Forum
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:52 AM | Posted by caroloc
755 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
By Elaine Hom Eastwood
This year, I got the worst Christmas present ever. Just days before the holiday, my doctor informed me that my biopsy came back positive. I was diagnosed with celiac disease.
As a food writer, this is one of the worst medical conditions to have. A genetic autoimmune disease, celiac means that the slightest amount of wheat or wheat by-product, gluten, erodes the intestinal lining and triggers an autoimmune response. Untreated, celiac disease leads to osteoporosis, malnutrition, and types of cancer.
This is not the same thing as a gluten intolerance. People with gluten intolerance should not eat items with gluten, like bread or pasta, but people with celiac are in danger even if the food is contaminated with gluten. For example, French fries cooked in the same oil as battered onion rings or chicken will still trigger an autoimmune response in people with celiac, whereas people with gluten intolerance would likely not be affected.
What does this all mean? I can no longer eat the things that I love. Bread, pasta, wheat noodles, cakes, cookies, pretty much anything fried or processed—there’s even gluten in soy sauce. Foods as common as shredded cheese are often dusted with flour. I even had to buy new makeup, because my old lipstick was made in a facility that also processed gluten. As a result, I can now only review restaurants able to accommodate my dietary restrictions. Fortunately for me, in 2012, most restaurants are very aware of this increasingly common issue.
Forum, on Boylston Street in Boston, is luckily one of those restaurants. It’s not just accommodating, either—almost every item on the menu is already gluten-free.
Atmosphere
Forum replaced Vox Populi, a stale lounge bar with mediocre food and a meat market scene, and boy, is it a welcome addition to the neighborhood. 
A large two-floor space, the first floor is darker and more geared towards Boston’s nightlife. Bar-hopping on Boylston Street has taken a classier turn, with a classy bar area and trendy décor. The second floor is brighter and more of a dining room with a modern art feel.
The space upstairs is overly contemporary, with mirrored columns, metallic notes, and modern art light fixtures. A geometric room divider brings to mind a mid-1980s investment banker’s living room, but in a more updated way. 
For a trendy restaurant on Boylston St., the room is surprisingly well-lit, which I appreciate. I hate peering at my food in the dark, unsure if what I’m eating is the garnish or the entrée. With a view overlooking Lord & Taylor and part of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the dining room has wonderful ambience and a welcoming feel.
Starters
Our meal began with an amuse bouche of beet, blood orange, and endive, beautifully arranged on a small plate. The refreshing salad was perfectly balanced, with equal notes of sweet, bitter, and sour. The crunch of the endive plus the heartiness of the beet and the tenderness of the blood orange made for a very pleasant mouth-feel to start of the meal.
While I could not indulge in the bread basket, I did try the accompaniments. The white bean puree in fruity olive oil was my favorite—with a kick of cumin and a smooth texture, it seemed like it would be delightful on some crusty bread. The honey butter was rich and sweet, while the chili oil imparted a strong chili flavor with only a touch of spice.
I ordered the Trio of Tartare ($18), with beef, tuna, and salmon. The tuna tartare was served with cucumber and red onion, the beef with capers and a tiny poached quail egg, and the salmon with crème fraiche and caviar. While all three were tasty—the tuna was delicate and mild, the beef was tender and spicy, and the salmon rich and flavorful—none of them were anything I haven’t had before. The portion was also pretty small given the price, but I appreciated that the tartares were all fresh and well-seasoned.
My husband opted for the Kurobuta Pork Belly ($12) with quince, black beans, and sauerkraut. We first had Kurobuta pork on our honeymoon, and we became obsessed with this melt-in-your-mouth pork. This did not disappoint. 
The pork belly was ribboned with rich flavorful fat, and perfectly crispy seared on one side. Often, the instinct with pork belly is to sear each side of it, but the beauty of pork belly is how the soft meat and fat melds with the crispy side—this was prepared exactly how I like it. The quince added a much needed sweetness to cut the fat, while the mild “sauerkraut” added acid and texture. The portion was huge, yet I was still pretty sad when the last bite was over. Fatty and rich, this was a great value for the price, and one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time.
