Chez Henri

Chez Henri Nominated for Boston Phoenix Annual Best Issue

chezhenri16 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:49:24 +0000

We’re really excited to announce that we’ve been nominated for Best French Restaurant for the 2012 Boston Phoenix Best Issue! Thanks so much to whoever threw our hat in the ring for this honor. We’re up against some tough competition, so if you’re rooting for us don’t forget to vote once a day! If we win this thing, there will definitely be a celebration.

Valentine’s Day 2012 at Chez Henri

chezhenri16 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:52:05 +0000

Valentine’s Day is just two weeks from today! Whether you’re looking for a romantic dinner for two, or a night out with the friends you love most, now is the time to reserve your table for our special four-course Valentine’s Day dinner.

Chez Henri Valentine’s Day Menu 2012
$75.00 for 4 courses

Potage aux Haricot Rouge; Cranberry bean soup with Burata cheese, Pistou and
Wintergreens

West Indies spiced Shrimp with warm okra-green banana salsa, Rum &
habanero glaze

Baked Oysters Rockefeller

Lobster Bisque with amontillado sherry, buttery pastry and lobster

Wild Boar Sausage, braised in red wine and grilled with a Manchego-potato
roesti and herb crème fraiche

Winter lettuce and endive salad with soft-boiled organic egg, mustard vinaigrette
and a warm raclette crouton

Chopped Romaine Salad with Smoked Chile-buttermilk Dressing

*****

Ricotta Cavatelli tossed with English peas, Meyer lemon and sweet roasted garlic

Risotto with Roasted red khuri squash, smoked pork belly and aged sheep’s milk
cheese

*****

Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Herb Spaetzle, Agro-Dolce Kumquat and winter
greens

Petite Filet mignon w/ Sauce Perigord, gratin potatoes and Grilled Asparagus

Flounder fillet served over saffron rice with a chorizo, clam and lobster fricassee

Trout Almondine w/ marcona almonds, Meyer lemon and shrimp buerre noisette

Grilled Pork Chop with Apple-Cheddar bread pudding, spicy Chantenay carrots
and Serrano ham-sage jus
*****
Dessert selection

P.S. Don’t forget – if you have a Gilt City or Groupon voucher, hang on to it for another night. Vouchers will not be accepted on Valentine’s Day (Tuesday, Feb. 14)

Chez Henri Hosts New Year’s Eve “Crystal Ball”

chezhenri16 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:42:29 +0000

Dust off those fancy pants (and make sure they have a little stretch in the waist) cause Chez Henri is having a New Year’s Eve party! Chef Paul just finished designing a special four-course menu you won’t want to miss, and we’re revealing it here first. After the best meal of 2011, feel free to park your full belly across from our special guest – a psychic from Readings by Catherine – for a free peek into what the new year holds for you. Finally, toast 2012 with the night’s signature cocktail, the Crystal Ball – a delicious pairing of bubbles and pears. Sound better than standing in a sweaty top-40 club sucking down a free ounce of flat Andre? We thought so!

Make your reservation now to make sure we save you a spot! Call 617-354-8980 or visit Open Table http://www.opentable.com/chez-henri

New Years Menu Chez Henri 2012

($85/pp for 4 courses)

Appetizers:

-Torchon of Foie Gras w/ spiced quince and Sauternes

-Red wine Braised garlic sausage w/ roesti potato herb crème fraiche

-Scallop Ceviche with avocado, lime and Ahi Amarillo

-Steak Tartare on Manchego toasts with chipotle aioli

-Lamb brochette with green olive tapenade

Buffett:

-Roast Loin of Veal with Herb Spaetzle , Smoked Paprika, Artichokes and porchini mushroom Sauce

-Grilled Venison with Juniper and Cranberry, Potato dumplings (gnocchi) and Apple-cabbage braise

-Butter Poached Maine Lobster and Cod Loin with Uni-champagne sauce, salsify and Fingerling potatoes

-Layered Chick pea flour crepe “Lasagna” with cardomon scented eggplant, herb goat cheese and Moroccan spiced vegetables with a smoked tomato coulis

-Trout Fillets stuffed with Maine Crab with a Champagne sauce , Winter vegetable garni…parsnip, carrot, squash beets all cut the same size in a light butter sauce. Trout fillets rolled around the stuffing.

Salads:

- Frisee and Watercress salad with endive, red wine poached egg and herb croutons

-Winter green salad with apple, spiced walnuts and blue cheese

-Butter Lettuce salad with Clementines, pickled pumpkin, candied pecans and ginger croutons

Dessert:

Baked Alaska

Passion fruit Mousse with Champagne jello….vanilla rum cake

Chocolate bombe

From the Bar: 4 Refreshing Holiday Gifts

chezhenri16 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:28:50 +0000

Want to gift a nice bottle of something, but the liquor store makes you feel as lost as a dude in a bra shop? Robby K to the rescue! Chez Henri’s Bar Manager extraordinaire has shared four favorite tipsy tidings of joy.

Sparkling Wine: Segura Viudas Cava, This sparkling wine from Northeast Spain is a crisp alternative to champagne for 1/3rd of the price. Made from Macabeo, Paralleda and Xarello grapes this dry bubbly pairs well with food and it’s slightly lower alcohol content treats your head as nicely as your wallet. ($9 ish)

Red Wine: Georges Dubouef, Morgon “Jean Descombes” 2009 Yes it’s beaujolais but it’s a world apart from the insipid beaujolais nouveau most folks associate with Dubouef. This 100% gamay from the Morgon appellation melds silky tannins with dark plummy fruit and is a perfect match for roast turkey. ($15 ish)

Rum: Angostura 1919 This smooth sipping rum from Trinidad and Tobego works perfectly in rum cocktails but is best appreciated on it’s own. With notes of caramel, citrus and white flowers, it’s worth swapping this for your end of the meal brandy. Pair it with bread pudding or a creme brulee and it goes to another level. ($30 ish)

Brandy: Clear Creek Distillers, Pear Brandy For those cold winter nights it’s hard to beat a bracing glass of brandy. Most of the best are French but this exquisite offering from Portland, Oregon rivals the best. Fresh Williams Pear, smells sweet but finishes clean and dry. Pairs well with a roaring fire or Masterpiece Mystery. ($40 ish – OR $80 ish for the “pear-in-the-bottle” version)

Happy Holidays–Robby K

Cooking For Chef Ferran Adria

chezhenri16 — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:38:20 +0000

Last Thursday Chef Paul was honored with an invitation to cook for a reception for Catalan (that’s in Spain, yo) Chef Ferran Adria at Harvard University. Chef Adria is considered to be one of the best chefs in the world.

Here’s what Paul served:

Glazed Quail Breast with Cranberry Agrodolce , Saffron and Clementine Quinoa pilaf
New England Clams with New Bedford Chourizo, West Indies Spices and Lime

Chef Paul O'Connell explains the Razor Clam preparation to Ferran Adria at Harvard last Thursday.

Paul and Chez Henri GM Beth Schunke plating the food.

Taste test!

From the Bar: Three Cocktails To Help You Survive Thanksgiving

chezhenri16 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:37:40 +0000

Whether you have a perfectly lovely family or the kind that makes strangers on the street chant “Jer-ry! Jer-ry!” it’s fair to say the holidays are stressful for almost everyone. Thank bejesus for whoever invented booze, right? We asked Chez Henri bar manager Rob Kraemer which cocktails he’d wash his own Turkey-flavored sorrows down with come Thursday evening, and he was kind enough to oblige with some tasty recipes. Here you have em, folks! Knock a few of these back and pass out in a chair until Black Friday. Then repeat.

Intercontinental

1.5 oz cognac

1 oz. Averna (Italian digestif)

.5 oz maraschino liqueur.

Add ingredients to shaker, fill with ice, stir, strain into a martini glass. garnish with lemon twist.

Penicillin Cocktail

2 oz blended Scotch

.75 oz fresh lemon juice

.75 oz ginger-honey syrup (Easy to DIY. Here’s a recipe from The Cocktail Chronicles blog)

.25 oz Islay Scotch

Combine everything except the Islay into a shaker, fill with ice, shake and strain into rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Float the Islay on top

Edmunds’ Lane

2 oz pear infused vodka

1 oz rosemary-simple syrup (Another easy DIY. Here’s a recipe from The Kitchn)

1.5 oz peach nectar.

Fill collins glass halfway with ice, Shake vodka, simple and nectar and strain over ice, top with soda, garnish with sprig of rosemary

Happy Thanksgiving from Chez Henri!

2011 National Sandwich Day Face-Off Results

chezhenri16 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:39:39 +0000

Face-Off runner-up and winner prizes (made by Heidi Kenney of MyPaperCrane.com)

WOW last night’s event with Roxy’s Grilled Cheese was awesome. A major thank you to everyone who came out and made our first ever National Sandwich Day battle such a party! Everyone walked in pumped to eat and it was fun hearing what voters thought as they dropped off their ballots. The final tally is in and we have a winner! Here’s a (kinda fuzzy) video of the awards ceremony:

Wanna see how your favorites did? Check out the results for every dish on the menu below.

___________________________

First Course

Chez’s Conch Fritters: 36

Roxy’s Fried Pickles: 34 votes

Chez’s Guava BBQ Pork Ribs: 30 votes

Roxy’s Poutine: 42 votes

66 Chez, 76 Roxy’s - ROXY’S WINS

___________________________

Second Course

Chez’s Traditional Pork Cuban: 50 votes

Roxy’s Short Rib, Fontina and Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese: 57 votes

Chez’s Grilled Vegetable Cuban: 10 votes

Roxy’s Mushroom Confit, Baby Swiss and Arugula Grilled Cheese: 24 votes

60 Chez, 81 Roxy’s – ROXY’S WINS

___________________________

Dessert

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese Cake: 35 votes

Chez’s Boca Negra with Spicy Peanut Brittle: 75 votes

75 Chez, 35 Roxy’s – CHEZ WINS

____________________________

How we chose a champion: Whoever won two out of the three courses took the prize. Roxy’s won the first and second courses, and Chez won dessert by a landslide. (Roxy’s ran out of dessert by the end of the night, so we stopped counting dessert votes once that happened. With only two courses left on the ballot, from then on we also only counted a vote if Chez or Roxy’s won both courses on a ballot. Just in case any of you math whiz types were counting!)

While Chez got more votes overall in the competition (201 to 192 baby!), Roxy’s took home the prize for winning more courses. We had a blast working with James and his crew, and we look forward to many years of being sandwich BFFs.

Congrats to Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese, 2011 National Sandwich Day Face-Off Champions!!!

Sarah of Chez Henri in the official #Foodfight uniform.

Behind the Scenes: Jennifer Glickman, Interior Designer

chezhenri16 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:01:27 +0000

Interior Designer Jennifer Glickman at work. (photo courtesy of Jennifer Glickman)

If you’ve been by Chez Henri in the last month or so, you probably noticed the interior got about 100x cooler. Our chic new look is thanks to an amazing up-and-coming design star named Jennifer Glickman, whose work you may have already admired if you’ve visited Isabelle’s CurlyCakes (the Beacon Hill bakery of celeb chef Todd English). We chatted with Jen about design, our new look, and even got a great tip on how to keep it chic at home.

What inspired you to become a designer?

I was born with this obsession for design that goes back as far as I can remember. When a was a kid I would spend all of my allowance on art supplies to repaint the furniture and walls…that got me into some trouble at times. I would even draw tree fort plans on the back of my school worksheets and make the neighborhood boys build them!

The bar at Chez Henri (photo by Gabriel Rizzo, goldenlionphotography.com)

What kind of feel/look were you going for with Chez Henri’s redesign? How’d you make it happen?

The concept for the Chez Henri reno was not to make it look like a brand new renovation had just occured, but to refresh the space and polish it while maintaining the original concept of a French Cuban bistro that the community has loved for 16 years. So while there were a lot of new elements installed (furniture, lighting, flooring, etc), I created a palette that they still supports the original concept of the restaurant and Paul O’Connell’s creative mind and menu. The result is a more polished space with a difinitive separation between the Dining Room’s finer dining menu and the more casual bar.

Where else can we see your work besides Chez?

Curlycakes on Beacon Hill, Veronique renovation in Brookline, and State Room downtown are a few. I also work with architecture firms to design interiors for various universities, libraries, theaters – very large scale projects and I design residences around Boston and New England.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by everything I see around me. I’m constantly analyzing, deconstructing, and reinterpreting elements all around me into inspirations for my projects…I know…it’s definitely NOT normal! I can’t walk into a space without touching the materials and surfaces or examining connections or details…seriously, I can’t help it! I do draw upon my time spent studying architecture and design in Italy and traveling Europe, especially being in New England and designing in a lot of historic buildings.

Your apartment must be amazing. How would you describe your personal style?

I like to mix styles according to each personality, such as beautiful antiques along mid century modern pieces. It’s so dull to fill your home, office, etc. with the furniture showroom floor from just one vendor but more of a challenge (and more of a design success) to be creative with style mixes.

Can you come over and design my house?

Yes! I actually specialize in restaurant and residential. I’m working on some beautiful residences right now that I can’t wait to install.

Whats the biggest mistake people make when doing their own design?

They don’t consider their space as a whole. It’s easy to find something that you like and install it but you need to think of the design and vocabulary of your entire space. For example, if you are just replacing a piece of furniture or even lighting, think of how it relates to everything else in the space. Don’t just buy it because you like the way it looks on the shelf or in the catalog on its own, but buy it because you like it AND it speaks to the rest of your design. Capish?

Visit GlickmanStudio.com for more info and to contact Jennifer.

Chez Henri Sweet 16 Party Pics

chezhenri16 — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:47:18 +0000

Chez Henri head honchos: GM Beth Schunke, Bar Manager Rob Kraemer and Chef/Owner Paul O'Connell

On Sunday, October 16, Chez Henri celebrated 16 years and our new renovation with a kick-ass Sweet 16 party. So many great people showed up – from Chefs (Jasper White of Summer Shack, Rembs Layman of Tupelo and Andy Husbands of Tremont 647 to name a few!) to media (Boston Globe, Metro, WBUR, UpTake, EDGE Publications, and more!) as well as our awesome friends, family and loyal patrons. Even Chez Henri’s namesake, Henry O’Connell (Chef Paul’s son) made an appearance. Check out the photos and see if you recognize anyone!

Chez Henri Sweet 16 Photo Album on Facebook

Sam Sweeney of Boston Metro

Chef Rembs Layman of Tupelo with wife Jen Deaderick and daughter Rosie

PHOTOS: Gabriel Rizzo of Golden Lion Photography.

Backdrop: ImageXpress Lights: RULE Boston Camera

National Sandwich Day Face-Off 11/3

chezhenri16 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:04:49 +0000

The Chez Henri Cuban faces off with Roxy's truck-drivin' grilled cheese! (cartoon by Jenn Fresen)

The finest food fight of fall is on for Thursday, November 3 as Chez Henri goes face-to-face (ooo – sandwich pun!) with Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese. The Food Network stars (video) are pulling their truck up to 1 Shepard Street and invading the Chez kitchen. Chef Paul “Pretty Boy” O’Connell and James “Handsome” DiSabatino have entered their all-star lineups and created a tasty three-course battle that pits two dishes against each other in each course. Diners will vote on their favorites, and a winner will be crowned Sandwich Champion at the end of the evening.

National Sandwich Day Face-Off Menu - $39 per person

first course (choice of):

Roxy’s fried pickles vs. Chez’s conch fritter

Roxy’s poutine vs. Chez’s guava bbq pork ribs

second course:

Chez’s traditional pork Cuban sandwich vs. Roxy’s short rib, fontina and caramelized onion grilled cheese

Chez’s grilled vegetable cuban sandwich vs. Roxy’s mushroom confit, baby swiss and arugula grilled cheese.

dessert:

Roxy’s grilled cheese cake vs. Chez’s boca negra with spicy peanut brittle

The battle commences at 5:30 p.m. Tables are going fast, so book ASAP if you want to rock the (sandwich) vote. Call 617-354-8980 or opentable.com.