(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
Cheap Eats
A nosh amid the posh at Noir
(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
You wouldn’t expect the search for a cheap place to eat in Harvard Square to end at the Charles Hotel. The brick behemoth that offers televisions in the bathroom and organic kibble to its canine guests doesn’t exude a bargain vibe.
And yet Noir, the first-floor bar that spills outside in warm weather, serves a surprisingly affordable menu of flatbreads, salads, and sandwiches. Nothing costs more than $13 and many offerings cost quite a bit less - especially between 5 and 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, when nearly everything is half-price or less. (The only catch is guests must spend at least $6 on drinks to get the bargain prices.)
Noir downplays its bar menu, calling it snack food, but the playful dishes are easily sufficient for a meal. One of our favorites is the grilled shrimp and feta flatbread ($12), generously strewn with large shrimp, cubes of cheese, and a sprinkle of marjoram. Tomato and goat cheese flatbread ($9) is simpler but still very good. Watermelon goat cheese salad ($8) is one of the best we’ve had, especially the toasted sesame vinaigrette that makes us chase down every last piece of arugula. Mac & cheese with tortilla chips ($6) is unexceptional; pools of oil form on the top.
Noir recently switched to a more spring-worthy menu, leaving behind the sweet potato flatbreads and thick chicken sandwiches for greens and fresh vegetables. Here the food is full of little surprises but not overwrought.
The other great lure of Noir, at least these days, is its smattering of open-air tables. But unless you have great perseverance or luck, they may be only a mirage. Our first visit turns maddening when we wait more than an hour for a table to open, only to watch a group of women emerge from the bowels of the bar and claim the seats before the prior occupants depart. Negotiations ensue, the women persevere - the black-clad waitstaff offer only sympathy, saying it is not bar policy to keep a waiting list.
Desserts at Noir are not restrained. Boston cream pie ($5), a mound of cake and cream covered in chocolate and topped with a sprig of mint, is so good we order it twice. Strawberries with creme fraiche and brown sugar ($5) arrive in a dish with separate compartments, to be assembled to your own specifications. Chocolate-chocolate chip cookie ($2) is so warm, so gooey, so perfectly chocolatey it makes us want to snuggle between the Egyptian linens upstairs.
KATHLEEN BURGE
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