Allston Yacht Club
Let’s get one thing straight: Allston Yacht Club is not in Allston, nor is it a yacht club. In true hipster fashion, the restaurant with the ironic name is in Echo Park, nowhere near a place where yachts can dock. The brainchild of two former entertainment types who hail from Allston, Mass., Charles Kelly and Bill DiDonna took over the old 15 space on Echo Park Avenue just above Sunset Boulevard and put together a menu of foods they like to eat.
Speaking of which, Kelly and DiDonna invited some food bloggers, including e*starla and nakedsushi, to try some of the food on the menu. Unfortunately for me (and nakedsushi), I attended a media dinner that happened to be on the same night as a private event that turned out to be much larger than the restaurant had anticipated. So my media table got kind of lost amid the chaos, i.e., we waited a LONG time in between courses.
Anyway, on to the food.
Allston specializes in small plates with no dish on the regular menu priced over $9. The restaurant attempts to make fancy food in a relatively casual setting with low prices (this is Echo Park, after all), and it sometimes hits the mark. Other times, it could use a trip back to the drawing board.
We started off with a bunch of starters, or “snacks,” as they’re called on the menu. My favorite was the arancini, deep fried risotto balls with mozzarella and served with tomatillo salsa. Both the texture and flavor were great, and while serving risotto with salsa may sound strange, it worked really well. Something that didn’t work as well was the frico, a parmesan cheese cracker that was supposed to be crisp but wasn’t. Also, the other people at my table liked the brandade made with whipped salt cod, potato, cream, olive oil and tomatoes, but I had arrived a little late and tried the dish cold, so I don’t think I got the effect the restaurant was going for.
Scorched shishito peppers, frico and arancini
Brandade
As for the main course, or “plates,” we were served tasting portions of the cedar-planked salmon, roasted brussels sprouts and BBQ duck confit. My favorite out of these three was the salmon, which had a great smokey flavor. I may have chosen the BBQ duck confit served with baked beans and cole slaw as my favorite if it hadn’t been served on toast because the sauces quickly soaked the bread and made it mushy. But the flavors were great, and the duck was nice and tender. The brussels sprouts (which are actually on the “sides” menu) could have used some help, though. The sprouts were overwhelmed by a vinegary taste.
Cedar-planked salmon, roasted brussels sprouts and BBQ duck confit
For dessert, we had a pairing of chocolate mousse and almandine. I preferred the mousse, which was nice and rich, over the almandine, which was too dry for my taste.
Almandine and chocolate mousse
And along the way, we had a few drinks. We started with a cocktail made from watermelon, strawberry, ginger ale and some kind of unidentified liquor (rum? vodka?) that I couldn’t taste at all. It was a refreshing drink nonetheless. We also had a couple of the restaurant’s pinot noirs, and both were pretty nice drinks.
There were some other dishes on the regular menu that I wish I had had a chance to try, including the pork ribs, the shrimp and feta gratin, the fried calamari, and the spicy curried cauliflower. If I’m ever in the area — perhaps before a Dodger game? — I may pop in to take advantage of the restaurant’s happy hour, which features a specially priced cocktail, discounted food, $5 wines and $4 beers, every night from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. And on Sundays and Wednesdays, the restaurant features a three-dish special all night for $16.
So even if you try something and it’s not entirely what you thought it would be, at least you didn’t spend too much on it. Hopefully the owners will figure it all out — this is their foray into the restaurant business, and they seem very passionate about it.
