Velocitization. It's a term traffic engineers use to describe what happens when you drive fast for an extended period: Your sensory system attunes to your speed, you cease to realize how fast you're going, and it becomes hard to slow down (think of transitioning from a speeding highway to a too-short exit ramp). It's also something that happens to me whenever I go to Boca.
There's an accelerating, multiplying rhythm to dining at Boca that launches me straight into the culinary ether: Tastes and sensations build as the excellent courses keep coming, the practiced wait staff hovers and glides, the music plays and the kitchen blazes. I revel in the seeming effortlessness, the steadily building, enveloping experience of enjoying outstanding food and impeccable service across time.
Here's the velocitization part: When the meal is over, the check paid and the door closes behind me, it's a rough transition from this nurturing and nourishing slipstream. Standing out on the sidewalk, feeling like I've fallen out of a plane — I am loathe to let go of that special feeling that Boca so carefully cultivates, and let humdrum reality seep back in. Right about then is when I begin to plot my next visit.
Depending on your desired level of formality and the size of your appetite and bank account, there are several ways to experience Boca. Chef David Falk offers a tiered approach to enjoying his inventive Italian-influenced cuisine.
Diners can eat in the main dining room ($47 for two courses, $59 for three; both include dessert), or in a small trattoria area that offers à la carte choices (entrées $21-27) and the same prix fixe menu as the main dining room. There are also a few tables in the bar. Gourmands can take things to a higher level with six- to eight-course tastings ($85; with wine, $135). Boca has an extensive wine list and a very capable sommelier.
My companion and I opted for three courses. I started with the Insalata Caprese, a combination of heirloom tomatoes, fresh buffalo milk mozzarella, fragrant olive oil and local basil. It was fresh, simple and amazingly good.
My companion chose the Diver-Caught Sea Scallops with Caramelized Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter Truffle Vinaigrette, a signature dish ($5 surcharge on top of the prix fixe, but worth every penny). The scallops were excellent — perfectly seared, with a firm yet moist consistency. The Brussels sprouts, flavorful, rich and alluringly sweet and savory, almost stole the show.
For my second course, I chose the Three Cheese Filled Pasta with Roasted Beet Sauce and Hazelnut Pesto. This was a spectacular interplay of flavor and color — the ruddy, sweet, earthiness of the beets and nuts intermingling with delicate cheese-filled pasta. My companion had the equally outstanding Raviolo di Gianno, English Pea and Live Maine Lobster Raviolo with Lemon Butter. It was feather light and very delicate, filled with bright green pea puree.
Our third course continued the winning streak. My companion had Boca's Sexy Chicken, Hunter-style Amish Chicken over Risotto Bianco. Playfully named, our waiter informed us, in a nod to its puttanesca-derived ingredients, this was succulent, moist and flavorful, served in a loose sauce of tomatoes and olives. I had the Poached Sablefish with Heirloom Tomatoes, Olives, White Wine and Fresh Basil. (Also known as "black cod," sablefish is a soft textured and mild fish.) It was delicate, flavorful and expertly prepared.
Desserts offered an outstanding finish. Maple Mascarpone Cheesecake was oozingly rich and decadent — like eating a soft, sweet cheese. The Puff Pastry with Fresh Peaches and Berries was equally ravishing: flaky pastry enveloped a smooth, sweet ricotta filling. I ate it very, very slowly.
Service was on par with the food. They do this thing at Boca I love of having multiple waiters gather, laying plates on tables in a swooping, synchronized reveal. Servers are exceptionally professional and well-informed.
With an upscale yet understated atmosphere, Boca attracts Cincinnati's food-loving movers and shakers, young and old. At an adjacent table sat the CFO of a Fortune 500 company sharing a quiet dinner. (He brought a bottle of wine with him that I expect cost more than my monthly car payment.) Regulars, some of whom our server said appear weekly, are easy to spot. They're the lucky ones, getting private, tableside visits from Chef Falk. Come here often enough, our server said, and the kitchen will expand to greet you, delivering a deeper, richer, more unique dining experience.
Becoming a weekly regular at Boca? Now, that would be worth breaking your piggy bank. Writing recently in Food and Wine, wine guru Robert Parker marveled at a young Japanese sommelier who, in order to educate her palate, blew her $10,000 life savings on an 18-course, meal-of-a-lifetime created by French culinary giant Joél Robuchon.
If there's a place worthy of such a grand gesture in Cincinnati, it's certainly Boca. ©
Boca
Go: 3200 Madison Road, Oakley
Call: 513-542-2022
Hours: 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5:30-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Prices: Expensive
Payment: Major credit cards
Red Meat Alternatives: Chicken, seafood
Accessibility: Yes
Grade: A+
