THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Aujourd'Hui

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Aujourd'Hui Restaurant Review:

THIS ESTABLISHMENT IS NOW A PRIVATE EVENT SPACE Now old-fashioned, now new-fangled, hotel dining is alive and well at Aujourd'Hui. The large, decadently appointed room---all rich fabrics and gleaming silver---recalls the Maison de La Casa Houses that Calvin Trillin sent up in his heyday. No doubt some of the buttoned-up crowd may very well prefer it that way. Celebration is in the air, and often couples are smooching by the windows overlooking the Public Garden. Service is tuxedoed and, if you’ll allow the paradox, almost conspicuously discreet. Thankfully, the flashback to the days of Continental cuisine ends there. Current chef William Kovel has both the classic technical chops and the innate creativity to make this long-timer seem new again. Even liver-loathers will learn to love foie gras here, be it a poached whole lobe with lentils or seared with savory french toast and raisin butter. His lobster bisque is at once rich as velvet and delicate as lace, graced with an island of lobster flan. Kovel even makes wild game like venison seem impossibly tender. Meanwhile, every Sunday, Aujourd'Hui's buffet brunch justifies its fame anew with a weekly changing repertoire of items like seafood-and-spinach crêpes, mussels in saffron-Pernod vinaigrette and chocolate waffles.