Saro's European Kitchen in Waltham

[Xiphias Gladius]

Friday night, my fiancee' took me out to dinner for my birthday. I'd been
to Saro's once before for lunch, and had enjoyed it, and had told Lis
about it, so she thought it would be a good idea to take me there for
dinner.

She was very right.

Saro's is a tiny restaurant just off of Rte. 117, as it passes over 128,
and it has the best food in Waltham. The owner, chef, waiter, busboy, and
fireplace-stoker is named Victor Bruno, and he's a character. During slow
times of the evening, he tends to sit with the customers and chat.

The evening was quiet -- he only had seven reservations for the
entire Friday night -- but the place deserves to be packed. (Which
shouldn't be too difficult; it seats 22.)

From the outside, the place looks like a run-down shack that used to be a
sub-shop, which, in fact, it had been at one time. If you get there early
in the evening, you may have to knock to get in -- the door may be locked.

But once you're in, it's a completely different story. Music (chosen, of
course, by Mr Bruno) plays in the background on a very nice stereo system.
A fire crackles in a fireplace. And the atmosphere is homey, yet
romantic.

The menu changes whenever Mr Bruno feels like it, which is currently every
couple of weeks. He writes a choice of three or four first courses, and
three or four main courses on a chalkboard. When we were there on Friday,
the appetizers were a poached salmon, grilled vegetables, and a seafood
cup. The main courses were duck with cherry sauce, a ribeye steak in a
mustard sauce, and two seafood with pasta dishes, one based on Italian
flavors and one based on Oriental flavors.

I had the grilled vegetables and Lis had the seafood cup; we both had
duck. Service was prompt and efficient, but wasn't rushed, and wouldn't
have been even if the place had been packed. Mr Bruno allows diners at
least two hours for a meal, and books reservations accordingly.

The grilled vegetables were eggplant, zuchinni, summer squash, and red
peppers, with cracked pepper, olive oil, and slices of buffalo mozzarella
cheese. I don't normally like eggplant, but this was pretty good, and the
rest of the dish was wonderful.

Lis's seafood cup was shrimp and scallops served over potatoes mashed with
garlic, orange, and olive oil. Her comment was the shrimp was good, but
nothing special, but the scallops were *excellent*, as were the potatoes.

The duck was served with sides of the garlic and orange potatoes, and
julienne vegetables, and covered in a sweet cherry sauce. The duck was
plump and juicy, and the sauce worked very well with it.

We had Mr Bruno choose a wine for us and he came back with a '94 Merlot
from California, which worked pretty well with the grilled vegetables and
with the seafood cup, but which matched the duck *perfectly*. Lis and I
don't know much about choosing wines, but we can tell when somebody else
does -- Mr Bruno knows wines. I ended up drinking a bit more than I
usually do, just because it matched so wonderfully and tasted so good.
Even Lis drank two glasses, and would have had more if she wasn't driving
-- and she doesn't usually like red wine.

We didn't have desert there because he doesn't make it himself -- he has
trained as a pastry chef, but doesn't have time to handle that with
everything else he does.

The whole meal -- two appetizers, two main dishes, a bottle of wine, tax,
and a 20% tip -- was $95. It's not cheap, but it's worth every penny.
It's charming, friendly, and the food is out of this world. Saro's has my
vote for "best restaurant in Greater Boston". Now, if he could only get a
little more business. . . .

- Ian