Sonsie - a Back Bay Go-To

Two weekends ago my brother and his girlfriend came to town - her first time in Boston.  Needless to say we were under some pressure to show her a good time and what an amazing city Boston is!  After a delicious late dinner at Tico, we woke up the next morning ready to explore.  First up: a Duck Tour starting and returning at the Pru.  When the tour wrapped up, we were ready for some food!

Being in the Back Bay, there are so many good places to go.  We decided on Sonsie for a number of reasons - first and foremost, great food, but also this is the restaurant where Nick and I are having our rehearsal dinner.  Nick still hadn't seen the space so we figured better late than never!  Lucky for us, the four of us walked right in and were seated in the cafe area up front.

After getting a lovely tour of the downstairs private wine room, we were ready to eat.  My brother was so ready that he ordered some calamari before we even had time to really look at the drink menu!

Calamari

The calamari is flash fried with zucchini strings, lemon aioli and fried parsley.  It was the perfect, tasty, crunchy food to satisfy us! 


As this was a special occasion, it definitely called for a drinking lunch.  Nick and BL (My brother R's girlfriend) went the Bloody Mary route.  These bloody Marys had the extra special touch of blue cheese stuffed banana peppers and a high level of spice.  The peppers were so delicious, we asked (and received) some extras on the side. 

Bloody Mary - that is a celery garnish

I ordered the cucumber vodka drink, which was completely refreshing for in the early afternoon.

Cucumber yumminess

 My brother, R, stuck with a Sam Summer...never a bad option.

Sam Summer

The menu had a number of really good items to choose from.  Every time I had been to Sonsie previously I ALWAYS went with the mushroom pizza, but I decided I really needed to branch out, so I decided to order the Cubano, which had spicy roast pork, ham and cheese with plantain chips.  The sandwich was delicious, though I forgot that Cuban sandwiches have loads of pickles.  After pulling a few of them out, though, I was good to go.  The bread was light and fluffy and the combination of sliced meat and cheese was delicious - not too spicy by any means, just good flavor.  I loved the crispy plantain chips - such a great alternative to french fries.

Cubano

R went with the cheeseburger (such a ME order!) with plum tomato, lettuce, pickle and steak fries.  The burger had some good melted cheese and tasted really good.  The fries were what he couldn't stop talking about. 

The Burger

Nick and BL went the pizza route.  Nick ordered the Duck pizza, which had Chinese roasted meat, hoisin BBQ sauce, scallions and toasted sesame.

Duck Pizza

BL went with my traditional order and got the mushroom, caramelized onion, mozzarella, and brie cheese pizza (BRIE on pizza - is there anything better?).

Mushroom Pizza

The pizzas were both delicious - the crust is light but with a nice crisp.  Its not too thin but really has a good crust for you to bite into.

After we finished up and were asking for our check our waiter asked if we were in a rush because he had something for us.  As a congratulations on our engagement he brought us a warm chocolate bread pudding with soft whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  Nick is normally the bread pudding fan of the couple, but I could not get enough.  This was so yummy!  The whipped cream was so thick it could have been mistaken for ice cream.  The dessert was such an amazing treat!

Bread Pudding

The meal and the service were great and while I had experienced it before, this was Nick's first time at Sonsie, and after seeing the room and enjoying his meal he ensured his mother that the location was perfect for our rehearsal dinner.  Even my brother got excited for the rehearsal dinner after our yummy lunch!  The downstairs has a great bricked in wine cellar complete with a bar area that makes for a perfect private dining space.

Sonsie always has great food, and if you get to experience the cafe area in the front of the restaurant with the windows open it really makes for such a fun dining experience.  And, while I have never witnessed it, Sonsie is supposedly also a good location for local celebrity sitings.  So if you head on over for a good meal, keep your eyes out!