Deck on J.P. Licks - Boston Restaurant Review

Sadly, I didn't really have any meals today worthy of blogging about, but that's what tends to happen when you are at a business meeting.  So, when debating what to write about today, I remembered that I owed a quick review on J.P. Licks from yesterday.  Perfect!  I can keep my daily blogging, with something that should be interesting.

So, after my slightly disappointing dinner last night, I decided to skip dessert at Clio, and head back out on Newbury Street.  During my casual stroll, amongst all of the interesting looking shops, cafes and restaurants, I had seen a sign for J.P. Licks that said "$1.00 scoop day".  Seemed like the perfect price to me, so I headed in, and joined the line of at least 30 people inside. 

While standing in line, I started to check out the menu, as well as the surroundings.  I learned that J.P. Licks is a local Boston Homemade Ice Cream shop, currently has 10 stores in the area, and they like cows.  There were cows on the wall, cow spots on the counter and on the floor.  With all of this bovine influence, my ice cream choice was pretty simple; cow tracks.  I'm not usually a huge dessert person, so I ended up going with just a single scoop.  After feeling a little underwhelmed by my dinner portion side, I was absolutely overwhelmed with what was handed to me for exactly $1.00 (including tax) at J.P. Licks.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.  This was one heaping scoop of ice cream.

I happily grabbed my ice cream, put on my sunglasses, and walked into the lovely Spring evening in Boston.  The first bite definitely hit the spot, and I started to feel some of my disappointment lift.  The ice cream was was very good, nice and creamy.  It featured small peanut butter cups, brownie bites, chocolate pieces, and a chocolate ribbon running through it.  In the short walk that I had back to the car, I was able to pretty much polish off my "one" scoop of ice cream. 

For me, the J.P. Licks Cow Tracks ice cream was on par with Ben & Jerry's.  This puts it higher than Baskin-Robbins and just a touch below Cold Stone.  It's not on the level of Fainting Goat Gelato (that was just incredible), but as far as ice cream goes, it was very good, and it did not make me regret my decision to go to J.P. Licks rather than ordering dessert at Clio.  If you find yoruself in Boston, you should definitely do yourself a favor and make a stop at one of the 10 J.P. Licks locations throughout Boston.

Final Verdict: 3.5 Stars

Deck on Clio Restaurant - Boston Restaurant Review

Ed. Note:  I've introduced a new rating scale from 1 to 5 stars.  Final Verdict is listed at the bottom.

Traveling east for work is always an all day affair.  Usually I'll leave around 10 or 11 in the morning and by the time I get to my East Coast destination, it's 10 or 11 o'clock at night.  This means I'm grabbing dinner at a fast food joint, or something that's open 24 hours.  Not usually the high quality, healthy meal that I'm looking for.  But this time, I decided to sacrifice some sleep and make sure I got to Boston in enough time to get dinner.  And since I was in Boston, it was time to check Clio off my list of restaurants that I wanted to visit.

I became aware of Clio when I saw chef Ken Oringer on Iron Chef America.  I don't remember exactly what he cooked or who he battled against (I suppose I could look it up), but I do remember being impressed enough that I wanted to check out one of his 3 restaurants.  Clio happened to be the closest to Logan Airport and I-93 North, so I decided to go there.  It is located in Back Bay, close to where Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street come together.  After a day of airport food, I was definitely looking forward to a good meal.

After walking through the neighborhood for a little bit, I decided to head to dinner a little early.  I walked in just after 5:30, and was the only person in the place.  I was a little surprised because looking at it from the outside I thought it would be dark, but it was actually open, bright and airy.  To the left was the Clio dining room, and to the right the Uni Sashimi Bar/Lounge.  I went to the Clio bar and ordered a Sankaty Light Lager.  After taking a sip, I started looking through the menu.  There was an option of a 3-course market menu, a bar menu and the regular dinner menu.  I considered the market menu, but in the end decided I'd rather have something of the dinner menu.  I narrowed it down to the Black Licorice Roasted Muscovy Duck and Confit, and the Sweet Butter Basted Maine Lobster.  I asked the bartender which she preferred, and she send the Lobster was considered a signature dish, and the duck was very good as well, but would take 35 minutes.  Knowing I still had a drive to Andover and a night of work ahead of me, I went with the lobster.  Additionally I decided to order some oysters as an appetizer.

The bartender laid out a nice dinner set-up for me at the bar which was a first, and nice.  I then got a dinner roll while waiting for my appetizers.  The roll was good, though nothing special.  When the oysters came, I dove in.  They had a yuzu based sauce that gave them a unique flavor.  The oyster was good, nice and tender.  I put the three of them away pretty quickly.  Then came the lobster dinner.  I was excited to dive in, my journalistic focus briefly forgotten (hence the picture of a partially eaten lobster dish).  When I took a bite, the lobster was good, though nothing spectacular.  I was expecting more of a butter flavor, and a little more tenderness in the lobster.  On the other hand, the sea urchin emulsion was very good.  Rich, flavorful, something unique that I had not tasted before.  I think had it been paired with something sweet like Dungeness crab, it was have been excellent.  There was also a small bit of shaved wild asparagus that went with it.

When I finished, I took a quick glance at the dessert menu, and decided against it.  During my walk I had seen a JP Licks that was having $1.00 scoop night, and I figured I would head over there (I will be doing a short post about this one...it deserves its own post).  I paid the bill and headed out.  I wasn't disappointed when I left, but I definitely felt underwhelmed.  There wasn't anything that really stood out to me.  The oysters were good, but I've had better in Seattle.  The lobster was ok, but I think I would have preferred crab in that preparation.  The quantity of food was pretty small, and the prices were pretty high.  All entrees were between $30-$40, the lobster being in the middle of the road.  Maybe my pallete is not completely up to par.  Maybe I didn't order the right thing, or hyped it too much in my mind.  Or maybe I haven't readjusted my expectations for these types of restaurants, but for $66, and I expected much more.

I am not going to say it was a bad experience, but the highlight was the beer and the sauce.  And the big question, will I go back?  Given the sheer number of restaurants just in that area, probably not.  And, I don't think I'm going to take in the other two Ken Oringer restaurants.  Now, don't get me wrong, Ken Oringer is a James Beard Award winning chef and they don't just give those out to anyone.  But, with so many other options in Boston, and across the country, I was hoping to be wowed Bobby Flay or Tom Colicchio style, and I just wasn't. 

Final Verdict:  2.5 Stars.