Bringing a Beacon St. location to life
Beacon St. Tavern, 1032 Beacon St., Brookline
We all know about doomed restaurant spaces - where restaurants change as quickly the moods of a teenage girl. Of all the disastrous locations, this one on a busy block of Beacon Street seemed to be the archetype. A steakhouse gave way to Italian, then to Mediterranean, then to Italian, then to Asian, and then to pizza with a few more in between. And then there was some notoriety stemming from an employee stabbing in the late '90s.
So it took courage to open Beacon Street Tavern. As Gerry Finnegan, one of the owners, explained in a phone interview, he and his partners had previous experience. In the late '90s they took over a decrepit location farther down Beacon Street in Washington Square and crafted the space into the Washington Square Tavern, a lively neighborhood haunt. At Beacon, they pulled out dropped ceilings, divided the bar and the dining area with high-topped tables, added a fireplace in a small dining room in the back and an oyster bar on one side, and painted the walls a brilliant vermillion.
The aim, says Finnegan, is to create ''some sort of life'' in the room whether crowded or sparsely occupied. Based on several visits, emptiness is not a problem. One recent Friday, we arrive without reservations after trying a couple of smaller places where the wait was more than an hour. Beacon Street is booming - customers line the bar, the dining area is cheek to jowl, and the little back room is full, too.
Nomenclature varies wildly on menus these days - small plates, starters, tapas (no matter what the cuisine), antipasti (no matter what the style), meze (ditto). On this one, there's a middle level of platters, appetizer-like but bounteous enough to share. One of fish taquitos easily outranks the more common quesadillas. Mild fish in crunchy coating, plenty of spicy pico de gallo, chopped avocado, sour cream - what's not to like? A burger with blue cheese is listed in this section, too; although flavorful and meaty, it's really too good to share, and I relinquish only some of the sweet potato fries.
In fact, beef fares best in the entrees, too. A thick cut of sirloin is moist and tender but with enough texture to let you know you're eating steak. The tower of mashed potatoes is maybe too much of a good thing with a few green beans alongside. Roasted chicken with braised cannellini beans and bits of bacon is also an appealing supper dish, the elements handled with care and the result satisfying.
But other entrees fall flat. A special one evening of striped bass has an overly sweet sauce. Although the monkfish has a cabernet-braising sauce, the whole thing lacks much flavor. Veal is stuffed with fontina and asparagus, which is lucky because only the cheese registers; the meat is mundane. Some of the plates are muddled in appearance. The portions are large, but even though seared scallops on their own are fine and moist, they're sort of stuck in the slightly sweet parsnip puree along with brussels sprouts. It doesn't look pretty, and that impinges on the flavors.
The dessert list is short; in fact, on two visits, the only one offered was a warm brownie with ice cream. The confection is dense and chocolately enough but not particularly memorable, and sticky, sweet ice cream didn't help. But my companions devour it. Brownies - well, anything chocolate - almost never fails to please.
The brownie, too, fits into the casual, neighborhood vibe of Beacon Street Tavern with its mostly homey food and compact and well-priced wine list. The service at the table could be more polished. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record week after week on this issue, but many of those waiting on us seem to have no clue about even the simplest things - clearing the table, replacing silverware, remembering which plates go where. Even so, like its older sibling, this tavern is an easy place to be. 