Teatro for tapas and cocktails

For our last date night, we decided to hit the Loews Theater on Boston Common to see the newest version of  Star Trek — and just grabbed a quick bite to eat beforehand. One of my favorite pre-movie or pre-theater places is Teatro, at 177 Tremont Street. It’s right next to the movie theater, has a beautiful interior, a selection of small, affordable plates and a great bar menu.

On the downside, it’s quite dark — with blue background lighting… so getting photos of food is pretty much impossible. Though, I was able to score this awesome photo of my cocktail:

It was a combination of Prosecco & Cachaca, with a sugar cube float (well, a “sink”). The Husband had a cucumber-muddled Mojito… and even though mine was interesting, I liked his a lot better. It was extremely refreshing with the cucumber-mint combination. My drink for a good photo though, no?

We arrived cutting it a bit close to the movie time, so we opted for a few piattinis (small plates) — knowing we’d be gorging ourselves on popcorn during the movie anyway. If you go to Teatro, ask for the special $3 menu that is available after 8pm. It offers several of the standard hot and cold piattini’s at a discounted rate of $3 per plate. It’s a great deal and changes regularly (as their entire menu does) — an inspiration to stop in again and again. Here is an example of some of the small plates they offer…. as well as their seasonal cocktails.

We decided to order two items off the $3 menu, two off the regular piattini menu and then one dish off the dinner menu.

We started with the Truffled Deviled Eggs — $3 (normally $4.5) and the Crispy Zucchini with Marinara — $3 (normally $4.5) — both of which were good-sized portions for only 3 bucks. The zucchini was indeed crispy (not oil saturated) and the marinara sauce was a savory and slightly sweet addition. The eggs were scented nicely with the truffle and eaten quickly by the Husband.

For my “meal”, I got two appetizer-sized dishes that I sort of shared with the Husband. The Goat Brie & Toasted Cibatta — $8, which I added white truffle and acacia honey to for an additional $4. It was a filling and decadent combination of creamy, slightly bitter cheese and aromatic truffled honey.

The Gulf Shrimp “Scampi” Bruschetta — $8 was surprisingly delicious — with the tomato bruschetta sauce leaving me with a yearning to duplicate the recipe (which I actually did a few weeks after — with good results).

The husband opted for a larger dish — getting a half-order of the Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage, Broccoli Rabe & Garlic — $11 half order/$18 full order, which he really seemed to enjoy.

We gobbled up our food, threw back our cocktails and were out the door (with the accommodating assistance of our server) in time to make our movie. I believe that Teatro is accustomed to servicing the theater crowd, so they do a great job with getting you in and out the door within a reasonable amount of time.

A great place for a quick bite, a few cocktails or a sit-down dinner, Teatro has a little bit of something for everyone.