Press
EVERYDAY WITH RACHEL RAY
Gossip over one of 60 wines by the glass at Bin 26 Enoteca, a playful bar with cork walls and wallpaper made of Italian wine labels. The liquor license requires customers to eat while they drink, so share a cheese plate or a lobster salad.
BOSTON PHOENIX
Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel's Persian hot spot Lala Rokh has been a romantic Beacon Hill destination for years, and with good reason Ñ where else in the city can you get haute Iranian cuisine served in a modestly elegant setting? I go for the pickled baby eggplants alone. Still, no one (myself included) could have guessed that a pair of chef-owners who have spent the last decade with palates firmly planted in the Middle East would be able to convincingly pull off an Italian enoteca. But pull it off they did, complete with 30-page wine bible (helpfully indexed), an electronically controlled pouring system (microliter accuracy), and a knowledgeable wait staff to boot. The wine list is crafted to feature exotic grapes and combinations that most people probably haven't tried, so after you spend the first half-hour of the meal reading through the detailed descriptions in the bible, you should give up and let the waiter help you decide.
For example: the buttery and toasty 2006 Moris Vermentino from Toscana ($7/100ml, $40/bottle) that came matched with the whole Mediterranean sea bass perfectly brought out the richer flavors of the generally mild fish that a dryer, more acidic wine would have missed. Branzino (as the fish is called in Italy), with its single-serving size, good flavor, and minimal bone structure, has become a popular menu staple at high-end rustic restaurants, but simple rustic preparations often reveal the inadequacies of the cook: if all you're doing is stuffing it with thyme and lemon and grilling it, your grilling technique better be spot-on. Fortunately, at Bin 26, it is. The skin is rendered into a crispy, salty, smoky, melt-in-your-mouth sheath that easily pulls away with a puff of steam to reveal the subtly perfumed flesh underneath. A smattering of sautèed haricots verts form the obligatory garnish for the plate, and a swirl of red-pepper coulis completes the Mediterranean theme, but neither one is necessary Ñ this fish speaks for itself. Here's a hint if you're sharing the dish: poke the tiny cheeks out with the tip of your fork to steal the best bite.
FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE
The second beacon hill venture from brother-sister team Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel is a wine bar that offers 60 by-the-glass choices, along with whimsical bottle selections like Thunderbird and Boone's Farm. But this small- producer-heavy, 200-plus-selection list is decidedly un-Thunderbird-like in its quality, with entire sections dedicated to top importers, like Spanish specialist Jorge Ordoñez and grower-Champagne maven Terry TheiseÑgood choices for Bina-Seibel's eclectic Italian menu. Details 26 Charles St.; 617-723-5939.
Best pairing Manager Andy Cartin pairs the earthy, powerful 2004 Rainoldi Rosso di Valtellina ($29), a red from Italy's Lombardy region, with Cocoa Tagliatelle with Porcini Ragout.
Best value 2005 Can Blau Montsant ($46). This Carignane-based Spanish red has lots of structure and intensity.
BOSTON MAGAZINE
With an eclectic list of 200-plus wines, Bin 26 was an instant sensation on Beacon Hill. The accomplished food will keep that buzz going.
Bin 26 Enoteca has been a hit since the day it opened—something unexpected on Beacon Hill, where sedate behavior is the norm and the most action you'll find is the clubby conviviality of 75 Chestnut. Every night here is a party, with the kind of beautiful people you see at Stella in the South End—ironic given that Stella's chef-owner and the former occupant of this space, Evan Deluty, could never get his Torch to catch fire.
The spark at Bin 26 is brother and sister Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel, who also own Lala Rokh. The vibe, though, could hardly be more different. Preternaturally tranquil Lala Rokh shows off the herb-fragrant dishes of Persia, while at buzzy Bin 26 what's on the plate is meant to be a pleasant accompaniment to the real star: what's in the glass. The décor is elegant and playful, with cork coat pegs and a cork bench near the door, and cork-patterned walls and ceiling panels that come down to meet the walls for a cave-like feeling. (They don't do a great job at sound insulation, though.) The entire back wall is decoupaged with hundreds of wine labels; the bathroom ceilings are covered with suspended upside-down empty bottles. Created by in-demand Boston firm Office DA (which also did Mantra, still the city's most striking interior) and local master designer Sandra Fairbank, Bin 26's look is modern, inviting, and cliché free.
Presented in a loose-leaf binder, the list of 250 to 300 wines by the bottle and 50 to 75 by the glass is engagingly written. (The exception is the annoyingly whimsical first page offering Thunderbird and Night Train by the bottle, which is meant to show how approachable and unpretentious the place is about wine.) The lineup, grouped mostly by grape, is exceptionally interesting and includes some wines rarely seen here, like the Austrian whites that the Binas have long championed. A fleshy, off-dry Brundlmayer gr%9Fner veltliner, a wine as versatile as a great Alsatian riesling but with a bit more acidity, went with pretty much everything we ordered. If you're feeling more adventurous, the young staffers, far more outgoing and hip than those at Lala Rokh—and outfitted in T-shirts and jeans—are good at helping you choose.
The soigné salads and cheeses and cured meats make terrific snacks to keep the wine going down (in the late afternoon, too—Bin 26, unusually, stays open from lunch straight through dinner).
Bina-Seibel is a gifted cook with a notably strong sense of food. Fresh ingredients have always been central to her cooking, and in the first courses that comes through vibrantly. Bright and peppery mixed greens ($9), lightly dressed, are nicely set off by a crisp Parmesan wafer. Beef carpaccio ($11) with aged Parmesan, baby arugula, and a lemony tarragon dressing is immaculate, the meat tissue-thin and cool. Mozzarella wrapped in pan-crisped speck ($11), a smoked ham from the north of Italy, is both simple and good: The cheese is sweet and succulent, and the sparingly spiced ham the moistest and best flavored I've had in Boston—maybe in memory. Soups, too, show off Bina-Seibel's sense of freshness, particularly a vegetable soup ($9) that's at once hearty and subtle. I did wish the cannellini soup with dill-flavored shrimp ($9) wasn't puréed. It's too smooth for what should be a rustic dish (and, when I tried it, not hot enough, as was true of many menu items).
The satiny Tyrolean speck ($5) is the standout, but the salami and mortadella ($5 each) are remarkable, too, for having pepper and garlic that don't hit you over the head. Don't miss the five-year-old Grana Padano cheese ($8), served with balsamic vinegar for dipping—another choice that shows the Binas' preference for non-sledgehammer flavors.
The best pastas show this same sophisticated restraint. I could eat the ricotta gnocchi with cherry tomato, basil, and baby calamari ($12) every night. The gnocchi is chewy rather than pillowy, but not in the least tough; the sauce is a shocking-red smear as thick and vivid as tomato sauce should be. Linguine with local clams ($12) had just a hint of cherry tomato and a lightly pepper-spiked clam sauce with a lemon juice zing. Bina-Seibel makes the pasta herself, and she knows how to give sauce just the right coating consistency.
Cocoa tagliatelle with porcini ragout ($14), her own invention, has fast become a local favorite. I admired the robust but not overpowering mushroom sauce, with its authoritative note of garlic, more than I did the cocoa flavoring, which made a handsome complement but seemed to do little to enhance the already potent sauce. Still, I've seldom seen a more dramatic presentation: Bina-Seibel has found a way to grate Parmigiano-Reggiano into long, luxuriant strands that cover the chestnut-colored pasta and sauce in a lovely straw-gold blanket.
No main course I tried had the same confident clarity, and most were marked by too much salt. Steamed monkfish ($23), wrapped into log shapes with leeks and cut on the bias, came with a coffee-curry sauce that was a failed conceit—the fish dry, the sauce interesting but nothing more. But as always, Bina-Seibel's hand with vegetables is sure. A cube of roasted and then sautéed spaghetti squash was the highlight of the grilled lamb chops ($26), served with a too-fussy cardamom-lemon-tomato-almond sauce. Probably the most successful overall entrée I tried was the chicken breast with oyster mushroomÐmustard sauce ($19).
Do order in advance the chocolate delight ($9), a superior and not-sweet version of the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake. Feel free to ignore the pumpkin-orange purée, which has little to do with the chocolate; a thin caramel sauce will sweeten the chocolate for anyone who misses the excess sugar, which Bina-Seibel wisely omits. The "ThreeRamisu" ($9) is a diverting but kind of silly deconstructed tiramisu. Strawberry mille-feuille ($9) is a delight: crackling lace-cookie circles prettily sandwiched with fresh strawberries and sumptuous mascarpone cream. I get hungry just thinking about it.
As I do imagining what Bina-Seibel told me she made for a private party on New Year's Eve: champagne risotto served in an emptied wheel of aged Grana she imports herself. What a perfect dish to fit the celebratory, discerningly fizzy mood of Bin 26. She promised to make it again at the end of the next wheel. I hope she places it in the center of the long, friendly, communal table in the bar, and makes the whole table—like the wine bar itself—a party to which everyone is invited.
BOSTON PHOENIX
The little space that used to be Torch has been taken over by Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel of Lala Rokh. Contrary to reports, it's been extensively remodeled and now fits 70 diners. The theme, as the name states, is wine, but the brother-sister team is as whimsical and fun with a wine bar as they are serious about Persian cuisine at Lala Rokh. The menu — initially reported to be mostly Italian, mostly small plates, and adjuncts to wine — has gotten rather innovative within those parameters. I don't think anyone else in town serves monkfish in a coffee-based curry sauce, nor cocoa pasta with wild mushrooms. But Bin 26 Enoteca does.
Let's start with the wine list. It's a loose-leaf book of about 26 pages, mostly organized by grape variety. But the owners have deliberately collected some very unusual grapes, and in the catch-all category you can't always tell whether the grapes are red or white.
Four to five dozen wines are served by the glass, or in any of these four categories: a 100-milliliter taste, a 250-milliliter carafe (two typical glasses), a 500-milliliter carafe (two thirds of a bottle), or 750 milliliters (the standard wine bottle). The wine glasses vary for reds, whites, and sparklers. All but the last are oversize to gather more bouquet. (Real Champagne flutes — not those wide Champagne toasters — are narrow to show off the bubbles.)
I had my first taste of a sauvignon gris, the 2006 Cousiño-Macul ($12/$26/$44/$58). No, it wasn't picked last month; it's from Chile and is a spring vintage. The grape is a pink variety of sauvignon blanc from Bordeaux, but the wine has both the full body of white Graves and some of the tropical aromas of the New Zealand sauvignon blancs. It's definitely a grape worth exploring in the Chilean version, and is reportedly being replanted in Bordeaux as well. A 2003 Chianti classico of Castello D'albola ($7/$10/$28/$40) was smooth and rich, but somewhat monochromatic. This might be the result of that super-hot vintage, so it's worth trying the riserva bottle. Our main bottle of wine, a Bourgogne passetoutgrains ($45) from Herbert Lignier, was an exotic combination of pinot noir and gamay, the grape of Beaujolais. This one leans toward the gamay, which makes it almost as light as Beaujolais, but also keeps the Beaujolais acidity and a little spiciness for fish dishes. The pinot noir contributes a little weight and vegetable nose, but I've had this blend in more Burgundian style.
Food starts with some old friends of wine: crusty Italian bread with holes and top-quality extra-virgin olive oil. Four of the appetizers are cheese platters ($6/each; $18/four). Our taleggio was a beautiful series of wedges criss-crossed on a dark tile, with walnuts, arugula, giant grapes, and thick honey — in fact, somewhat granulated and over-the-hill honey. But the cheese itself was fine, although not super ripe and smelly like some. A Tuscan pecorino, a firmer cheese, was cut into more elegant long wedges in the same presentation and had a nutty aged flavor with just a bit of sheepiness.
Charcuteries ($5/each; $16/four) include prosciutto, real Bolognese-style mortadella, fairly compelling Genoa salami, and — my favorite — speck, cut as thin as prosciutto but with plenty of smoke to it. We had all four, served with gherkins and horseradish sauce.
A white-bean soup ($9) was puréed with roasted red pepper to make it look like a thickened tomato soup. The first surprise was an effective dose of dill; the second was a pair of perfectly grilled shrimp as a kind of garnish. Soup in a big bowl loses heat, however, so some service adjustments are needed here. The carpaccio ($11) was one of the most beautiful and delicious I've ever had. The sliced raw beef was so uniformly pink it looked like a pool of raspberry sauce under an arugula-fennel salad.
Now about that coffee-curry monkfish ($23). The fish was chunked and wrapped in single leek leaves, adding only a subtle flavor. The side vegetables were a few carrots and quite a few slightly cooked cucumbers. But the sauce was brilliant. Coffee became an aromatic spice like cumin in an unconventional curry that didn't taste like Indian food, but did taste spicy and complicated, without overwhelming a mild-flavored fish.
The cocoa tagliatelli ($14) was less exotic. Cocoa without sugar in pasta provides more color than flavor, creating a brown pasta that complements the woodsy appearance and flavor of wild mushrooms (mostly porcini with some shitake). A peppery undertone finished a flavor spectrum likely intended for old cabernet-based or Rh%99ne wines.
Sea bass ($20) was one nicely filleted chunk, perhaps a New England tautog or black sea bass, served on barley risotto. Hangar steak ($21) is a nice version of the bistro specialty (like a thicker skirt steak from another part of the diaphragm), rare as ordered, with sautéed broccoli rabe.
The dessert list is short, and perhaps intended to go with dessert wines, of which there is a long list. If you have wine left, you could always go back to a cheese plate. "ThreeRamisu" ($9) is one classic tiramisu, a shot glass of tiramisu-flavored egg nog, and a scoop of espresso-flavored gelato. Strawberry milles feuilles ($9) actually had about trois feuilles (leaves), but was a lovely little strawberry shortcake with lots of flavor for the season. Molten chocolate cake ($9) was just that, with a fun pumpkin sauce.
Service in a suddenly very popular room was pretty good; servers were decently patient while customers navigated the complicated wine list and menu, and left a gap after appetizers. However, coffee didn't come until after the desserts. The space is darker than Torch, but the background music (Cesara Evora, early) is still torchy. The décor features wine bottles hung sideways on long racks, interspersed with granite-pattern laminate, which also makes some bench seating. The back wall is wine labels — the kind of wall it would take a home hobbyist years to assemble. I'd rather taste wine in a less distracting environment, but the big glasses make up for that, and the food is a treat even if you don't drink. If you do, the wine list will keep you fascinated for years, and by then they will have found even weirder selections.
STUFF @ NIGHT
Demolition has started at Bin 26 Enoteca, a new 64-seat wine bar and Italian-influenced restaurant in the old Torch space on Charles Street, at the foot of Beacon Hill. Brother-and-sister duo Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel, who also own Lala Rokh, expect that their new venture will open around Labor Day, For the new restaurant, Azita will call on her history as an Italian and Mediterranean chef. Until 1997, when she decided to focus full time on Lala Rokh ("and on our mother's recipes," says Babak), Azita and Babak owned Azita Ristorante in the South End. Babak says that "the community is ecstatic. Enoteca is a direct response to what people have been telling us they want - a nice neighborhood place where they can pop in for a glass of wine in the afternoon, have a casual dinner, or get a bite on the way home after the theater." He stresses that Bin 26 won't just be food for the 'hood: 'We're not a gated community or anything. Just people, living in the city, who like good food."
STUFF @ NIGHT
wine lists are notorious for being stuffy documents, filled with tough-to-pronounce terms, confusing varietals, and an intimidating number of choices. But it doesn't have to be so, judging from Bacon Hill's new addition, Bin 26 Enoteca, and its exhaustive (and quite entertaining) wine book. Created as a collaboration between general manage Andy Cartin and siblings/Co-proprietors Babak Bina and executive chef Azita Bina-Seibel, the wine book breaks down the restaurant's 200-plus wines into categories like "Remember the Old Days," "a Syrah by Any Other Name," and "Spanish Wines: HipÉHipÉJorge!" It also includes a glossary, a pronunciation page, and a more tradition index. The whole point? To make sure the label "wine snobby" will never apply to Bin 26, to keep the mood light, and to introduce patrons to wines that they might never have tried otherwise. Another unique offering is the list of approximately 50 wines by the glass, available in four different sizes: 100ml, 250 ml, 500, ml and 750 ml (a full bottle). Customer reaction to the book has been "ecstatic," Bina raves—and we're on the bandwagon too.
PANORAMA
Brother-and-sister restaurateurs Babak and Azita Bina have treated Bostonians to delicious and exotic meals for more than a decade—most recently at their one-of-a-kind Persian eatery Lala Rokh. Now, the siblings are further tantalizing taste buds in Bacon Hill with their new casual, yet refined, wine bar and restaurant Bin26 Enoteca. Bin 26 pairs Azita's beloved Italian cuisine—including dishes like cocoa tagliatelle with Cepes mushroom ragout, and lime-flavored cold melon soup with ham and figs—with more than 150 wines from around the world, (including 50 by the glass) to offer all the class of a gourmet restaurant without the attitude. Check out this charming new addition to the culinary scene now, and be the first of your friends who's "Bin there, done that."
BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE
Like Goldilocks, you choose the size you want at a new Beacon Hill wine bar. At Bin 26 Enoteca, wine pours come in three sizes: a 100-milliliter glass, a 250-milliliter carafe, or a 500-milliliter container, the equivalent of two-thirds of a bottle. At this Goldilocks of a wine bar—there's a restaurant, too—you decide which one is just right. Don't be put off by the flip descriptions or even the higher-end entries on the wine list, as there are deals. Try the only Portuguese wine, a white vinho verde that's crisp and perfect with appetizers, or the Mano a Mano tempranillo from Spain. Both are 2005 vintages, one of the best European wine years on record.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER BLOG
...I had some particularly delicious meals in Boston, beginning with a late dinner at Bin 26 Enoteca on Charles Street. The new wine bar (it opened several weeks ago) was packed when we sat down for dinner at 9:30 p.m. We enjoyed our Italian-inspired, locally sourced food—as well as the bottle of Prosecco—and they catered to the special requests of my picky friends: No sauce on the fish for Jenn and a very well done hanger steak for Jess. I enjoyed my favorite Italian pasta dish, linguine with clams.
DAILY CANDY
So. Another upscale Italian opening? You don't say. Yawn. Bin there, ate that. So what if Bin 26 Enoteca's backed by big-time names — like Azita Bina-Seibel and Babak Bina, the brother-sister team who brought us Lala Rokh? And big whoop if it follows in the beloved enoteca tradition of pairing incredible wines with outstanding food. And who cares if the interior — walnut tables, bamboo floors, and luminous wine bottles everywhere — is as minimalist-chic as a little black dress? Or that the food (creative plates of ethereal cocoa tagliatelle with porcini or beef carpaccio with aged Parmesan and arugula) is all made with either fresh, seasonal ingredients from local farms or imported straight from Italy. We're so jaded; we're barely impressed that, with its unpretentious vibe and wide windows looking out onto Charles Street, it might just be the kind of neighborhood spot Boston's been missing. (Okay, so maybe we are impressed. Very.) On second thought, we have an altogether different question for the place. Where have you bin all our lives?
BOSTON GLOBE
"The concept of an enoteca," says Babak Bina, who owns the Beacon Hill wine bar Bin 26 Enoteca with his sister, Azita Bina-Seibel, "we didn't invent." But Bina says the siblings' enoteca is unique to Boston, where few other restaurants focus on such a wide range of wines from small producers. Some of the lighter reds, like nebbiolo and Beaujolais cru, pair well with one intriguing menu item Ðthe cocoa tagliatelle ($15), says chef Bina-Seibel. The handmade tagliatelle is paired with porcini, mushrooms; cocoa gives the pasta a musty, earthy flavor that complements the dense, silky fungi. The herb nepitelo, also known as calamint, brings a muted brightness to the dish. Bina-Seibel says she tries to limit most menu items to four ingredients, and in this case, tagliatelle, garlic, porcini, and nepitella comprise a simple pasta dish memorable for its firm, satisfying grip on the senses.
BOSTON HERALD
Azita Bina-Seibel and Babak Bina are no strangers to Italian food. Before the sister-and-brother team opened Lala Rokh, their acclaimed Persian restaurant on Beacon Hill, Bina-Seibel co-owned c and the siblings operated Azita, an Italian place in the South End.
Now the two have opened Bin 26 Enoteca, an Italian wine bar in the old Torch location on Charles Street. While Italian-food fanciers may quibble over its authenticity, the duo's insistence on top-notch ingredients, commitment to simple cooking and passion for wine are at the center of Italian culinary tradition.
Does anyone in Italy serve cured meats with cornichons, olives and whole-grain mustard, as they do at Bin 26? No. But any Northern Italian would immediately appreciate the quality of the imported speck, salami, mortadella and proscuitto ($5 each/four for $16) available here - even if they're listed on the menu as charcuterie, not salami.
"Everything is sourced out from small farmers," Bina told me (I've known him and his chef/sister forever and could not eat here anonymously). "And wherever possible, Azita uses no more than four ingredients."
Indeed, the thick, Tuscan-style tomato soup ($9) of tomatoes, bread, basil and salt is defiantly minimalist - and delish. So is the seafood salad ($10), a bare-bones saute of shrimp, tuna and calamari presented warm. The mozzarella wrapped and roasted in crispy speck ($11) is equally Spartan. The speck contributes a lovely juniper smokiness that permeates the melty cheese.
Ravioli with scallop filling ($16) doesn't look like much with its monochromatic green pea sauce but the naturally sugary peas make a fantastic foil for the understated salinity of the scallops. There's seductive earthiness to the cocoa tagliatelle with porcini ragu ($14) which is not at all sweet or chocolaty. That minty oregano accent is nepitella, a wild mint from Tuscany. The attentive waitstaff knows the provenance of every fish, olive oil and herb.
Entrees are a bit more complicated but no less delectable. Seared and roasted herbed rabbit ($22), stuffed with olives and pancetta, comes with diced eggplant, prepared funghetti (mushroom) style: pan-sauteed with garlic and tomato. Lamb chops ($26), scented with cardamom and lemon, rest in a pool of oven-dried tomatoes, capers and Chianti. I could have done without the capers.
Steamed monkfish wrapped in leek ($24) is in an intoxicatingly aromatic sauce of coffee and curry that permeates the moist fish. A succulent fillet of oven-baked bass ($26) encrusted with reconstituted porcinis, oyster mushrooms, garlic and black pepper doesn't need that ladle of citrusy beurre blanc alongside. Accompanying barley - flavored with pureed parsley - is overcooked and mushy.
At Bin 26 Enoteca, wine is an elemental part of the dining experience. The chic decor - by Office DA (the folks who designed Mantra) - is wine-inspired, from the cork walls to the wine-rack room dividers to the empty bottles that hang from the bathroom ceilings.
Peruse the 24-page annotated wine "book," which includes 100 wines by the glass. Order a glass of tart, green-apple '05 Berger Kremstal Gr%9Fner Vertliner ($6/100 ml) with the seafood salad or a bottle of beety '05 Bodegas "Mano a Mano" Tempranillo ($28) to go with entrees such as the rabbit or lamb.
The 14-seat bar can be a wine school on a stool. A refreshingly mineral '05 Valle Reale Montepulciano Rose ($6/100ml) is the same strawberry-red color as speck. A tropical 2005 Ladera Sagrada "Castelo do Papa" Godello ($36) is dead-on with the ravioli but overwhelmed by the monkfish and, to a lesser extent, the bass.
The wine program, under the direction of Bina and general manager Andy Cartin, is comprehensive without being intimidating. "We don't want anyone to walk in and think ÔEh, wine snobs'," said Bina. You won't.
You may, however, think "Eh, dessert snobs," should you have the trademarked ThreeRamisu ($9), a silly flight of tiramisu frappe, tiramisu ice cream and(finally) tiramisu. You've seen the chocolate delight with pumpkin cream ($9) - one of those fallen molten cakes you must order ahead - a million times before.
You'll be much happier with a plate of hard and crumbly 2001 grana padana cheese ($8) and a tiny, teardrop-shaped saucer of 30-year-old balsamic for dipping. It doesn't get any more Italian than that.
Boston Globe Calendar
Boston really needed a chic Italian wine bar. That seems obvious when you see the throngs pushing into the sleek, tight spaces of Bin 26 Enoteca. On a recent weeknight, laughter reverberated as waiters carrying plates and bottles of wine wove their way through tables, past the line forming along the entrance. A couple at the bar chatted as they studied the wine selections with the bartender, and a group of young diners compared neighborhood real estate prices as others squealed when friends walked in. An urbane scene, and except for the language, it almost could be Rome instead of Beacon Hill.
Azita Bina-Seibel and her brother, Babak, opened Bin 26 in early September in the space that was formerly Torch. The two are known for their nearby Persian restaurant, Lala Rokh. But Bina-Seibel, who is the chef, has a long history in Italian cooking — she was one of the original owners of Ristorante Toscano farther down Charles in the 1970s and also owned the former Azita in the South End.
Her version of Italian has little to do with the vestiges of red sauce in the North End or even the big-plate descendants of Todd English's original style at Olives. Instead, the dishes are sophisticated, rather spare creations meant to complement wines rather than knock you over. As Bina-Seibel says in a phone interview, the aim is a simple menu for a casual place with dishes she tries to keep to four ingredients.
Simple doesn't mean boring. A tomato soup has chunky texture and amazing intensity despite, to my taste, being only tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and a few herbs. Four ingredients, but a great soup. One warm evening a seafood salad, with each shrimp, curl of calamari, and mussel carefully poached, sits above a pool of light tomato cream. Slightly runny mozzarella plays off its wrapping of speck (an Italian ham) that's been crisped so that its salty taste and crunchy texture both hold the cheese and give it verve. The appetizer is so appealing that it seems to grace every table, I notice as I look around.
Two pastas are a study in contrasts. Ravioli with scallop filling and a sweet pea sauce is delicate and almost too mild, and the sauce looks like sludge. There's nothing wrong here that more salt and a spot or two of color wouldn't fix. But then there's an unusual cocoa tagliatelle, a dark tangle of pasta ribbons tossed with slivers of porcini. It's spectacular: The pasta gains a depth and texture, but no sweetness, from cocoa, and the porcini buttresses the woodsy, autumnal flavors. And then there's the elusive grace note of nepitella, or calaminth, an Italian cross of oregano and mint. Without meat and only a few elements, this is still a rich and voluptuous dish.
Bina-Seibel's inventiveness carries onto the main courses. Rabbit is stuffed with eggplant that's been sliced like mushrooms, called Funghetto-style. The mild rabbit gets a boost from the eggplant, plenty of herbs, and a hint of tomato. Like the pasta, the bolder fish dishes trump the oven-baked bass with a wild mushroom crust. It's virtuous, and the barley accompaniment nicely nutty, but too meek. Steamed monkfish wrapped in a curl of leek and sauced with a coffee-laced curry sauce is much more successful. The sauce is subtle, never overwhelming the meaty fish, but it piques interest, so that it's necessary for me to taste it again and again, and each time I notice a slightly different nuance — a hint of spicy heat, a shadow of the coffee, a little pepper. Tuna wrapped in bacon is more straightforward, getting its strength from the natural pairing of this most meaty fish with pork.
Bin 26 has a revolving list of cheeses, charcuterie meats, and a long wine list. It would be a perfect place to stop by for just a bite, and Bina-Seibel says she sees customers return over and over. The closely placed tables and the noise against the hard surfaces can either make the place feel festive, or a little claustrophobic. But the wait staff seems to work hard to be welcoming even when there's a crowd. It obviously does take some juggling, though, and I find myself wondering if, like Toro, the restaurant's popularity will make it necessary to arrive at 6 or wait until the last bell.
As I ponder this, I'm tasting the ThreeRamisu, a takeoff on the ubiquitous tiramisu. Here the conceit is to split it up — a small classic tiramisu, delicious tiramisu ice cream, and a little tiramisu shake. Another dessert, a strawberry millefeuille, is pretty to look at but a little bit of a letdown in flavor. The tiramisus, though, are delectable little examples of deconstructionism. It's worth the crush, I decide, plotting my return for some cheeses, a glass of wine, and maybe more tiramisu.
Boston City Paper
A stop at number 26 while strolling down Charles street reveals a neighborly wine bar and restaurant stripped of any pretensions. The softly lit, open dining room is contemporary, yet comfortable. Quirky decor touches, like an impressive wall-encompassing coat rack made from corks and a back wall papered entirely in wine labels, make for inspired and theme appropriate accents to the space at Bin 26 Enoteca. But the creative incorporation of recycled materials doesn't stop there. The woven chair and stool seats are all made from surprisingly comfortable seat belt straps. The crowning architectural touch, however, is a floating ceiling (achieved by incorporating a dropped ceiling that leaves an illuminated space around the perimeter of the room) that contributes an openness to the room and balances the darker elements of knotty walnut woodwork. And like any good neighborhood joint, it maintains a welcoming simplicity that the staff echo in their attendance to guests.
Usually when I'm handed a office binder of wines at a restaurant, I dread the chore of sifting through the multitude of unfamiliar varietals and vineyards. However, the enoteca's seemingly intimidating tome of wines not only makes the task more approachable, it's actually a pleasure to read. Explanations and pronunciation keys are found on each page and serve to break down the barriers to finding a great wine. The playful approach to exploring the bottles at Bin 26 makes drinking wine what it should be - a pleasure. Informed and enthusiastic servers further facilitate navigating the wine selections by offering educated suggestions to find just the right wine for the dish. Wines are available in 100ml tastes, 250 ml carafes for two, 500 ml carafes, and by the bottle. The 50 wines served by the glass make Bin 26 my top choice for a habitual stop on my oenological quest. The only immediate drawback seems to be the legal requirement that all patrons in for a drink also have a plate. However, the wine appropriate samplings of charcuteries make snacking and tasting a viable and worthy option. Palatably pungent taleggio is accompanied by a walnut, and chestnut honey wedges of Parmesan, with the telltale crystal crunch of proper aging, comes with a superb 30 year old balsamic vinegar characterized by deep caramel flavor that makes it good enough to sip. Meatier charcuterie options like thinly sliced prosciutto, mortadella, Genoa salami, and speck, all served with horseradish sauce and gherkins, can be ordered individually or altogether.
Delving into the more substantial, but lighter fare, we had both the mixed green salad with crispy Parmesan and Tuscan-style tomato soup. The bright acidity of the soup was particularly accentuated by a floral and honey tinged Chilean sauvignon gris, Cousino-Macul, which turned out to be one of the table's favorite tastes. Generally speaking, the most a bed of greens can hope for is to be well-dressed and accessorized. The mixed greens get their due in that department, and above all hold their ground as a good contender among the food-for-rights-to-order-wine menu. Among the larger plates, we couldn't resist trying the cocoa tagliatelli with porcini ragut. New to the cocoa pasta scene, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The color of the cocoa seems to be a larger contributor than the flavor. The hints of chocolate that are notable are subtle and well-blended in the toasty flavor of this autumnal dish. Another dish that demanded ordering was the herbed rabbit with aubergine funghetti style. The rabbit, thinly pounded and braised in white wine, comes rolled around a Mediterranean inspired stuffing of olives and pancetta, served atop a small heap of cubed eggplant. The resulting rosemary, thyme, and garlic infused fond provides a rich base for drizzling around this dressed up rustic plate. Generally I shy away from lamb, finding the musky nature of the meat to be too dominating. However, the chops at Bin 26 are a version that I would return for. The tanginess of the twin chops are complimented by a host of flavors from the spectrum of sweet, salty, and bitter. Briny capers, candied tomatoes, lemon, cardamom, almonds, and the earthy sweetness from the bed of spaghetti squash make this dish a foray into the realm of flavor.
The dessert wine menu far exceeds the dessert selections, but of those we tasted, they make a good excuse for trying the wine. The "Threeramisu" consists of a tiramisu presented three ways - as a classic tiramisu, a scoop of espresso gelato, and a shot of tiramisu flavored egg nog. Sticking to the theme of three, we also sampled the three layered strawberry, wafer, and whipped cream milles feuilles. While the whipped cream was definitely the real deal, the strawberries came across as more of the frozen variety.
Bin 26 does a wonderful job of demystifying wine and providing its customers with a comfortable, fun, yet sophisticated place to taste away. While the focus may be on the wine, I in no way see the food as an after thought. The attention to quality in food, drink, service, and setting make the enoteca a much needed addition to Charles street.
BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE
At Bin 26 Enoteca on Beacon Hill, chef-owner Azita Bina-Seibel puts ground and brewed espresso into a coffee-curry sauce she serves with monkfish (the grounds are strained out). The fish is wrapped in leeks and steamed then served on a bed of steamed vegetables. The coffee gives "depth and roundness" to a very simple sauce, she says.
Boston Metro
This Beacon Hill Italian eatery is seasonally inspired, with its menu and wine list changing often. Its focus, as the "enoteca" portion of the name implies, is to create simple food accompaniments for its international wine menu. Brother and sister restaurateurs Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel of the neighborhood's Lala Rokh restaurant call Bin 26 "causal but refined." Munch on cheeses and Tuscan-style tomato soup, or fill up on entrees such as cocoa tagliatelle with porcini ragout, scented with nepitelo, and lamb chops.
BEACON HILL TIMES
Babak Bina poured wine last week at the bar of the new restaurant he opened with his sister Azita Bina-Seibel at 26 Charles Street. Bina said the concept behind "Bin 26 Enoteca" ("eno" references wine while "teca" means bar) is to have fun and relax in a friendly environment, whether stopping in for a single glass of wine and a bite of food or for a special occasion dinner. The wine book has 150 selections from around the world, with 50 wines sold by the glass. Azita, executive chef, will oversee the preparation of seasonal menus reflecting the different regions of Italy. The restaurant will he open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Boston Globe Magazine
Uncomplicated, comforting dishes like soups, pastas, and grilled steaks served in an understated, minimalist setting make Bin 26 Enoteca a welcome addition to Beacon Hill. But the real focus is the wine - there are dozens served by the glass, including some of the priciest, and a total of about 300 on the menu. This year, sister-brother owners Azita Bina-Seibel and Babak Bina, who also own the Persian restaurant Lala Rokh around the corner, will add house wines, too. The more the merrier.
AOL City Guide
Since 1995, brother and sister team Babak and Azita Bina have made their names synonymous with the neighborhood's dining scene. Lala Rokh, their Persian gem, is a dependable outpost for all things saffron-laced and eastern spiced. With their latest culinary venture, they've brought that commitment to authenticity to a different region: Italy. Enoteca is the Italian word for a place where simple, elegant food is served to complement the wine on a list that's 150-choices long and features 50 wines by the glass. The wine list is perpetually growing, so there's plenty to complement at Enoteca. The Binas take such well-deserved pride in their incredible wine list—they hand-selected each bottle in their global collection—that the airy restaurant's entire design has a vineyard-inspired style. The coat hooks are corkscrews, the tables are walnut and the floors are bamboo. But even with all that scenic emphasis, let's not disregard the food. All of the Stuzzichini (read: small bites) that Azita creates in the kitchen are made with local seasonal produce or ingredients imported directly from Italy. Depending on the season, you'll find creative enticements like smoked swordfish, cocoa tagliatelle with porcini and beef carpaccio with aged Parmesan and arugula, and lime flavored cold melon soup with ham and figs. There are small plates to share and full entrees to savor, so you can stop in for a bite and sip on your way out, or loiter for hours, Italian-style.
WINE & SPIRITS
BOSTON: Bin 26 Enoteca in posh Beacon Hill gets its wines from small producers from around the world and ingredients for its Mediterranean-centric menu from local farmers. With more that 300 bottles (50+ by the glass), from cheeky (Thunderbird at $8 a bottle), to classic (Rioja) to more esoteric, value priced bottles (Argiolas aerderP from Sardinia at $35), there's something for everyone.
