We read about Lyric on a few different review sites and thought that it sounded popular enough to require a reservation. As it turned out, we were wrong. We walked in a little early to a completely empty restaurant. Apparently, we were the first patrons of the evening. I should note that we went a few days before Memorial Day weekend and all of the associated crowds, so that may have had something to do with it. For some reason, the waiter seemed unusually attentive. He immediately served us some bread that tasted like it was scented with fennel seeds and some deeply flavored olive oil.
After our feasts at Chapin’s and Ann and Fran’s, we decided to dial it back for Lyric and split one appetizer and one entrée between the two of us. Continuing on the seafood theme, we ordered six oysters baked with pancetta, cream, and sweet leeks. The oysters were huge, but the flavor was lost amidst all of the other ingredients, and in the end we wished we had ordered them on the half shell instead.
After we had slurped up the oysters, it was on to the littleneck clam linguini for our main course. The clams were steamed with white wine and olive oil, which made quite a delicious broth at the bottom of the bowl. At first, I didn’t think to scoop any of the broth up, but I quickly realized my mistake. The broth was delicious, and it really tied together the dish. I thought about tipping the bowl into my mouth to finish it all but decided that despite the lack of patrons, that still probably wasn’t appropriate.
In the end, it was a good meal and a beautiful setting, although while we don’t like crowds, we do prefer not being the only people in a restaurant. Oh well!
