I have been living in Beacon Hill for the past five years and I have been lucky to frequent most (if not all) of the drinking and eating establishments in the neighborhood. This isn't saying too much because unlike other Boston neighborhoods, Beacon Hill is small in its number of restaurants, although there are a few hidden gems (from the cheap beers at the Sevens, authentic burritos from Villa Mexico to the hidden patio at Hungry I).
Another popular place in the neighborhood is the Paramount, located at 44 Charles Street. This restaurant is known for its breakfast items, which is served cafeteria style. The restaurant is tiny and they strictly adhere to a policy that you are not allowed to save or reserve a table. You can only sit down when you have all of your food with you. It keeps the crowd going, although on any given weekend, the line is out the door.
Although breakfast is served all day into the lunch hour, during law school, I discovered that their lunch menu is also really delicious. My favorites include their Cobb salad and the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. Neither are particularly healthy, but they are delicious to eat when studying for the Bar exam.
Despite my positive breakfast and lunch experiences, I have surprisingly never been to the Paramount for dinner. When it comes to dining out, I tend to favor the restaurants in Cambridge and the South End. Or, if I am meeting a friend after work, I tend to pick one of my Downtown or Financial District stand-bys. So yesterday, when J emailed me about picking a restaurant for our long-standing dinner plans, I was pleasantly surprised when she (and her husband) picked the Paramount as one of their favorite places to eat in Beacon Hill.
We decided to meet there at 6:15 PM and when B and I arrived, they were already seated. It is strange how the whole atmosphere can change with a sit-down service and dimmed lights. While we chatted, I started out with a Wachusett Blueberry beer and we sampled the complimentary foccacia they placed on our table. The foccacia was served with a small side of hummus that was pleasantly flavored with lemon and fresh herbs. It was surprising to be served hummus at the Paramount but it was really delicious.
After a long time of decision-making, W and J started out by splitting a tomato and mozzarella salad, and B and I chose to split their seared ahi tuna roll appetizer. While we were expecting a small appetizer, there was definitely enough tuna to split with the entire table (although neither W and J partook because of their large salad). The tuna was served with a ginger sesame soy sauce, with slices of fresh avocado and homemade crunchy noodles. This was a delicious way to start our meal and the tuna was perfectly seared on the outside. My only complaint is that there was not enough avocado served for the amount of tuna but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it forced us to stop eating the tuna in anticipation of our entrees.
Although our entrees took awhile to make it to the table, it gave us time to chat about our lives. J is a close law school friend of mine who I see often for lunch and I absolutely adore her husband W, who is a principal at a local Boston school. Although they have met B before, this was the first time we could all sit down together and hang out. It was great to have everyone get along so well and they may have convinced us to look at their neighborhood for real estate when the timing is right.
But back to the food...
While there was a delicious chicken entree special, I passed when I discovered that it was a bone-in chicken breast because of my aversion to bone-in meat dishes. Instead, at J's recommendation, I had the chicken marsala, which is not a dish that I would typically order at a restaurant because it is something I can easily make at home. However, it was a solid choice. A large chicken breast was cooked to perfection in the marsala sauce and the chicken breast was incredibly tender. The marsala sauce had a generous portion of porcini mushrooms and they were a little salty but probably perfect for the normal diner. The green beans were fresh and cooked in butter. But the real beauty of the dish was the mashed potatoes. Typically any place that serves mashed potatoes falls in the "nothing to write home about" category for me but this was really delicious and the perfect "reminds me of mom" feeling with nothing too extraordinary about them (no potato skins, wasabi, or special herbs).
Everyone else was equally enthralled with their dishes - B with his BBQ steak tips served with a mountain of mashed potatoes, green beans and fried onion rings; W with his chicken sandwich; and J with her chicken piccata. All of the entrees were overly generous and I sadly left a huge portion of the mashed potatoes and green beans behind. Of course this didn't stop me from snagging a few of B's onion rings, which were light and not too greasy.
Although the place was full and there was definitely a few people waiting outside, the service was great. We never felt rushed and if anything, the service may have even been a little on the slow side. We found their offering of milkshakes as desserts to be interesting, but we weren't tempted since we were so full from our dinners. Although their menu isn't necessarily innovative, with reasonable dinner prices and generous portions, it is hard to complain. This is the kind of place that even the pickiest of eaters can find something to eat, and it was definitely family friendly. With their delicious mashed potatoes, I'm sure I'll be back in the winter when I am craving some comfort food.
xoxo
While I understand that the place was really busy, I've got to start out by saying that the service was not great. When we were seated, the host (owner?) gave us our menus and waters were given immediately. While we weren't in a rush, we noticed that about ten minutes later another table was seated next to us. Despite being seated before them, their orders were taken first. It was odd. By the time the server came around to us, we ended up ordering everything - a bottle of wine, an appetizer and our entrees all at once because we weren't sure when he would come back!
