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What We Ate at Woodward in the Ames Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1 Court Street [map], Boston, MA, United States, 02108
November 24, 2009 at 10:41 AM | by | Comments (0)

When we checked into the Ames Hotel last week, one of the things we were most looking forward to was the food. The lobster sandwich we ordered from the room service menu (almost identical to the menu in the restaurant) was generous and tasty, served with thin, salty fries, just the way we like them. (Although, as we mentioned yesterday, our beer arrived 20 minutes after the food.)

Breakfast
Woodward was fairly quiet at 9 a.m. on Saturday, so we snagged a prime spot in one of the chesterfield booths along the front window. Aside from the booths, there was a mix of small tables with white Windsor chairs, and bar-height tables with stools. The dark colors of the bar and booths was offset by the brightly lit curio-cabinets that wrap around the staircase up to the restaurant’s second level. (Upstairs there’s more tables, another bar, a fireplace and a private dining room.)

As we debated which variety of hash to order for breakfast (Mushroom and truffle? Chorizo and roasted pepper?) our waiter came by. “Coffee?” Indeed! We’d love a cappuccino. “Oh, we’re out of espresso,” was the answer. WTF? There is a whole page of the menu devoted to coffee and they were out of espresso on a Saturday morning? Sigh. We fought the urge to flee in search of a Starbucks, and grudgingly accepted the regular coffee. Then we ordered the Lobster and leek hash with a fried egg on top ($15).

The restaurant started to fill with more sleepy guests as we waited for our plate, although many of them seemed to be Morgans Hotel Group staffers recounting the restaurant’s opening-night success. Luckily, the lobster hash was oily and delicious, and we forgot about the lack of espresso.

Lunch
Again, we went for seafood, sampling the clam chowder with its little chunks of bacon (not too overpowering), and the shrimp salad with green beans and feta (very fresh and Mediterranean). We also tried a bite of our friend’s burger, which was really two 5 oz. burgers on a plate with more of those salty fries. The burger itself was good, but what really made it was the smoked tomato jam, house-cured pickles and shaved onion. Like many of the items on the Woodward menu, it’s a perfect dish to share.

While we were tempted to wash everything down with an Ames Addiction from the cocktail menu (Ron Zacapa 23-year-old rum and Domaine de Canton Ginger with sweet vermouth and bitters), the $14 price tag wasn’t quite as appetizing as a $6 glass of the restaurant’s own Woodward ale. Brewed by New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing Co., it was nice and crisp, falling somewhere between a light beer and a heavier ale. Perfect, in other words, for a lunch perched at one of those bar-height tables. Cheers!

Woodward serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as a “midday” menu from 3–5 p.m. and a late-night menu after 12 a.m.

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