We went to a new and allegedly hip new restaurant last night in Boston's South End called the Beehive. It's located on Tremont Street at the BCA. Only opened two weeks, the service was good, the seating cramped, the food OK and wine list limited.Our reservations were at 7 pm and we were seated promptly (so far so good). The waiter was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable (also good). The cocktails were also good. The waiter suggested a surprisingly good wine from, of all places, Long Island, NY.
"2005 Taste Red" is made by Bedell Cellars, which I believe is on the North fork of Long Island, this is a small production wine that tasted very much like a left bank Bordeaux. The wine is 55% Merlot 25% Cabernet Sauvignon 10% Cabernet Franc, and (here is the difference) 10% Syra. It's aged for 15 months in new French Oak barrels. Again, for what I was expecting, it was very good. It smelled of barnyard and ripe fruit and had a very forward blackberry fruit and currant taste and firm tannins. For a younger wine, it was well balanced and well structured. The upside, I thought it was worth $50 at a restaurant, but looked on-line and found it for as low as $24.00, but retails for $30ish. For $30, I can buy 2-3 bottles of either fabulous Spanish reds, Southern Hemisphere reds or even French reds (e.g., Chateau d'Oupia ).
All in all, Beehive didn't remotely deliver on the hype and towards the end, things went from pretty good to really pretty bad. The place showcases bands and because it was a Saturday night things were busy. A little after 9:00, the waiter (on instructions, I'm sure) came over to let us know that there was another party waiting for our table. We weren't offered dessert, coffee or after dinner drinks. It was basically, "thanks for coming. See ya". To quote my friend Sarah, who we went with, the place was "big on attitude and not much on gratitude."
This place hasn't been opened long enough to cop an attitude like that. If you're looking for a hip/scene kind of place, I'm sure you can find better, hipper and tastier places with a more extensive wine list.
