Sandrine's: A Gem in Harvard Square and a Throwback to French Class

Do any of you who took high school foreign language classes remember picking new names to use in class that reflected the language you were learning?  You'd be Jose if you were Joe, or Guillaume if you were Will.  Well, I was Sandrine.  So when I saw this restaurant (http://www.sandrines.com/) while Jake and I were trying to figure out where to go on a Friday night, it seemed like it was calling my name, only I was in 10th grade french class.

The restaurant is quiet and cozy with an open brick oven, off a side street in Harvard Square.  It's not too loud or too pretentious.  The service was friendly and the food was amazing.

I started off with the Ginger Cosmo; I didn't even have to read all the ingredients because the first one was tequila.  So while I have no idea where the ginger comes in, it was basically a tequila cosmo and while I may enjoy a high brow entree every once in a while, my taste in alcohol lies firmly in Spring Break Cancun.  It was fabulous.

For my main course, I had sea scallops in a tomato beurre blanc sauce with roasted sweet potato slices.  Jake had the choucroute, which came with a ham hock and so many artfully displayed sausages on a bed of sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut at a French restaurant?  Of course, that uneasy marriage of French and German from Alsace makes for a great meal, and reminded me of one of our favorite New York spots, Cafe D'Alsace (http://www.cafedalsace.com/).

But nothing beat dessert.  I'm a sweets girl.  I don't understand Jake's love of cheese for dessert.  Not that I don't adore cheese, because I do.  But the end of a meal is for that last sweet bite.  We split a chocolate pot de creme with peanut butter cream and peanut brittle.  It was the best pot de creme I've ever had, and that beats out the one we had at Barbuto in New York from famed chef Jonathan Waxman (http://barbutonyc.com/).  It was haute cuisine Reese's, how could I have kept from falling in love?

A note about going out to wonderful dinners in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville - beware the brick!  Don't wear a beloved pair of heels ladies, as tempting as it might be.  The brick and cobblestone walkways are quaint, but not fashion friendly.