The Boarding House Attracts Lodgers For Good Reason

By Melissa Wiley in Food on Jan 10, 2013 8:00PM

Historically, boarding houses signaled collective plenty, and Alpana’s Singh’s sumptuous new residence sportively keeps this tradition alive. Central to the landlord-tenant transaction of yore, boarders infused bonhomie into the common areas they enjoyed as surrogate family, drinking and dining at leisure, and you’ll do no differently here. So call the boarding house a working class bed and breakfast. Call it yet one more Victorian anachronism. Even better, call it one of our favorite new places to nosh, because the Boarding House’s pantry alone has made a tried and true lodger of us, and there’s room for plenty more.

You can sate your hunger for Chef Christian Gosselin’s upscale comfort food either in the bar or cellar, which share a menu of Neapolitan pizzas and small plates, or the more formal third-floor dining room. We opted for the dining room, where Alpana was amiably circulating, making herself available to answer any wine-related questions or suggest pairings for thirsty boarders. In fact, our waiter went so far as to wait a little longer than we liked to take our order, deferring to Singh to visit with us first. But this is simply standard procedure in this particular domicile. As it happens, she recommended a well-structured Roussillon based on our taste for Provencal reds. While we were happily sipping, she politely returned, even sharing photos of her exquisitely wrinkled Pug and leaving us with no room for quarrel with the rules of the house.

Once we did order, our small plate came post-haste. We tried the kale Caesar salad with a red wine poached egg, white anchovies, and pecorino cheese ($9). And whether it was a trick of the alluring ambiance or just some exceptionally hale anchovies, this refreshing appetizer marked the first time we’ve ever tasted this spindly little fish and not wanted to send it back to the ocean where it came from. The rest of the menu divides into medium plates and entrees, the latter of which our waiter advised us were intended for sharing, a design element that both reflects the Boarding House’s cozy communal ethos and allows you to sample more variety.

When our entree—seared diver scallops with cauliflower puree, crispy chicken drumette, and caper berries ($28)—arrived, we were already knee deep in epicurean ecstasies over our medium plate, the tourtière ravioli, filled with spiced meat, king eryngii mushrooms, and cippolini onions ($15). But the scallops still surpassed expectations, which were tacitly climbing as the wine took hold and our eyes grazed yet more of the fetching interior, vintage patterned wallpaper and papier mache mounted stag heads and all. In fact, as our favorite staple seafood, something we try almost everywhere we go, these scallops stand out as perhaps the tastiest we’ve had to date, only reinforcing our impression of a menu that consciously eschews overwrought confections, of food allowed to stand on its own merit—as proper boarding house fare very well should.

Part of the reason for this, we assume, is the restaurant's gentle insistence on harmonizing food and wine, of which there's a heaping variety of both. We're personally eyeing the hazelnut-crusted short rib with sweet potatoes and au jus for our next visit, as we gleaned from nearby guests that even the meatiest concoctions are prepared with a deft lightness of touch. We failed to savor either the cheese and charcuterie, the chilled seafood, or any of the tempting sides (bacon-braised Brussel sprouts, anyone?), so we see no reason not to make ourselves very comfortable, again and again, in this particular drawing room.

We also appreciated the fact that the dining room’s music stayed low well into the evening, allowing us to converse like civilized boarders not overly eager to vacate the parlor. Given the elegantly wistful décor alone, including a mesmerizing series of chandeliers large enough to make their own weather, it’s very likely you’d linger anyway. The fact that this dwelling houses one inviting cellar—and at least as choice of vittles—is all the more reason to return to River North’s most inviting gathering place yet. You’ll want to doff your hat and stay the night.

The Boarding House is located at 720 North Wells.