Winston's Theory: A huge part of college life, aside from the education, is having your parents come to visit.
But we Boston kids have the short end of the stick on that one. A 20-minute drive isn't the same as a four-hour flight - no hotel stays, no home baked goodies and most importantly, no parents taking you and your friends out to dinner.
After a year, I'd had enough. After conferring with Charlotte, I decided that our column was a perfect excuse for dinner with the 'rents.
What more appropriate site for a family reunion than a restaurant called Sibling Rivalry? The general premise is that the two executive chefs, David and Bob Kinkead, are brothers who offer competing menus, "dueling" interpretations of various theme ingredients. You can mix and match your order off of either brother's menu, or you can be a purist and stick to just one.
Charlotte's Version: The outing quickly eased into a casual group dynamic; Mr. and Mrs. Berkman were absolutely friendly and enjoyable throughout (with of course no bearing on the fact that together with my parents, they probably make up the greater portion of our readership). No barrage of questions about my career aspirations to be found, we did somehow cover everything from cooking with rum to the horrific practice of female genital mutilation. Honestly though, I'm not sure what Winston was preparing himself for.
Winston's Version: I worry when I bring friends home to my family; the potential for awkwardness is just too real. But this night was different. Tucked into a corner booth, the four of us found things to talk about for the full two and a half hours. The evening was so fun that the food seemed like an afterthought.
That said, the food was still incredible. We all agreed up front to share, which made picking off the two menus less stressful, but an exercise nonetheless. I started with Bob's squab breast, foie gras and shallot vinaigrette salad, which definitely did justice to its impressive list of ingredients.
For my main meal, I sided with Chef Bob again for his mushroom-themed entrée: roasted haddock with a four-mushroom sauce. I've only recently warmed up to fungi, and I usually don't settle for fish when I eat out, but this combo was well worth it. The size was just right and the fish was crisply roasted on the outside while still moist on the inside; the whole thing was drizzled with the mushroom reduction, which had sizable chunks of chanterelles and porcinis.
Charlotte's Version: I twice took Chef David's side, starting with steamed Duxbury mussels and crab ravioli, in a savory mild yellow curry sauce. While I'm not fond of ham, I opted for David's entrée use of "Artisanal Ham." Fortunately, the grilled prosciutto-wrapped apricot was the only ham-like item on my plate of crispy pressed half duck with port sauce. Not too heavy or rich, the duck was especially well prepared, though it was easily outdone by the exquisite apricot.
We shared two self-explanatory desserts: a banana-chocolate peanut dome dessert garnished with caramelized banana slices, and a trio of apple-bread pudding, butterscotch pudding and blood-orange cr??me br?»lée.
For three years now, this swanky South End spot has called Tremont Street home. While it is certainly a check you'll want your parents to take, it also serves up as innovative a play with the ingredients as one would expect.
Winston Berkman is a sophomore majoring in international relations; Charlotte Bourdillon is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. They can be reached at Winston.Berkman@tufts.edu and Charlotte.Bourdillon@tufts.edu, respectively.
