Bar Lyon and Bach on Friday
Dan and I started out our weekend visiting a new French restaurant from the Columbus Hospitality Group, followed by a classical music concert at Boston Symphony Hall to see the Handel + Haydn Society perform Bach Concertos and Cantatas. As the final weekend in September, we planned to spend much of it outside and I didn’t mind being inside Friday night as the weather was quite cool.
We started out evening having dinner at Bar Lyon in the South End. Open for two weeks, we were impressed with the food and service at Bar Lyon, and I fully expect it to cultivate a strong neighborhood following. Based on our observations, it looked like several of the people walking in Friday night had already been there for another meal in the two weeks since the restaurant was open. Bar Lyon doesn’t take reservations so Dan and I arrived at 5:15pm to be sure we weren’t rushed thru dinner while trying to make a 7:30pm show. The bar was busy when we arrived and we ended up being the first table seated, which allowed us to have the cozy corner spot near the door. This vantage point gave us a great view of who was coming and going in the restaurant and the lively crowd at the bar.
I started off with a glass of NV Chateau de Bligny “Grand Reserve” Brut champagne made with a pinot noir grape. This was a good glass of champagne, and I appreciated that it didn’t have a cloying aftertaste that some sparking wines give you. Dan had a New Orleans inspired cocktail that he enjoyed.
For food, we started with the Foie of chicken liver parfait, red onion marmalade, and country toasts. Oftentimes, chicken liver mousse and I don’t mix well because of its whipped texture. However, I’ve found that I enjoy it more if I eat it on a lightly toasted piece of bread or a cracker versus having it on a soft piece of French baguette. The bread served with the mousse was perfectly toasted that greatly increased my enjoyment of this dish. I also liked the marmalade served with the mousse.
Next, we shared the Escargots made with New York Peconic farm snails, wild mushrooms, parsley, and garlic veloute. I’ve never had sails served mixed with mushrooms, and I can see this being a great dish for someone to eat the first time they try escargots if they are at all hesitate to eat snails, as the snails are almost indistinguishable from the mushrooms in terms of texture. the galic veloute broth was so good paired with the richness of the snails and mushrooms. We also shared the Salade Lyonnaise with chicory, frisee, smoked bacon, croutons, shallot-Dijon vinaigrette, soft egg, and crispy potato. Dan loves a good Lyonnaise salad, and I think this is the first time I’ve had it. I liked it, and mixing in the soft egg with the other salad ingredients was excellent. I also really liked the dressing — probably because it had Dijon mustard in it.
For our entree, we shared the Moules made with steamed mussels, spicy curry a l’Indienne, and naan, with a side of garlic and herb fries. I loved the curry sauce served with the mussels. It was the perfect mix of richness and spiciness that contrasted perfectly with the mussels. Dan is a sucker for a good curry and he was tempted to drink the broth when we finished the mussels — it was that good. It was an inspired choice to serve mussels made with Indian flavors in a French restaurant, and it worked perfectly. The naan made the perfect dipping bread and the mussels were perfectly cooked. The well-seasoned fries were very good and made an excellent complimented to the mussels.
We ended our meal with an apple tart. I’m not sure what the ingredients were, and while I was expecting a more traditional tart, this was very good. It had the perfect amount of sweetness and went well with my chamomile tea.
Overall, we had an excellent meal at Bar Lyon. The atmosphere was cozy, the staff very good, and the food was outstanding. We will most certainly be coming back and I can’t wait to introduce friends to it.
Following dinner, we walked down Mass Ave. to Boston Symphony Hall to watch the Handel + Haydn Society perform Bach masterpieces. I was familiar with the Brandenburg Concerto №3 in G Major and Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, but the three cantatas were new to me: Christmas Oratorio (sung entirely in German), Siehe zu, dab deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei (also sung entirely in German), and Mass in G Major (sung entirely in Latin). I wasn’t as enamored with the Cantatas, as I prefer instrumental classical music versus sung classic music, but the vocal soloists were outstanding. The Brandenburg Concerto and Concerto for Two Violins were excellent, and I always think of the movie Music from the Heart starring Meryl Streep when I hear the Concerto for Two Violins.
Overall, we had a great start to our weekend eating at a new French restaurant and attending a concert. It was the perfect way to kick off a busy weekend running around the City, and I look forward to eating at Bar Lyon again and attending two more Handel + Haydn Society shows in the upcoming year.
(Friday, September 28, 2018 / @julieschultz79 / #mycrazylifeblog)
