Boston's Alternative Source! image!
   
  · Dining
  · DJs
  · Gossip
  · Party Pics
 

Feedback

[Dining Out]

The Newtonville Times
Read all about it
BY ROBERT NADEAU

dining out
The Newtonville Times
(617) 244-0004
344 Walnut Street, Newtonville
Open Mon–Wed, noon–2:30 p.m. and 5–9 p.m.; Thurs–Fri, noon–2:30 p.m. and 5–10 p.m.; Sat, 5–10 p.m.; and Sun, noon–9 p.m.
AE, MC, Vi
Full bar
Sidewalk-level access
Free parking lot behind restaurant

The joke is about newspapers, but it isn’t pushed too hard. The business idea is a local tavern plus food; it’s a satellite of the popular Watch City Brewing Company, in Waltham. Thus the Newtonville Times is not exactly a brew pub, but it does feature Watch City ales on tap, and the kind of food that goes well with beer.

To start with those ales, my advice as always is to stick with the stronger, darker brews, as the more delicate versions are more apt to show technical weaknesses — some bacterial spoilage in the aftertaste or the skunky aroma of “aromatic ketones,” as the brewing books would have it. That was a problem in the first few sips of Times Golden Ale, the kind of light brew servers are apt to recommend to people who say they like Corona. But Titan ale ($3.75), described as “American Brown Ale ... with lots of hops,” is almost as dark as stout, and is so nicely hopped up it has a bittersweet flavor almost like Guinness. A special on Olde Bulldog Nut Brown Ale ($3.75) was even darker and rather sweeter. The extra sugar and alcohol almost guarantee a cleaner flavor.

Completing the list are five very nicely selected bottled beers and 12 familiar wines — six under $20 per bottle (mostly from California) and all available by the glass. It’s a full bar that even features a chocolate martini.

Now, the problem is you have to eat something. Hmmm. Possibly the “Tuscan steamed mussels” ($8), which are all fresh and sweet, served in a garlicky wine sauce with tomatoes and onions. Nothing innovative, but good, good for you, and beer-friendly. The house salad ($6), again, is nothing special, but the lettuce is all crisp and the cherry tomatoes are exceptionally good for the season. As for “Classic Caesar Salad” ($6), I’ve said it many times before: never order anything “classic.” It’s romaine and croutons with a creamy dressing. No anchovy, minimal garlic, a dusting of cheese. What is classic about this type of salad — invented in Tijuana in the 1920s — is the tableside preparation. Ask your grandparents, who may have seen such a thing. As for New England fish chowder ($3/$5), it should taste like fish. Here you have a cream-flavored broth, with a lot of potatoes and a little fish.

“London Times Fish and Chips” ($13.95) has its good points, starting with the seasoned French fries. The fish looks like cod but hasn’t much flavor — perhaps because it’s been frozen. The batter is light and simple, better than authentic British fish batter, which is thicker and gummier than what’s on the chicken fingers in suburban Chinese-American restaurants. But the dip of “malt vinegar aïoli” is just tartar sauce, lacking the strong bite of malt vinegar and the strong garlic of aïoli. Still, it’s a nice lunch with Titan ale.

“New Orleans Post Jambalaya” ($13.95) is even more successful, although the New Orleans newspapers in my lifetime have been the States-Item and the Times-Picayune. At Newtonville, the sausage is closer to Italian-hot than Cajun-andouille, but the shrimp, catfish, and chicken served in a Creole pilaf are all good eating. And even better with beer. “The Boston Herald Roasted Meatloaf” ($12.95) is no disgrace to Boston’s meat-and-potatoes paper. (There is no Globe dish.) The meatloaf is lean yet, you know, meatloafish. The mashed potatoes are excellent, and the “chef’s veg” our night was the same great cherry tomatoes and some steamed-broccoli florets that weren’t overdone, or overly underdone.

“Vineyard Gazette Summer Citrus Salmon” ($13.95) isn’t traditional — no salmon rivers on Martha’s Vineyard, folks — but it’s a good broil of a juicy chunk of farmed salmon, served with the same vegetables. A special on swordfish ($14.95) promised a complicated treatment with coconut and chipotle peppers, like something you’d get at Green Street Grill. Fortunately, the chef quietly lost the chilies, and made something interestingly sweet with the coconut. We stuck with the chef’s veg and a dull mound of baked converted rice that you can feel virtuous about not eating.

Now the good news: desserts. They are conventional, flavorful, and all at what now passes for a populist price, $4.95. The coffee and even the decaf are good, and the tea is served properly in a china pot. Bourbon-pecan pie is not especially bourbon flavored, but perfectly nice and sweet. No turtles are involved in the “Turtle Cheesecake,” just chocolate chips. The granola in the blueberry crisp (vanilla-ice-cream option, another dollar) is chewy rather than crispy, but there are plenty of berries. Chocolate-mousse cake ($4.95) is another approach to double chocolate — thin layers of cake, thick layers of filling, and on the whole easier to eat than the “fallen” or “flourless” or “death by” chocolate desserts.

One of the best things about Newtonville Times is how low-key it is. It’s actually as relaxed as an English pub, not impossibly loud like an American brew pub or its parent, Watch City Brewing Company. Not forcing the newspaper joke in a modest-size neighborhood bar leaves us with ... nothing designed to amuse us, no real concept at all, but that’s okay. While I wouldn’t send anyone for the food alone, this is a very easy place to enjoy food with beer or wine, and to actually talk with your tablemates. Most of the crowd is older and suburban. I do think they could focus the music a bit: I heard the Gipsy Kings’ version of “My Way” and an entire Pretenders tape at lunch, and classic jazz at dinner. They could do a promotion — “bring your own excitement” — and invite diners to bring their own tapes. The monthly winner gets a free dessert.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at robtnadeau@aol.com.

Issue Date: July 5-12, 2001




home | feedback | about the phoenix | find the phoenix | advertising info | privacy policy


© 2002 Phoenix Media Communications Group