Absinthe? Sure, why not. Dinner at Dali in Somerville

My husband's job has transferred his location over to the Cambridge/Somerville line. He's not happy about the commute. On Fridays when I have to work in Newton, I drive him to Cambridge early, head to my office, put in the requisite hours, and then drive back over to him where we have decided we will leave the car in his huge office parking lot, and walk around and find places to eat.

And drink.

Since I'm not spending a lot of time with Dave these days due to our schedule differences, I find that this blog will probably be a little more Shenanigans with Doug while we explore Cambridge and Somerville.

Our first foray into the foodie scene was a stop at Dali Restaurant and Tapas Bar. We ordered a pitcher of Cava sangria, and four tapas plates: 

• Espárragos Blancos  - White Asparagus w/Coriander Alioli & Langostino Sauce  The asparagus was kind of tasteless, limp and kind of gross to be honest. I had hoped they'd be a little crisper, a little stronger... but stabbing them with a fork was useless and slicing them in half width-wise just shredded them. The sauces were outstanding. Thank God for bread.  
• Faisán a la Alcántara -  Boneless Pheasant w/Mushrooms & Bacon
  This was outstanding. Delicious. Wonderful. The pheasant was perfect, the bacon was smoky, the sauce that resulted in the veg just melting down around it was something i would want to put all over my food for the rest of my life. I loved it.
• Lomito al Cabrales | Pork Tenderloin w/Blue Sheep Cheese & Mushroom
  By far, one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. I'm a total whore for sheep and goat cheese. The cheese on this dish was melted to lava-hot temperatures. The two pieces of pork tenderloin hiding underneath it were perfectly cooked. In fact, it was almost like it was raw before the cheese was put on top of it and it was heated to nuclear hot temperatures. Perfect little mushrooms beside, and I think if this was a main dish with a giant plate of it I'd order that every time.
• Albóndigas de Cordero | Lamb Meatballs w/Tomato-Mint Sauce The lamb meatballs were lovely. The tomato-mint sauce was nothing exciting. After the Pork Tenderloin and the pheasant, these were a bit disappointing. 

Our waitress was outstanding. She was beautiful and had this lilting and gorgeous accent. Half of what she was saying went straight past me because I was more fascinated with just hearing her speak than hearing what she was saying. She got a big tip from us because of her joyfulness, her kindness, and overall demeanor. I've been to a lot of restaurants where the waitstaff is just there to ask you what you want, bring you your stuff and eventually leave you your bill. Whatever. She pretty much made me feel like I was eating at her dining table in her home. I liked that. 

Doug and I were debating ordering more tapas or getting some skewers or something when we realized we were already running up quite a tab. I like tapas and all, but man it is expensive and you don't get a lot of food. 

He then suggested we finish up, but not before having a glass of absinthe. 

He had just watched a documentary on absinthe and wanted to give it a try. Sure. Why not? The waitress asked us if we'd ever had it before and we told her no... this is our first time. So she beamed at us, and went to get the goods. She came back with the glasses, the spoons, the water, the sugar cubes and set everything up for us. She lit the sugar cubes on fire and told us what to do (we knew what to do, but she was a very earnest teacher). Then with a wink she turned and went. 

The sugar melted and fizzled out, and we used our water to rinse it into the glass slowly. It felt like ritual, slow, patient. We dissolved all the sugar into the glass and took a sniff. 

The smell of melted good-n-plenty is pretty much what met my nose, licorice and anise. 

The first sip wasn't very extraordinary. Even with the sugar, very bitter to my tongue especially after enjoying the big gorgeous glasses of Cava sangria with dinner. We swished our glasses around, looked at it in the light. Before we melted the sugar in,  I didn't really see any green for the "green fairy." Perhaps just because of the low light in the room. Doug said his looked green to him... but after the sugar was melted in, it was pearlesque, creamy, no green to be seen by me at all.

I found that it wasn't that exciting, mysterious or taboo or anything for me, and that if I wanted an experience of licorice in a glass I could easily go with Ouzo instead. I enjoyed the ritual of it, the patience and the pouring. It was very fun to do with Doug and talk about it... but it isn't the sort of thing I would want to go about doing regularly. 

Perhaps I'm not cool, but I kind of get this feeling that people who are "into" this are into showing off how to do it, they have the kits and the accoutriments and they have friends over and say "oh, let me show you how to do this... you've never done it before? alright..." 

However, I found that it hit pretty hard (especially after the sangria) and I was feeling the weight of the ABV by the time we got back to the car. I could imagine having three of these would knock me on my big fat ass. So there's your draw. Write your poetry, paint your masterpiece... Dance with the green fairy. 

We'll most likely be back to Dali at some point. I would love to have something other than the tapas -- try their main dishes and their skewers. Not sure I'll do the absinthe again but for sure will do that sangria.