Local Ingredients at Summer Winter Restaurant

Awhile back, my friend Robin told me about this fantastic restaurant in Burlington called Summer Winter Restaurant.  She told me about the restaurant's impressive greenhouse and use of local ingredients, and I made a mental note to give it a try.  However, truth be told, Summer Winter always ended up at the bottom of our list of restaurants to try because it is out of the city and seemed too much of a hassle.  But now that Bret and I have our adorable Honda Fit and actually live pretty close to Burlington, Summer Winter is a lot more feasible for us to try out. 

After hearing about this restaurant over a year ago, you can imagine my excitement when Bret made us reservations for dinner there this past weekend.  I was especially excited because Summer Winter Restaurant is owned by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier.  Last year, Bret and I went to one of their other restaurants, Arrows in Ogunquit.  Our tasting menu at Arrows was probably the most amazing dining experience I've had to date and this only made me more excited to dine at Summer Winter!

After my last blog post, I was torn about whether or not to take photos of the meal for the blog.  But when the first dish came out, the presentation was so beautiful that I couldn't resist sharing, even if the pictures ended up a bit dark and blurry.

It has been a long time since Bret and I have been able to enjoy a nice date night meal, mostly due to my crazy schedule.  I was definitely in the mood to celebrate so I decided to indulge in some sparkling rose.  It was crisp and not too sweet.

For our meals, we started out by splitting two different dishes.  The first was one of their "small bites."  All of the small bites sounded interesting but we finally settled on the Sweet and Sour Roasted Cippollini's and Mushrooms with Arrows' Bacon.

I loved the roasted flavors of the onions and mushrooms contrasted with the sweet and sour sauce and the salty crispy bacon.

The other dish we shared was the Burmese Salad with Three Noodles, Fried Split Peas, Fried Shallots, Peanuts, Tea Leaves and a Creamy Chili Vinaigrette.  The kitchen kindly split this dish in two for us. 

There was a whole lot on this dish and at the chef's suggestion, we tossed all of the ingredients together before indulging.  Um, wow.  This was the best salad I've had in my life.  All of the flavor went really well together and I especially enjoyed the fresh slices of green and red tomatoes mixed in.  Our neighboring table took one look at our salad and whispered, "We want what they're having!"  It was that good.

For my entree, I was in the mood for seafood so I chose the MC Whole Fried Trout with Scallions and Black Beans.  The presentation was gorgeous.

The trout was so perfectly cooked with moist meat inside surrounded by a crispy fish skin dredged in sesame seeds.

Each entree comes with a starch and a sauce.  I chose the chickpea fries, which were a tad salty but tasted a lot like polenta fries.  I also chose the Numb and Hot sauce at our server's suggestion, which was a combination of ginger, garlic, chili paste and soy sauce.  I didn't really need it for the fish since it came with its own sauce but it was a nice dipping sauce with my fries.  I did wish, however, that the sauce had some real heat to it.

Bret ordered the Five Spice, Ginger and Garlic-Roasted Half Duck with a side of Mark's Mashed Potatoes.  His meal didn't get photographed because I was too engrossed in my own meal.  Whoops!  Our meals were so delicious and I was disappointed that we just didn't save enough room for dessert. 

Summer Winter was a wonderful dining experience.  It felt less formal than Arrows but I did love the attention to detail in each dishes' presentation and flavor.  We will definitely be returning here again!

Summer Winter Restaurant is located at 1 Mall Road, Burlington, MA.