A thread over on CH raises the question of whether Sycamore is resting on it’s laurels. Happy to report on dinner Saturday night that they are still firing on all cylinders. Ghost of Mary remains our standard aperitif - thanks to Scott, who invented in back at Great Bay - and the “snacks” aways help us through the menu debates. Went with the charcuterie to start - excellent pork rillettes, duck/pork liver terrine, and a chicken ballotine. A generous serving that we shared. My SO was not enthralled with the egg in the otherwise fine asparagus salad, finding it a bit trite. The lamb board was a standout amoung the mains, although a pink Georgia shrimp pasta also got raves. Beignets with milk jam a nice way to bring things to a close. Service remains as attentive and polished - they have a good team ethos going - as we’ve come to expect. I don’t detect any “let down”.
Good to hear. Sycamore is one of the toughest tables around on weekends. One either needs to plan far ahead or get lucky. Their waitlist doesn’t move much either.
Go early and grab a seat at the bar.
I’ve reviewed Sycamore several times, but our most recent visit deserves a special shout-out. We stopped in for an early Friday bite, 4:45 pm. There were two other parties in the dining room, though 45 minutes later the room was full. We started with our usual, the Ghost of Mary, Scott’s signature contribution to the Boston area cocktail repertoire. Ordered a main, the bierwurst with potato salad, as a shared app, together with a salad of strawberry, snap peas, and feta. For main we shared the lamb two ways, merguez sausage with white and fava beans, and braised lamb shank. It was a lot of food, and the leftover lamb made a fine Sunday evening supper for us together with a salad of fresh greens from the Norwich, VT farmer’s market. We had a Sicilian red (Etna) they were pouring by the glass that evening with the lamb, an excellent accompaniment. The meal was fabulous from start to finish (beignets with milk jam, of course).
Chef David Punch was roaming the dining room, topping off glasses, clearing plates, and engaging in a good bit of relaxed banter. Not something we’ve seen very often, but we take it as a sign things are going well, and he feels connected to his guests and to the neighborhood. We feel very fortunate to have Sycamore, and David Punch and Scott Shoer and their entire team in the neighborhood.
PS - another nice thing about the evening was there were a number of tables with young kids, not fidgety and clearly enjoying the experience.
Yup, Sycamore is still our favorite Newton Centre restaurant, and one of our favorites in the greater Boston area. Had an awesome meal there last week, and while Scott wasn’t behind the bar, his second in command Aaron was and he was in fine form as well. We do love the scene as well, and always go early to sit at the bar. It’s always fun when Chef Dave is in the house, and he always stops by to say hi, and give me wife a hard time (she loves it).
I had the funniest experience with Dave Punch on my last birthday - we were 10 minutes late for our reservation (kids, what can I say) - I was dining with my husband and 2 kids. I checked in by myself while they were parking, and Dave looked at me and said, “you’re late” and I apologized. He said, “you now have less than 2 hours to eat.” I was like, yup, I’m aware, and we’re with our kids so don’t worry about it - we’ll be out on time! It was less than hospitable and sort of surprising behavior - I’ve been eating at his restaurants, including when he ran Ten Tables, for years.
Anyway, that strawberry feta salad is the best thing ever.
Very surprising. He must have been having a tough day. Sorry you experienced that.
Not sure when your last birthday was, but there was some serious turmoil within the past six+ months that was certainly affecting Dave’s mood for a while. Things have improved with the dismissal of the problematic employee who was the cause of the strife.
@kimfair - that sounds miserable! This was in November.
That is about when everything was starting to go down, so that’s not terribly surprising. It was a real shock to everyone who’s a regular (and staff) there. It was a theft issue.
Awful…in addition to the theft loses, a pernicious employee can ruin morale. Hope their on the road to recovery.
