ZURiTO, a new Basque pintxo restaurant from BCB3 Hospitality opens in Beacon Hill.
The more casual bar space features high tops and bar seating to mimic the traditional pintxo bar experience
Comparisons aren’t fair. But for me, it was nearly impossible to eat at ZURiTO (zuritoboston.com), the Basque pintxo bar and restaurant now open in Beacon Hill from Jamie Bissonnette, Babak Bina and Andy Cartin, without comparing it to Toro, the Spanish tapas restaurant in the South End once helmed by Bissonnette. And not because each happens to be a Spanish restaurant but because Toro personally means a lot to me. For a time, I was a server at Coppa when it was first opened by partners at the time Bissonnette and Ken Oringer. During my tenure slinging pizzas, there was a closeness between the staff at both restaurants due to our shared leadership. We occasionally had trainings together, we celebrated milestones and there was more than one inter-restaurant romance. My closest friends then and today are a group made up of a handful of servers from each place.
Cocktails from director of spirits Oscar Simoza.
So yes, I pulled up a bar stool at ZURiTO on a Wednesday night, expecting it to be, perhaps wanting it to be, Toro 2.0. But the two restaurants, comingled in my mind, have very little in common. ZURiTO showcases the food and drink specifically from the Basque Country in Spain. Toro’s menu is broadly Spanish, pulling the greatest hits from the country at large. If Toro is a loud, buzzy theme party, then ZURiTO is a curated dinner party in a home in San Sebastián.
The Txuleton 1kg, which is a 32 oz bone-in ribeye, French fries and kimchi
From the pintxo menu, we were encouraged to order the Surimi baby eel, garlic quail egg and parsley, which our server quickly pointed out is not actually made from offspring which would cost a fortune, but white fish that has been formed into the shape of tiny eels. Whether or not it’s a turn-off to not eat babies, I highly recommend trying this unique dish, which is popular in the Basque Country. Other recommendations from this section include the spicy spreadable sausage and tomato honey on a baguette, as well as the sea urchin toast, garlic butter and mustard, which was perhaps my most memorable bite overall. The strong flavors all blended together in a perfect umami harmony.
Ham hangs behind the bar.
We had a Cantabrian anchovy palette cleanser before heading into the heavier, bigger dishes. Standouts from this section included the seared foie gras, the braised beef cheek, and the stewed tripe. Chef Bissonnette has always excelled at cooking novel cuts of meat and these dishes were no exception.
The salt cod-stuffed piquillo peppers and sea urchin toast with garlic butter and mustard
With ZURiTO, Chef Bissonnette is showing us his culinary evoluton. He’s not as flashy, he’s more refined and his flavors are no longer individual of him, but of the place from which they came. It doesn’t feel like he’s trying to prove himself but like he wishes to be a conduit for time-tested cuisine to shine in the modern age. It’s refreshing to see and enjoyable to eat. Although, it doesn’t mean I still don’t love the party down in the South End.
Photography by: BRIAN SAMUELS PHOTOGRAPHY
