L'Andana - Chic in the Suburbs

L’Andana is one of the nicest suburban restaurants I have been to in the Boston area from the family that brought us the wonderful in-town restaurants: Mistral, Teatro, Sorellina, and Mooo!  It’s located in Burlington, along Cambridge Street.  Once you walk inside, you feel like you have been transported from the suburbs to the chic.  The atmosphere is cool and sophisticated with high ceilings and comfortable dining chairs. 

A quick scan of the menu and I knew immediately, that I was going to order the Tuscan Country Supper – a three course prix fix for $38, available Sunday - Friday.  The chilled corn soup with lump crab garnish was delicious – silky and flavorful with bursts of salty fresh seafood from the crab, accenting the creamy corn soup perfectly.  If I was making this at home, I would have included a few whole kernels of corn to add some distinguished texture to the soup, but they did include a frozen avocado sorbetto, that was really interesting and set this dish apart from anything that I have had before.  For my entrée, I chose the Wood-Grilled Sirloin with watercress & mushroom salad and gorgonzola crema, prepared medium.  Unfortunately, it was charred to an extent that it ruined the meat and I had to cut it away.  Normally, I would have returned it, but I didn’t realize the mistake until I had eaten a third of the steak and moved the salad to the side to reveal the charred section.  And, the gorgonzola crema was not very flavorful.  It should have had more of a punch; however the dish was well seasoned and served piping hot – maybe too hot, and not allowed to rest adequately before coming out of the kitchen.  By barely edging out the chilled corn soup, the vanilla bean panna cotta stole the show for me, topped with crunchy almonds in an amazing salted caramel sauce.  At first I thought they were trying too hard to be trendy, but once you make it past the first super sweet bite, the rest of the flavors come together like a beautiful marriage – which was lovely, since my husband and I went to L’Andana to celebrate our wedding anniversary. 

The service was as it should be expected for a restaurant at this caliber; the bar area was very nice – inviting enough to consider going back for a cocktail and appetizer or cordial and panna cotta!  Total bill for two, 3-course prix fix dinners, two glasses of wine and one coffee before tip was $112.  Other great choices in the area are Masa (see blog posting) and Capital Grille, but I would definitely go back to L’Andana, especially for a very nice evening with good friends.