments fine but forgettable. With it we had a bottle of fairly light red chosen by my friend and the sommelier which was very good. The room is very attractive and comfortable and the service both very warm and polished. Our waitress was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about the menu and really enhanced our evening. We would definitely go back. I was particularly struck by how comfortable it was compared to some other places I have been lately – Pammy’s and Alden & Harlow come to mind. We had a nice two-top booth that had space for your stuff.
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Thanks for the report, a reminder it’s time for a return visit. We enjoyed the crudo, and the cocktails selection.
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