Upstairs on the Square (Monday Club)

This place has phenomenal food for reasonable prices, and Bryan and I are so bummed we did not come here and eat sooner.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day, so I have no pictures of food.

Some background - this restaurant used to be called Upstairs at the Pudding (named because they were renting from Harvard's theater group the Hasty Pudding Club) until Harvard University forced them out of their location. They reopened in 2002 as a two-part restaurant. Upstairs on the Square, Soiree Club is for upscale dining, while the Monday Club downstairs is a bit more casual.

We went to the Monday Club on . . heh heh . . Sunday.

Bryan ordered a frisée salad with poached egg, bacon lardons, Great Hill Blue cheese & toasted croutons. Such a simple salad, but it was really good, and only $12. Bryan really liked it.

I ordered a salad of warm farro & wild arugula, sweet tomato, shaved artichoke & ricotta salada. I absolutely loved my salad. The farro added a nice hearty texture to the salad, and the greens were really fresh, fragrant, and seemed as if they had been picked that morning.

We were in the mood for Italian, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that this restaurant actually had several fresh homemade pasta dishes. We got two pasta dishes:

Bryan ordered the hand rolled pappardelle with classic bolognese sauce, padano grana & parsley. Although a bit expensive at $22, it was a really good pasta dish. The sauce, a mixture of ground meat, celery, and carrots, was just hearty enough without feeling heavy at all. The pasta was just slightly softer than I would have liked, but other than that, it was great.

I ordered the beet chitarra with crisp short rib & candied ginger ($20). The beet chitarra is actually a homemade pasta made out of beets. I had never seen anything like it before. It had great texture - chewy, al dente. The crisp short rib sort of reminded me of freshly made Chinese pork sung. Imagine strands of short rib meat baked to a crisp and scattered throughout the pasta. It was such an interesting dish, with unique flavors and textures. Really really good.

We sat outside, which was really nice.

Oh, and they have a fair number of good wines at pretty good prices. I think we paid around $35 or so for a bottle of pinot noir from Oregon and we really liked it.

Excellent excellent restaurant. I can't wait to go back.

Oh, and if that's not enough to get you to come, U2 chose to come here after their performance in Somerville back in March.

Upstairs On the Square
91 Winthrop St
Cambridge,MA 02138
(617) 864-1933