Pagtriot Ledger

TASTE & TELL: BLUE POINTE BISTRO SPICES UP WEYMOUTH

By JEN WAGNER

The Patriot Ledger

Weymouth has been talking about how to revive its many squares. Open a few more restaurants like Blue Pointe Bistro and it'd be a super start.

This small, urban chic eatery is no doubt out of place in Weymouth Landing - a land of nail salons and unattractive storefronts. Thank goodness for Weymouth resident Todd Barclay's gambling nature to open a restaurant here a few months ago that strays so far from a fish and chips kind of pub menu that you might think you were dining in Boston - with much easier parking.

Blue Pointe is filled with modern art - some signed by a local artist, others unsigned that Barclay says he bought from an online art store. It is lit with track lighting, and has separate bar and dining rooms.

The appetizer menu is an adventure of flavors, starting with the unofficial appetizer that comes complimentary to each table, of bread and white-bean hummus.

We sampled:

-The roasted corn-lobster chowder ($7): I'd order it any day over a lobster bisque; it's just as thick, but much more complex in its flavors.

-The generous-sized crab fritters with a spicy Creole sauce and slaw ($8): Be careful in cutting so you don't send this large, deep fried, very crispy treat across the room. That scene from ''Pretty Woman'' is only funny on screen. And these guys are way bigger than snails and could hurt somebody. You'll find yourself sopping up every drop of the sauce.

-Artesian cheese plate ($8): The only things to complain about here is that we ran out of crostini because the amounts of cheese were so generous!

- Peanut chicken satay ($8): Nice in the mix of appetizers we got, but I might not order again. Though the chicken was perfectly grilled and the sauce was intensely peanut like it should be, there was no special ''Blue Bistro'' twist on this appetizer.

- Five-spice crusted sea scallops ($10): My only recommendation here is that the servers memorize what the five spices are and receive more training. The staff that just needs a little more polish. When I asked what the five spices were, our server giggled and said ''I'm not sure.'' She didn't offer to find out for me, either. (It's a little funny, too, because this restaurant has no shortage of attention to details.)

- Crispy calamari ($9): The kitchen is so confident in this spicy dish, which has a little lemon vinaigrette sprinkled on it, that it comes with no dipping sauce. The dish is perfect in its nakedness.

- Grilled Merguez sausage ($9): The traditional African sausage is made on the premises and is not overly spicy and lean, served with white beans, hot greens and tomatoes.

The food is filled with subtleties. As if the rhubarb-Vidalia onion jam isn't enough of a bonus on the artesian cheese plate, it combines goat cheese, grilled halumi, blue cheese, crostini and thyme-infused honey.

The dinner entrees don't have the same daring nature as the appetizer menu. But that doesn't make them boring. The spring lamb pasta ($18) had a comfort-food quality about it in its richness, yet the ricotta and lemon wine sauce and nuggets of peas and proscuitto aren't exactly something mom would have ever made for me. And my meat-and potato-loving husband got his fill with a twist in a grilled veal rib eye steak plate ($25.)

Before your heart gets too set on anything I write about here, though, I have to tell you this: Barclay says the menu is changing a bit next week. It's time for a few more summer things on the menu, he says. And how can I complain when one of the new items coming is my favorite cut of steak: the boneless rib eye. - I'll add it to the things I look forward to trying at Blue Pointe: the new menu, a Sunday brunch that includes lobster Benedict, a lunch meatloaf sandwich that's made of three meats - veal, beef and lamb - and the other three appetizers we haven't tried yet.

While undercover as a food writer, I don't often meet the chefs and owners. Yet in this tiny place, it's hard to avoid the owner: Barclay is easy on the eyes and he's there all of the time, often bartending.

He didn't know that I was a food critic, but we talked of food and commerce, of his first venture here as a restaurateur, of how psyched he is to have his own place.

When you ask how business is, he'll tell you with honesty, ''a little slow this week, but the brunch is going really well.''

You can't help but be excited for this little place, and pray that it survives and succeeds.

Blue Pointe Bistro n 61 Washington St., Weymouth 781-335-7505. Price: $13-$26. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking: Plentiful. Credit cards: All. Web site: bluepointebistro.com. Handicapped access: Yes

The weekly restaurant review, ''Taste & Tell,'' is written after anonymous visits to area restaurants by Patriot Ledger food critics Jen Wagner, Mimi Claffey and Christine Ordway.

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger

Transmitted Wednesday, July 04, 2007