Rabbit has a strong aversion to the suburbs. All that monoculture gets me down. You have to drive everywhere. And everything seems too big. Plus, there are too many chain restaurants, and they are often filled with badly-behaving children. But Mr. Rab had some business in Natick, and I got conned into tagging along because he agreed to go shoe shopping at the sparkling new Natick Mall (note that Rabbit is ordinarily anti-mall too, but the promise of new shoes made me weak). Sooo, we found ourselves looking for dinner in the ‘burbs last night. We ended up at the Rat Pack on Route 9, and had a really pleasant meal.

The sausage, kale and cabbage soup from the fall menu is fantastic. The broth is light and flavourful, and the sausage and parmesan toasts are used almost as a garnish - and I mean to express that the chef demonstrates a deft and restrained treatment of ingredients, clearly refusing to fall into that disastrous bigger-is-better trap that I think is one of the hallmarks of suburban gross-ness. We both loved this dish.

My shrimp cocktail (I’m eating light because we’ve been out a lot lately), shamed the shrimp I had at B&G last night in terms of their meatiness and flavour (quite frankly, B&G’s shrimp last night sucked).

Mr. Rabbit had the potato gnocchi and braised beef stew, again from the fall menu. And again, a potentially too-heavy dish that got it right. Sauce was a beautiful dark red-brown and the potato dumplings were quite good (not as soft and perfect as some, but a very passable rendition). I didn’t get to try any of the meat, but Mr. Rabbit said it was very good. And he finished his plate.

Details… good cocktails, attention to the wine list (they have wine dinners from time to time), nice warm rolls with antipasti, olives and oil, very friendly and attentive service, comfy-cozy banquets, live piano entertainment (which might sound cheesy, but it was kinda fun), obvious attention to using seasonal ingredients, and switching up the menu to reflect the same… and a place with atmosphere and character among a row of boring chains.

Meal was $88 (after tax, before tip) for two soups, shrimp cocktail, one main, one sidecar (Rab’s favourite cocktail!), and a glass of wine.

It’s a good find… and given that Mr. Rab will occasionally be on site in the ‘burbs through the end of the year, I’m actually looking forward to finding ourselves back at the Rat Pack sometime soon.

www.ratpackcafe.com

Posted on November 8th, 2007 by rabbit
Filed under: Boston, New England, Restaurant Reviews