Scutra- 92 Summer Street Arlington, MA

Heading out to dinner during the week rarely happens for this girl. I like to cook during the week, but when we do decide to go out its a special treat. Jake made a reservation at a restaurant he had been eyeing for awhile- Scutra in Arlington, MA.

This restaurant is kind of in an awkward spot. A couple streets off of the busy Mass Ave, its located in a plaza of small businesses with limited parking. It looks deceivingly small from the outside, but has about 3 rooms that could seat up to 60 diners.

We were quickly seated and brought out your standard bread and oil. No bread and oil combination is bad, so we were satisfied with this pre-app. The menu is one page, split between starters and entrees. All of the choices are pretty interesting and complex, and a bit intimidating.

Then our waitress told us about the dinner specials. They had an app and entree special for $19.95. I know I have gone on rants about dinner specials before, but I realized another thing that bothers me. Most of the time the waiter is reading you the special from their notebook, or if they are really cool, reciting it from memory. It doesn't really give you much time to ponder over the ingredients, and decide if you like every component to the meal. Instead, you are sort of put on the spot to decide, or if you are bold asking them to repeat the special several times while you comprehend. Because we were trying a new place, we really wanted to try an app and entree, and because we are CHEAP, we decided to go with one of the specials. Jake went with the Strudel filled with spinach, salmon and feta, served with a lobster cream sauce and the Flat Iron Steak with Cranberry Ju (sauce). I chose the phyllo dough wrapped lamb chop over purple potatoes (which I had never heard of before) and the Butternut Squash Primavera.

We had to wait awhile to get our apps, which was a little off-putting. I'm not one to get worked up over waiting too long, but it was a little annoying. After we finally got our apps, we were pleasantly surprised. They were super flavorful, unique and rich. The strudel with salmon and spinach was a great mix in texture and I could eat the lobster cream sauce by itself for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The lamb was a little hard to cut into, but still flavorful, and the purple potatoes were a fun change.

 

 

 Soon after we finished our apps, our meals came. Now back to verbally receiving menu items from your server. I never heard her say "primavera" so I was surprised to see ravioli in a lemon caper broth full of veggies. I love veggies just as much as the next person, but when I think primavera, I think more of a summer dish, which is what I wasn't in the mood for. The ravioli were pretty disappointing. They were served a little more than al dente, very hard, chewy and much different than the soft and tendor ravs I was expecting. And they were less than half filled with a bitter squash that wasn't too appealing. Needless to say I wasn't thrilled. BUT lucky for me, there were two entrees at the table :)

The Flat Iron Steak served with spinach, homemade potato chips and a cranberry ju was unbelievable. The steak was medium rare, and cut like butter. It was super flavorful and delicious when dipped in the sauce.

Overall, I would say this place is a bit confused. The atmosphere is a weird combination of "hip" and "old school", the servers were really friendly and attentive (except for the long wait for our apps). The butternut squash ravs really through me for a loop and left me with a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended). If I go back, I would definitely get the steak, it was the highlight of my meal and I was only allowed to steal a few bites!