Foundry mini-review

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

A friend and I hit the Foundry on its opening night, and were pleasantly surprised not to have a wait for a table for two (it was a bit early, just before 6, but still).

The food was good (not great, but good), the atmosphere pleasant, and the service friendly and efficient, even on their opening night, which I found admirable. It's very much a 2010 restaurant, in that it has a charcuterie plate, a range of "classic cocktails," a selection of flatbreads and the standard high-brow-comfort-foods that seem to be on every menu in the area this summer (e.g. heirloom tomato salad, pasta with goat cheese, pork belly confit).

I had the steak frites, and my vegetarian friend had the veggie kebabs. They were both quite good, and the steak was served as rare as I had requested. We also sampled several of the classic cocktails; the ginger smash was especially good.

Overall, a nice addition to the neighborhood, and I hope they'll manage to last in that space longer than Bowl & Board did.

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to trying this place out. It sounds very nice.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Please post here when you do. Sound like jblack73 didn't have a very good server - it'll be interesting to see which one of us had the anomalous experience.

We had a mediocre experience last night

[jblack73.livejournal.com]

Terrible service - waiter failed to deliver appetizers and then blamed the kitchen, entrees were served after a very long wait (and one entree took an edditional 10 minutes longer), they had run out of certain beers and did not have the right alcohol for one of their mixed drinks.

Food was alright, but the service really brought the whole experience down.

Let's hope they improve and can stick it out for the long run.

Re: We had a mediocre experience last night

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Oh that's too bad. I hope they're able to pull off a more consistent experience.

Re: We had a mediocre experience last night

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

my friend and i were going to go last night, but i was worried about going in the opening week in case they needed to iron out some bugs. glad we waited and will hit it in the next few weeks.

Re: We had a mediocre experience last night

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

I usually give restaurants a pass on poor service (but not rude service, or poor food) in their first month or so. It takes staff a while to figure out a rhythm, and cooks a while to figure out how to piece together the timing of various combinations of dishes.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Just what Davis Square needs...another restaurant. Whoopee.

[ron_newman]

What would you prefer in this space?

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Runway! To service the planes bringing burritos to the square!

[teko.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it's not just "another restaurant", since they're also going to be making use of the downstairs theatre space to create a cozy brasserie/theatre with a fireplace. It's actually a pretty creative use of the space and is a restaurant with a different atmosphere than anything else in the square (except for, arguably, the bar side of Gargoyle's).

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

actually, davis needs a restaurant that isn't really awful. i think this actually fits the bill fairly well. i would love something a bit more inspired, but i think this works well as a fairly nice neighborhood spot.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

i agree with you.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I think there are plenty of non-awful restaurants in the square: Namaskar, Redbones, Johnny Ds, Orleans, Gargoyle's, Boston Burger Company, Snappy Sushi. None of these are knock-you-over-dead fantastic, but they're all fine places to eat. I would love to have something a bit more inspired as well.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

i didnt mean to say there's nothing not awful in davis, though i do think johnny d's is pretty horrible. it's more just a general "i wish this was a bit better" feeling. the thing is, most of what you just listed (and I'd goto the burren for the 500th time wayyy before ever eating at Orleans again) is fine enough but has something very similar and overall "better" between porter and central. I think it's gotten a lot better, but I've always felt davis lagged behind those other 3 spots.

Redbones is an exception, which I think it pretty awesome :) But, I can't really go there more than once a year or so.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

OK, I interpreted "davis needs a restaurant that isn't really awful," to mean there as nothing not awful in Davis.

I agree that there's nothing outstanding in the square (I think Gargoyle's used to be, about ten years ago), and there really should be. I think an upscale restaurant on the order of Salts or Menton would do really well here. Anyway, I don't think that The Foundry is outstanding, and frankly it's not all that different from, say Russell House in Harvard Square.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed there. I feel like Foundry wants to be the 'better' restaurant in the square, and I hope they can achieve it. Posto, for me, is the current above-par restaurant in the area.

Pity that we came THAT close to getting Ten Tables.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

something like ten tables would fit well, especially with the other features of davis, i could see most of the boston area thinking it could be a good night out.

i miss the wee italian place that was in the spot ten tables almost moved into.

[delahk.livejournal.com]

you don't like johnny d's? omg i thought i was the only one. *tear*

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

i went once for brunch a loooooonnnng time ago and thought it was a bit expensive and *very* gross. Since then I've been twice for small things and both times felt it was pretty yick. They fucked up french fries, yo.

[delahk.livejournal.com]

i haven't had seriously Gross food there, but i've never been very impressed with what you get for the money. the lines they have for brunch will forever boggle my mind.

fucking up french fries is serious shit.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

I can't seem to find a wine/beer list anywhere. Any info as to what's on tap?

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Nevermind, here it is (http://www.urbandaddy.com/uploads/assets/file/pdfs//4297a3e63ae4d5b1555f183766328afc.pdf) for anyone who's interested.

[inahandbasket]

That's quite the draft list...
/me makes a note to stop by and try a few of the uncommon ones

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

i wish they had a better selection of IPAs, since I'm not a fan of the 2 less common ones (I'll drink harpoon as a default, but it's essentially a hop-infused pilsner/lager hybrid). I think most of these have been on tap at Cambridge Common at some point...which certainly isn't a bad thing.

It is pretty awesome to have another place with a good selection of things on tap, and I assume once they've settled down they'll use a few of them for some more unique things.

[emannths.livejournal.com]

I count 6 IPAs on the pdf in the link (Green Flash, Lost Sailor, Ruination, Dark Horse, Harpoon, and Brewdog)--maybe you missed a page or something? (even w/o harpoon, ruination (imperial), and the brewdog (bottle), I still count 3...)

Do they print prices on this menu for the version in the restaurant? Listing the serving size is pretty pointless without also saying the price. I'd go on a rant about price-less drink lists, but that would be a little too off-topic, no?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I meant "2 less common ones" as in in addition to Harpoon, but I missed the BBC one, was quick scanning :) I wasn't counting the Imperial and I generally don't even look at offerings in bottles--never agrees with IPAs IMO.

I actually like BBC one though, so that's cool. I just am not used to seeing it spelled out.

[t-stop.livejournal.com]

Nice beer list and they have a cask conditioned on tap as well. That's enough for me to stop by on a night I don't feel like eating at red bones.

[junesrose.livejournal.com]

1. Since I no longer live in the Square, where exactly did they place this eateryt?

2. You had RARE STEAK while sitting next to a VEGETARIAN? And you lived long enough to post! I'm impressed!

:D

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

It's where McIntyre and Moore used to be, on Elm St a couple of blocks from the T. After M&M moved out it was a Bowl & Board for a brief time.

My friends tend to be pretty open minded and let me eat what I like as long as I don't try to shove it down their throats (which I would never do - I like my steak far to much to share it with someone who wouldn't enjoy it).

[42itous.livejournal.com]

We went on Tuesday night with some friends from out of town. I had the Thai peanut noodle salad and was unimpressed with it, but Kyle's spaetzle was AWESOME, and the beet salad was good (the beets looked like tuna sashimi, weird but yummy) and the fries were very good.

The waitstaff was obviously still in training, but in what I thought was a charming way.

The one area in which I'd give the restaurant seriously bad marks is the bathroom. It's not dirty, obviously, because it's brand new, but the tile they chose makes it *look* really grimy. But worse than that: there are no paper towels, only blow dryers, and YOU HAVE TO TOUCH THE DOOR HANDLE TO OPEN THE DOOR FROM THE INSIDE. YUCK. (yes i know i'm being ocd about this but i've read the statistics about how many people actually wash their hands after going to the bathroom and it's disgusting.)

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

You're that germophobic, and you haven't figured out how to turn doorknobs using your shirt?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

This, and also, there are lots of restaurants like that. Heck, i think diesel might even have that set up. If you are that worried, you could also use a bit of toilet paper as a "shield".

[42itous.livejournal.com]

It's true, I have this gripe about lots of places. But most places that I've seen the blow-dryers, I've also seen either a stack of paper towels or (best of all) the doorway turns a corner so no door is needed (usually see this at airports and truck stops).

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

That's true.

I was at a rest stop on the Pike this week, and saw that the bathroom door had a "foot pull" thing to open the door with your foot to avoid using the handle. I thought it was pretty neat.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen one of those -- that is neat!

[42itous.livejournal.com]

In the winter I use my shirt sleeves. In this case, I used my skirt, but I was also thankful that I hadn't needed the bathroom until after the meal.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

um, because i want someone's shitty hand germs on my clothes? no way. i've learned to use my foot for a lot of doors :p

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I've been twice this past week. Beer selection is pretty awesome, appetizers are good. Great oysters, great cheese plate, delicious bread. Entrees are sub par. Meh.

I'm glad there's more restaurants in Davis, especially one with a raw bar, but I'll be sticking to Posto and their amazing agnolotti.