Tico, Back Bay, Boston

So, I was going a little stir crazy being in all day with Pierre, and for 2 hours of that day at close quarters with Mr. Comcast, who sat next to me on my sofa to try and work out what was going on with my Internet.  It is not that it was a bad thing, just completely strange that Mr. Comcast Dirty Boots decided to do this. He was truly trying to be helpful but it was just odd.  Maybe I am being strange here but a guy I don’t know with big dirty boots on sitting next to me on my sofa is just not right in my book! 

Anyway, after watching Ocean’s 11 and 12, I decided that I would ask one friend what they were doing for dinner, and if that one friend said to me, I am busy or other reason to not have dinner, then that would be my reason to not move from my apartment and watch Ocean’s 13.  I called Laurie, and yay, Laurie said, “yes, I am free and starving, can we go now!”   It was 5.30pm :).  I said, “give me 30 minutes and yes, we (me and Pierre) are good to go.”

Laurie picked me up and we decided to go to Met Bar on Newbury.  At the last minute, we drove by Tico, Michael Schlow’s (of Radius and Via Matta fame) newest creation, and thought, yes, why not. 

There is nothing more fun that going out on a “School Night.”  For me a “School Night” is a Sunday evening before the work week, or in this particular case, Monday after a long weekend. 

Anyway, onto Tico.  “A place that doesn’t take itself too seriously, Tico has a fun, sexy atmosphere, delicious and unpretentious food, amazing cocktails, cold beer, lots of tequila, cool music and great people watching.  Tico is all about your good time.” 

Tico is one of Boston’s newest restaurants and has moved into the old Cottonwood space.  Cottonwood was a mainstay of Boston’s Back Bay area for the Margarita loving crowd, so it was quite sad when it closed down.  Tico opened just a few weeks. 

I did try to go to Tico last week but there was a private party going on.  Tonight was perfect. Upon arrival we were lucky enough to grab two stools at the bar.  The place was surprisingly busy, at least in the bar area, for a Monday night (or even a long weekend Monday night). 

The décor is quite cool, dark, warm, red, with a Mexicana feel and Goth like lighting.  The bar staff are very friendly, fun and completely attentive.  Always willing to offer advice on the tasty fun menu and indeed on our conversation. The atmosphere was relaxed and definitely lends itself as a place you can go to with friends, work colleagues or even on a date.  I loved the big open kitchen where you can see all of the Chefs’ going about their business. Michael was busy, front and center making some creation.

We decided to start with some white wine.  A nice inexpensive bottle of Chilean, Sauvignon Gris – “2009 Cousino Macul, Sauvignon Gris ( Chile)”.  The food menu focuses on small bites, share dishes and just a few entrees.  After very briefly looking at the menu we ordered what looked like a great small bite before looking any further.  We ordered the “Taco Crunchy Edamame, tomatillo & cucumber.”

The Taco didn’t arrive so we went ahead and ordered our extra menu items to share of “Mushroom and Cheese Quesadilla with Black Truffle Salsa,” “Tuna Tartare Tostadas with lime, cilantro and serranos” and “Chorizo Risotto with pasilla chiles, scallion and parmigia.”  Our Edamame Taco did finally arrive after all our other dishes.

The Mushroom Quesadilla was fantastic.  So tasty and the Truffle Salsa was to die for.  By far my favorite of the dishes.  The Risotto was also very good but it tasted to me more like Jambalaya than Risotto.  I didn’t mind, I love Jambalaya.  The sausage was perfectly spicy and the dish had a really nice kick to it.  The Tuna Tartare was fresh and melted in your mouth with the right amount of cilantro and lime and the cucumbers were a nice compliment to the tuna.  I think cilantro can be overwhelming in overused quantities.  This was just right.  The Edamame Tacos were quite good, although a little dry – not my favorite of our dishes but definitely interesting flavors and textures.  I probably wouldn’t order them again but I would definitely go through the list of what looked like great Taco dishes.

Halfway through the night the bartender jumped up to the top shelf for a $350 bottle of Tequila and made some sort of Tequila Margarita.  I am not sure I would waste a $50 shot of Tequila by mixing it, but some guy bought the three girls next to us a margarita each!!!  Nice hey, $150 worth of drinks in one go!