Upstairs on the Square RW lunch

[yumyum]

I intended to skip RW altogether this year, but as always I got lured in by a friend who is still excited by the concept and not jaded as I tend to be. Setting my expectations very low for Upstairs on the Square I was pleasantly surprised by how well they executed.

I had strachiatella (a cousin of buratta) to start -- a lovely little blob served with roasted fennel and fennel pollen and very good olive oil. She had the pea pod and shoot salad that was gorgeous -- freshy fresh with an unexpected bit of oregano that caused her to declare in serious tones "I don't give oregano enough credit". (I love those little exchanges between food people. Civilians would think we are nuts.) We both had Jerusalem artichoke ravioli for mains and they were AMAZING. Served with swiss chard, shiitake's, edamame and a miso butter sauce -- we both wanted to lick the plate. Meyer lemon cheesecake for dessert (I boxed mine up and gave to the intern) was declared delicious by my friend.

Service was fantastic, sitting outside on the patio was a bonus. Really a nice treat. I'll post pictures asap. Like Bergamot, I'm not surprised the gang at Upstairs actually care to do a good job with RW.

[Dea]

Thanks for this report, yumyum. I used to love to get out of the office for a ladies who lunch type of lunch at Upstairs once in a while, but stopped going when both service and food quality declined - haven't been in a long time. This review makes me want to give them another shot.