Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/61746
so many dinners... so little time " Clio is still my baby, still my outlet after 15 years. "—ken oringer Uni Sashimi Bar Boston's first boutique hotel has two elegant restaurants, two private dining rooms, and Harvard roots. gastronomy, reinvented SPOTTING AND AWARD-WINNING CUISINE. by mat schaffer B CLIO, BACK BAY'S DINING MUSE, GETS A NEW LOOK FOR THE NEXT DECADE OF CELEBRITY oston's first boutique hotel, The Eliot Hotel, and its accompanying restaurant, have all the makings of a local legend: a storied history with Harvard University roots, a reputation as the go-to spot for celebrity diners, and one of the most significant deals in sports history cel- ebrated on its premises. And what becomes a legend most? A perfectly executed face-lift. As quietly elegant as Catherine Deneuve, Clio, Ken Oringer's acclaimed contemporary French restau- rant, appropriately named for the Greek muse of history, marks its 15th anniversary with an exten- sive renovation. Black licorice roast duck The place sparkles with freshly painted walls, olive and ivory leather banquettes and chairs, a new backlit, mirrored bar, and expanded bar seat- ing. Don't worry—the unmistakable faux-leopard carpeting in the dining room remains the same. But you'll hardly recognize Uni Sashimi Bar, Oringer's Japanese eatery just down the stairs from the front door. Gone are the stools, granite coun- ter, and leopard carpet. Now with beveled blond 66 bostoncommon-magazine.com wood walls, a slate floor, and black stone sushi bar, Uni's design suggests that of a bento box, promising an assortment of exotic eats and treats. It's hard to believe this same downstairs space was once the Eliot Lounge, an enduringly popular, wood-paneled singles-turned-sports bar frequented by Boston marathoners. But by the mid-1990s, The Eliot Hotel's owners, Dora and Arthur Ullian, wanted a change. Arthur's father had purchased the building—built by Harvard University in 1927 as retirement lodging for Harvard professors and named for the college's 21st president, Charles William Eliot—in 1939 and ran it as a residential hotel into the 1980s. Dora and Arthur took over the operation in 1985, and over the next decade, influenced by the small, luxury hotels of Paris and San Francisco, trans- formed The Eliot into Boston's first boutique hostlery. The down-at-heel Eliot Lounge was no longer a good fit. "They didn't have enough money to keep it up; it was sort of at the end of its rope. And we needed a restaurant to be a counterpart to this new emerging hotel," Dora remembers. The Ullians asked Michael Schlow, who was about to become executive chef and owner of Radius, if he'd be interested in creating that restaurant, but he was under contract to Café Louis at the time. Schlow introduced the couple to New Jersey native Oringer, who was work- ing at Tosca in Hingham. Oringer had previously worked in Boston at Le Marquis de Lafayette under Jean-Georges Vongerichten, as well as at The River Café in New York, Al Forno in Providence, and Silks in the Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco. In his interview, Oringer went behind the stove at The Eliot and cooked the Ullians a meal that included glazed aromatic short ribs, sashimi-style marinated continued on page 68 photography by andy ryan