Enjoy Aujourd’hui today
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, June 5, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
AUJOURD’HUI: A
When Aujourd’hui restaurant at the Four Seasons closes June 27, it will be the end of an era of fine dining at Boston hotels.
For many years, hotels were among the only places in this city where you could enjoy high-end Continental-inspired cuisine with white-glove service. Where you dressed up for dinner, dusted off your best manners and said a silent prayer when deciding which fork to use. Where you marked significant occasions with family and friends.
Apley’s at the Sheraton, Le Marquis at the Lafayette (now Hyatt Regency), Zachary’s at the Colonnade, Rowes Wharf at Boston Harbor Hotel, the Dining Room at the Ritz, Seasons at the Bostonian.
All have either been shuttered or replaced by less formal restaurants that are chef and/or concept driven.
Once upon a time, to qualify as a great hotel in Boston, you needed a great restaurant. Now you just need a restaurant.
Aujourd’hui remains a great restaurant.
During the next three weeks, Bostonians will stop in to say goodbye.
On two recent farewell visits, we were once again wowed by chef de cuisine William Kovel’s top-notch food - local, seasonal and sustainable.
Dishes such as bare-bones basic Maine crab salad ($19) punctuated with slices of citrus. And escargot-stuffed cappellacci tortellini ($16) with spring morels and green garlic puree.
Beginning June 28, the popular Bristol Lounge cafe will be the only public dining option at the Four Seasons.
Does that mean we will bid adieu to Aujourd’hui’s lobster bisque ($18), a decades-old, velvety favorite?
Kovel’s cooking is misleadingly simple: sophisticated yet approachable, with no superfluous sauces or garish garnishes.
We loved the straightforwardness of sliced roasted veal tenderloin ($38) on a bed of fiddleheads, morels and rainbow chard, served with garlicky fried galette tater tots, marshmallow puffy underneath crisp exteriors.
An assiette of rabbit ($39) is a whimsical platter of confit, grainy mustard and tarragon over bigoli pasta, sliced loin on morels and favas and a savory sausage of thyme-scented, caul-fat-wrapped, leg crepenette perched on carrot puree.
Line-caught Atlantic halibut ($39), on minted English peas, glazed radishes, pencil asparagus and a cloud of lemon-thyme foam couldn’t be more delicious.
Ditto, poached Maine lobster ($42) in smoky dashi-lemongrass-lobster consomme with wilted ramp greens, pickled ramps and a plump, lobster-filled wonton.
As accomplished as the fare is, much of the Aujourd’hui experience is due to the wait staff. Seemingly hired for their ESP, they intuit what you need before you ask.
Sommelier Jason Irving is equally discerning. Tell him what you’re eating and how much you want to spend and he’ll select the perfect bottle from the 25-page wine list.
Pastry chef Tim Fonseca will continue overseeing hotel desserts. His apricot tarte tatin ($12) with toasted almond ice cream and roasted cherries is criminally delectable.
Restaurant management nixed the dress code. They promoted epicurean events to attract a younger clientele. They cut hours of operation. And offered a less expensive, prix fixe, three-course menu for diners on a budget. But, ultimately, Aujourd’hui’s fate wasn’t about food, service or changing dining trends. It was about the bottom line.
I will miss its unapologetic luxury, its trompe-l’oeil ceiling, yellow and blue carpets and magnificent window views of the Public Garden.
As Joni Mitchell so perceptively observed: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”
200 Boylston St. (Four Seasons Hotel)
617-351-2037; fourseasons.com
Fine dining
Price: More than $40
Hours: Tues.-Sat., 5:30-10 p.m; Sun. brunch 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.Bar: Full
Credit: All
Accessibility: Accessible
Parking: Valet
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