I ate there with a friend on Friday and was generally very impressed. Wine and food pairings are their strength. For each item on their menu they suggest a wine pairing, giving three options. You can order either a six ounce glass or a two ounce glass. The latter is intended to encourage multiple tastings.

I would describe the menu as French influenced but New England centric in terms of ingredients. Everything was creatively and expertly prepared and the highest quality.

We ordered the following:

Starters
Pea soup
Poached lobster

Main
Asian-inspired Scallops
Veal tenderloin

The suggested wine selection for the pea soup, which was really a far more complex dish than the name suggests, was either CdP blanc, a white rioja (?!) or some french wine I did not know. For the lobster, it was a range of chardonnays. For the scallops it was a range of Rieslings. For the veal it was a range of merlots.

I was not taking notes so I only remember that we tried a 1999 CdP blanc from Rayas, a flight of 2002 Dr. Loosen Edner Treppchens (Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese) with the scallop, a South African chardonnay that had no oak but significant malo with the lobster, and a California merlot with the veal that was too young and the only poor pairing of the evening.

In addition to the pairing they have an extensive wine list by the bottle. Bordeaux and Napa were well represented, as was (surprisingly) Germany. For dessert we had a half bottle of 1990 Burklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Gerümpel Beerenauslese that was excellent. Its petrol-laced fruit notes went well with the fruit-centric desserts we ordered.

The decor was appealing and unassuming. The restaurant is on two floors with a nice view of Boston Common from the second. High ceilings make the space grander than it otherwise would be. The atmosphere tends toward the formal, but was not at all stuffy. Service was very good but not quite world class.

Prices were high (the bill came to $150 a person, mainly on account of the beerenauslese) but worth it for what we received.