THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Bonfire

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Bonfire Restaurant Review:

Todd English’s restaurant in the Park Plaza Hotel puts a vaguely Nuevo Latino spin on sexed-up and celebrity-stamped meat and potatoes in a part of the Back Bay’s dense steakhouse cluster. Architect David Rockwell did the dynamic décor, all sinuous lines and deep red hues, lined with tall booths and a room-length bar stocked with tequilas (the house cocktail is a margarita made with Herradura Suprema and Grand Marnier 150 year). Executive chef Bobby Bean commands the kitchen that toes the English-drawn line with big, bold flavors, from skirt steak tacos smothered in pico de gallo and chipotle aïoli to the one-pound burger with sharp cheddar, caramelized onions and smoked bacon to steak sauces like brown-butter hollandaise and horseradish crema. The prices are big, too, but average for the genre. Still, something’s missing; the electricity that English generated a decade ago has given way to corporate glitz, and the serious diners who once flocked to Olives have largely been replaced by tourists and suits. Yet it's tough to argue with $1 tacos on Thursday nights; the deal draws hungry locals still hoping to capture that English energy.