restaurant review #1: bootleg special
here we go.
an introduction
welcome to my first ever restaurant review on simmer with sally! today, the spotlight’s on bootleg special, in honor of dine out boston. dine out boston (formerly known as restaurant week) is a biannual event where participating restaurants offer prixe fixe lunch and dinner menus. it’s a wonderful way to either go to your fave, bougie restaurant on a deal — or to try something completely new and exciting.
before we dive in, here’s the quick and dirty on my restaurant review format:
a quick, 5-sentence review that quickly summarizes my overall experience followed with a numerical rating out of 5 followed by…
a juicier, detailed review that will cover a combination of the following:
the food (duh)
drinks (a focus on mocktails / non-alc drinks, since ya girl is v sensitive to alc.. a story for another day. if i have anyone joining me that enjoys a bev, i’ll ask them for a quick review to include.)
service
~vibes~
price point
location and accessibility
food sensitivity / allergen availability
reservation accessibility
a big personal goal you should know i have with these reviews is to keep my reviews diverse in terms of all of the things listed above, and something i hope you see as i continue to write. to start, i’ll be pulling from restaurants that i’ve been to in the last 6 months - one year. as things get going, my reviews will be more up-to-date with when i last dined there.
cool? cool.
the tl;dr 5 sentence review
bootleg special is a new orleans-inspired cajun/latin/asian fusion restaurant in the south end of boston, massachusetts. the aesthetic is immaculate, the service is wonderful, and the value* is banging. but, there’s a few critical weak points that left me wanting more, and should be addressed if bootleg special wants to reach its full potential. overall, it’s a decent spot if you want an elevated and immersive cajun fusion/seafood boil experience. i’d come back to try their regular service menu, but by no means is it a priority.
rating before appetizer gate: 3.8/5
rating after appetizer gate: 1/5
*value of the dine out boston menu
the hot and juicy deets
my 5 sentence review left you interested in wanting to hear more, huh? weak points? appetizer gate?
well, let’s dive right in.
the reservation.
reservations were easy to make online, with plenty of open availability. i have a feeling they were easier to make because we went on a random wednesday, but i also didn’t check and see what the availability of tables were like on other dates.
the location, getting there, and accessibility.
leave it up to me to find a fun new restaurant to try with my friends aaliyah and mallory on a day where both the weather and the t (the hellish boston area public transpo for those who have the privilege of not knowing) suck absolute donkey hole. but even if the weather was all sunshine and rainbows and the t was running smoothly, i would still find the location and its accessibility a bit problematic.
bootleg special is located in the weird-ass, no man’s land part of the south end. in my opinion, the best way to get there is to live on one of the two less major mbta bus routes (43 and 9) that stops right out front. the orange line (tufts medical center) and the green line (arlington or boylston, depending on if you’re coming from in or out of the city) are nearby, but just far enough for it to be inconvenient, even on a good day. if you do decide to walk, the south end is full of brick streets that may or may not be easy to walk on, and connecting bridges often have crumbling sidewalks that prove to be a hazard. and driving and parking? in the SOUTH END? good fucking luck.
for an able-bodied person like myself, the location and getting here was a little bothersome. but it would likely be difficult, even potentially financially demanding (if they end up taking a ride share, or use up precious gas to drive then park) for someone who uses mobility aids or has some difficulty walking.
the building itself is also slightly hard to catch right away if you’re not fully paying attention, or don’t see the small little sign on the corner of the building.
the vibes.
once you step inside, you step into a fully different world.
yeah. sploosh.
mallory went on a trip to new orleans recently, and i had been in new orleans for a work conference about a year ago. both of us agreed the music, vibes, and decor inside bootleg special transported us right back to the french quarter in the big easy. i personally feel like some restaurants in boston don’t lean in enough to a theme and/or vibe - but that certainly wasn’t a problem here. in every lull of our conversation, mallory, aaliyah, and i couldn’t stop staring at the space around us. the photo above doesn’t do the space justice.
it wasn’t busy, and quite a few tables were open. as we were wrapping up dinner, however, we saw several parties come in (~8pm).
the one part of bootleg special that could use some ~immaculate vibes repair~ are the bathrooms, at least the one i was in. bootleg special has 3 individual bathrooms that all (at least externally) seem to be themed differently. i didn’t go into the other two bathrooms, but the one bathroom i did go into left a little more to be desired, especially given how beautiful and pristine the main dining area is. the (bright pink) paint around the interior door handle was severely chipped, and there were questionable scuffs/stains around the bottom half of the wall that i would’ve preferred to have not seen.
the drinks.
aaliyah, mallory, and i ordered alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. bootleg special does seem to have a standard alcohol list, 3 different mocktails on the menu (priced at $10), along with other non-alc options. i ordered a non-alc shirley temple, aaliyah ordered a hard cider from carlson orchards, and mal ordered the banana sazerac from the dine out boston menu.
my shirley temple was standard: grenadine, sprite, and maraschino cherries. nothing super mindblowing, but the balance of the grenadine and sprite was good. aaliyah really enjoyed her cider, and mallory was sipping on her banana sazerac all night because while very good, “shit is pure alcohol” (mallory’s words, not mine.)
the food, price point, and value.
finally, the moment y’all have been waiting for!
overall, i thought the value of the dinner we shared was great - huge shoutout to dine out boston. $55/pp for an app, seafood boil entree, and dessert? say less. sign me the fuck up. even their full service menu seemed to be reasonably priced, though i didn’t get a photo/i can’t remember what the pricing of the regular service seafood boil was (full menu is here online if you wanted to check). portions overall seemed reasonable for the price as well - big plus.
the menu itself is mostly focused on seafood and meats. there’s smatterings of gluten free and vegetarian options on the menu but nothing that would fully satisfy someone fiending for eats. those who are vegan or have multiple food sensitivities or allergies may also want to stay away (unless you’re ok with modifying orders).
now let’s get into what the table ordered.
me: rising sun raw oysters, shrimp and mussels seafood boil with signature bootlegger sauce, bananas foster beignets.
mallory/aaliyah: rising sun raw oysters, shrimp and mussels seafood boil with garlic butter sauce, plain beignets.
the oysters.
if you’ve made it this far, there’s still probably one question left on your mind. what the hell is appetizer gate?
i find the name of these oysters to be icky af. yes, i can understand these are titled the rising sun raw oysters because of the raw quail egg served with each oyster. to many people, this just might be a great description for what you literally see in the food. to me though, “the rising sun” means something else entirely. you can read more about what comes to my mind here.
honestly, i didn’t think much of the name until i started to really reflect on my time at bootleg special. but once i made the connection, i couldn’t stop thinking about it and i needed to know who owned bootleg special. a quick google search reveals the owners to be chris young and stephen chan, two asian american men. my heart sank further, because i would expect someone with roots to hong kong and someone who lived in china for several years to know exactly what the implications of using “the rising sun” would be, and the harm it might perpetrate. to be frank, i don’t know if this sounds too preachy, or keyboard warrior of me. but what i DO know is they can sidestep this issue altogether by figuring out a catchier name for their raw oysters, and would strongly suggest they do so. making the connection has changed my perception of the restaurant for the time being, hence the edited rating.
outside of the name fiasco, the look of the dish was great, but overall taste was also a little ick. one thing you should know about me, mallory, and aaliyah is that we’re oyster hoes. like, slam 72 dollar oysters in a sitting together oyster hoes. wait for neptune oysters to open at 11am on a sunday so we can be the first ones in oyster hoes. we agreed that we couldn’t taste the oysters at all because they were too damn salty from being flooded with citrus soy sauce and tobiko. i’m also not sure how much the raw quail egg added to the taste profile. boo, hiss indeed.
the seafood boil.
like the oysters, the seafood boil hits all of the marks aesthetically. cajun seafood boils were a part of my childhood growing up in the bay area and has continued to make its mark on my life throughout college and beyond. at each and every joint i’ve been to, the boil was served in a big ass plastic bag, with plastic gloves 5 sizes too big, and a bib. so, you can imagine my surprise when this boil came out in a beautiful bowl with gloves that were much closer in size to my baby hands.
first, two wins for the entree worth nothing. everything (seafood, potatoes, corn, sausages) was cooked pretty spot on, and they offered complimentary bread! it was really nice eating a solid sourdough with the seafood or to have a nice vehicle for the boil sauce.
unfortunately, thematic issues with flavor also made its way into the boil. bootleg special’s seafood boil, like other spots, come with an option of various sauces to mix the seafood and accoutrements in. i chose the signature bootleg sauce, which was supposed to be a mixture of garlic, butter, lemon, and cajun spice. but upon trying the actual sauce, the cajun spice really was the primary taste and flavor with butter as a distant second. the lemon and garlic literally got lost in the sauce, which is extra sucky because i did see some minced garlic in the sauce as i was eating - pointing back to the disproportionate amount of cajun spice present. aaliyah and mallory also ran into similar problems with the garlic butter sauce. it’s a pretty big problem if the garlic butter sauce doesn’t taste like garlic butter. i tried a bit of their sauce with bread — the herbs and seasoning overpowered anything that could be present. garlic never stood a chance in either sauce.
two other constructive comments for bootleg special to consider that i think would make the seafood boil experience better: putting the scraps bucket on the table vs having it off to the side where it may be hard for people to reach/have people trip over the bucket stand, and offering bibs for diners. mallory’s shirt was an unfortunate casualty.
the beignets.
we wrapped up our dine out boston experience with their beignets. my track record with beignets have been spotty at best (i’ve only had them at new orleans square in disneyland and café du monde in new orleans, both solidly mid experiences), so i was excited to give things a shot here. we ordered both the bananas foster and og beignets.
overall, the beignets were fine. to be honest, i feel like it’s hard to fuck up fried dough with mountains of powdered sugar. i will say they were DEFFO better than café du monde (if you’re a fan, i’m sorry… but respectfully, get your taste buds checked). these were way less dense and fluffier than the ones i’ve had in the past, but still not as light as i would have probably preferred. the hazelnuts added a nice little bit of crunch and nuttiness. but the chocolate ice cream was probably what i enjoyed the most on the plate, which is a problem if the star attraction is supposed to be something else.
the biggest problem i had with my beignets was the bananas foster sauce that came along with it. it looked real cute coming in its own sauce jug, but again, flavor fell short. the primary flavors of banana and caramel were duking it out with the caramel edging out. this might be a personal preference, but if you’re giving me a caramelized banana sauce, banana should reign supreme. other flavor profiles typically in a traditional bananas foster like cinnamon and rum were completely awol. aside from flavor, i also had problems with sauce consistency. i was looking for a sauce that could easily drizzle, but it was a little too thick and goopy. i ended up having to use my spoon, which wouldn’t have been the end of the world if it hadn’t been for the other issues i had all night with things falling short.
the service.
ending this feedback sandwich of a review, bootleg special staff provided great service throughout our entire dining experience. our server was as timely, attentive, kind, and engaging - a highlight in my book. bonus points to our server for bringing us hot towels (with a refreshingly light mint scent) in between our entree and dessert.
a conclusion
sooooooo… yeah. what a way to kick things off, to say the least! as mentioned in my 5 sentence review (and what i hope you gained from the deets) is that this place certainly has the potential to be so much better. i hope that they take the time to tweak and change some things to get there. i would be interested at some point to check out other menu items, but don’t feel pressed to make another res asap because of the things mentioned above.
let me know what you think in the comments. what are your thoughts on appetizer gate? have i convinced you to check out bootleg special, or is it marked off your list? what restaurants or cuisines would you want to see a review of next?
i hope you enjoyed reading through my first ever review. next review will drop next week! if you liked what you read, please consider sharing this review with someone you think would enjoy it.
chat soon~
love, sally
i’m happy i was apart of the first review!! great work as always sally 🫶🏾
Love love love the thorough review!