A night out with friends we haven’t seen for a long, long time led
us to Bender’s Tavern in Canton. In operation since 1902, Bender’s
refers to themselves as the city’s oldest and finest restaurant. It
is certainly old. The sign at the door still reads “Men’s
Restaurant” an indication as to how long it has been sitting here.
It’s pretty stately inside evidencing craftsmanship you don’t see
much anymore. When we sat, it was pretty sparse but as the place
filled up the din grew to a point which made conversation a shouting
to be heard affair. It appears La Haute Bourgeoisie dine at Bender’s
and the opera had just finished about half way through our meal. |
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Our server did a pretty fair job, she was a little kooky and the way the menu is set up makes her job difficult. She literally spent about five minutes at the table explaining the menu, not the food, the menu. Looking a bit like a recycling box, the regular menu has several different colored sheets of paper, each containing another menu. Some items are similar to those on other sheets of paper or the regular menu, some are completely different. It was all very confusing. We put in a call to Bletchley Park and were able to decipher the menu and order. The results were sort of a mixed bag.
There was a basket of simple rolls on the
table. Salads and soups started the adventure. The side salad looked
much more interesting than the bread and the wedge “salad” was a bit
of a surprise. The menu should read “wedge of lettuce” since all of
the normal accoutrement you would expect with a “salad” is ala
carte. Both were reportedly functional. The soups were better. |
Good Looking Side Salad |
Wedge of Lettuce + Egg |
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Good, Not Great Bisque |
Interesting & Tasty Turtle Soup |
Steph tried the lobster bisque, it couldn’t hope to measure up to the richness of the version from Mulligan’s but was pretty good nonetheless. I ordered the turtle soup. The menu says it’s a Benders classic for over 60 years but our server said it’s closer to 90 years. The soup itself was really nice. Widely varied flavors with a hint of spice, bits of amphibian, veggies, tomatoey broth, herbs and a shot of sherry to add as much sweetness as you desire to the party. Unique. Turtle soup won’t ever be my favorite but this is a well constructed version.
All of the seafood at Benders comes from the
Foley
Fish Market in Boston. Foley’s has been selling fish since
1906…seems a sensible pairing. Long story, shortened, we all ordered
seafood. Again the outcome was a mixed bag. From bottom to top. I
saw a flash cross our server’s face, when the crab cakes were
ordered. It wasn’t a positive one. The plate explained why. Thin
shreds of crab were kicked in the teeth by loads of filler and
overpowering spices. It might as well have been the rolls served
with a basmati rice, tomato scallion relish and Creole aioli. If it
weren’t for the spice it would have been hard to tell the
difference. |
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Terrible Crab Cakes |
Klunky But Tasty Tuna & Sides, 'Cept The Bland Rice |
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Great Dish, Quality Scallops, Just Not Done Consistently |
Crunchy & Greasy Bender Fries |
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Steph ordered the seared yellow fin tuna with scallion sticky rice, ginger pickled cucumbers and a chili plum glaze. The dish was good. If I had to criticize, there were two things I would change. The tuna was cut almost in a Goujon style rather than thinly which make the whole thing a little klunky and the rice was dull. The flavor, particularly of the cukes and the glaze were nice pairings.
Our server made a fuss about the chef having won a competition in
New Orleans over the Superbowl weekend. Georges Banks Sea Scallops
served with a soft polenta, flash fried zucchini threads and a sun
dried tomato beurre blanc, referred to by the front of the house as
the Super Bowl Scallops. We have an unwritten rule about scallops.
Don’t order them out, we all do them better at home, so I decided to
see what version of them wins competitions. Again, the scallops were
done inconsistently, some entirely overdone and some on the mark.
The tartness of the tomatoes added a blast of flavor to the butter
sauce and the polenta was beautiful, soft, creamy, corny, smooth.
Had the scallops been more consistent, the dish would have been
stellar, it was good. Almost forgot, as as side I tried the Bender
Fries which were thin slices of tater seared to a crunchy brown in
cast iron. They were fine but seriously greasy, nice crunch though. |
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The last dish was an Eastern baby halibut. It is offered broiled or ala Foley (I’m guessing after the market but can only find mention of it at Benders) and I didn’t really expect either to really cause much of a blip on the radar. It was ordered ala Foley which is mainly a Ritz cracker crust. Certainly, nothing extraordinary about that. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Spectacularly fresh fish, tasty and complimentary crust, sublime preparation and this was easily the best thing on the table. Moist and flaky, no “fishiness” at all, a baker, little butter and lemon wedge and you have why people enjoy fish. Some connections between purveyors and restaurants are a lot of hype but Bender's & Foley's match REALLY pays off here.
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Moist And Functional |
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Good Brule |
Nutty Sundae, If You Can Get At It |
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To
finish we ordered a couple of the small Bender’s famous chocolate
peanut butter sundaes and a crème brule. The crème brule was just
right and the sundaes weren’t bad either. Why they serve them in
these little cups which make them nearly impossible to eat, I’m not
sure, fashion over form I guess. The topping is much more peanut
butter than chocolate or whatever the other secret ingredient might
be but it was a nice less liquidy digestif. For those who have found
their thing at Bender’s likely love the place, it might take a few
trips to find that thing amongst the sheaf of menus and some of the
misses on the menu. Once you find it though, it might be hard to try
other things…like maybe the halibut.
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Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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B | B | B+ | A | F | B | ||
Fresh Fish | Ruining Crab |