ZAYITH TAPAS AND BAR: SUDBURY MA
Fucking FINALLY. Finally, a restaurant that is open past 8pm in Sudbury. Do you know how many sad nights I spent searching for a place to decompress after work hours when my business was in Sudbury? I can't even.
Anyway, here's the deal with this place: You know how sometimes you'll have these moments where all your senses are heightened? Sometimes it might be because you're on 'shrooms, and sometimes it could be that you've meditated to the point of being extra extra extra present. In those moments, everything is so hyperreal that it's almost as if you've cranked up some internal dial that puts all of your senses into overload.
I'm telling you this because this is how my friend and I felt once we stepped through the doors of this place.
First of all, there's something super sexy about this restaurant. It's dark, yet modern, and someone did a killer job on design. When we entered, the first thing we both commented on was how stringently clean it smelled. The smell of "clean" was overwhelming.
We were hoping for a bar seat, but alas, there is no bar. However, they do serve drinks. As we sat down, we were swept away in waves of dramatic music. I felt like I was in a movie where I wasn't sure if I was about to be murdered, or be greeted by a long-lost love.
"You know, I sometimes do this thing with my hypnosis sessions where I amplify peoples' senses," I remarked to my friend. "Like, I'll have my clients turn up the dial on the colors in their world, and the sound, and the textures. That's how I'm feeling right now."
"Me too!" she said.
We only went for drinks, because we had a late lunch. I ordered a martini rimmed with honey and hot pepper. It was $20. And let me tell you, it was worth every single penny: layer after layer of perfectly balanced flavors.
After looking at the menu, I lamented the fact that I was too full to eat. The waiter came over to take our orders.
"What would you like?" he asked.
"I'm not hungry at all, so I'm just drinking...squash fritters." It came out of my mouth before I could stop it, because they just looked so good.
Again, there's some sort of sensory overload thing going on in this place, in the best possible way. The moment he set the plate down, the aroma of the fritters wafted up and I felt compelled to tell my friend to take a sniff. Weird, I know...but they smelled fucking amazing.
The plate itself was a gorgeous work of art. In fact, I'm pissed right now that I forgot to take a pic. The fritters were on a pool of Romanesco sauce, and sprinkled with pistachios. They were straight-up heavenly. Even though they were fried, they were light as air. The presentation was divine.
I sooo wish that I went with an empty stomach, because every plate that came out looked incredibly compelling. I legit want to go back with 10 friends and order every plate on their menu to share. The dramatic lighting and music also lends itself well to emotional scenes, so if you need to dump someone or tell them you're dying, you might as well do it here over an incredible meal and absolutely killer drinks.
