The Hungry Eye? Leaving so soon?

My husband and I went out to dinner all the time. ALL.THE. TIME. I had a pretty demanding job, and Jim worked out of the house, so by dinner time, he wanted to get out of the house. There were plenty of weeks when we went out every night except for Saturdays, when we (mostly) ordered in Chinese, Thai or pizza.

One of the restaurants closest to us was the Hungry I, a French bistro which for nearly 40 years occupied a prime spot on Charles Street.

Restaurants come and go on The Hill, but the Hungry I certainly had staying power.

And it did it without us.

For some reason, we never got there.

We did try once, sticking our heads in just as they were opening. But we didn’t have reservations, so they couldn’t take us. We walked by a bit later, and it was mostly empty. It was mostly empty most of the time we looked in. We figured you needed to make a reservation well in advance so they’d be sure to have some food around for you.

Oh, it looked plenty charming: a brick-walled basement that your could easily peer in to. It was considered one of Boston’s most romantic restaurants.

We just never ate there.

We had a favorite romantic French restaurant on The Hill, but it wasn’t the Hungry I. It was Au Beauchamp, with it’s light turquoise banquettes and the Paris-scene murals on the walls. We loved that place, which looked like something straight out of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the 1950’s. Jim always ordered the trout almandine, I usually went with coquilles San Jacques.

We mourned when Au Beauchamp closed, then cheered when it was replaced by Another Season. We didn’t frequent Another Season quite as often as we did Au Beau, and were bummed when they painted over the murals, but we ate there plenty of times. We did the same at the Persian restaurant, Lala Rokh, now closed, which replaced Another Season in the 1990’s.

During this time,The Charles (on Chestnut Street) must have been under five or six owners. It’s been 75 Chestnut for a long time now. We were regulars.

We ate a lot at the Beacon Hill Bistro (still going strong, although under changed ownership), and its predecessor, Rebecca’s (which inspired me to add orange-chocolate pound cake to my baking repertoire). And before that, it was decidedly non-romantic dump of a steak house with red-checked table cloths and grisly meat. (We rarely ate there.)

We were regulars at Toscano’s (still there; still am).  At the cute little Dutch place which has probably been gone for as long as the Hungry I has been in existence. And at Bel Canto (with the wonderful deep dish broccoli and walnut pizza: yum!). And Tiger Lily, up on Joy Street – I couldn’t remember the name, but my sister Trish did – with the outdoor, hidden garden dining room and the scrumptious scallop mousse, which Jim would sometimes have for dessert. Cozy indoor dining, too. Fireplace on in the winter…(We loved that place, and it was even more romantic than Au Beauchamp.)

Not once during all this time eating out in our ‘hood did we ever step toe in the Hungry I.

A few weeks ago, I walked by, glanced in, saw no one there, and made a mental note to actually have dinner there at some point. Soon.

Alas, I’m too late.

The Hungry I, which has been a staple of Beacon Hill dining since 1981, has closed.

For 38 years, the restaurant remained a contender on the city’s burgeoning restaurant scene. Zagat and Time Out named it one of Boston’s most romantic restaurants in 2018 and 2019 features, respectively. A website for the quaint hideaway claims it hosted more wedding proposals than anywhere else in the city. The statistic remains unconfirmed, but The Hungry I befit such a special occasion in cuisine, ambiance, and price tag. (Source: Boston Globe)

We did know people who had eaten there, and most of them weren’t all that impressed. Overpriced. Too cramped. Snotty waiters.

Not that any of those were deal breakers. Over the years, we ate at plenty of overpriced, cramped restaurants with snotty waiters. Just not that one.

The price of the real estate, the lure of the bucks that the liquor license would go for, proved too much for the owner.

A bookstore and cafe will move in, partially staying true to the establishment, which was once called The Hungry Intellectual.

I’ll be delighted to see a bookstore, as it’s been years since we’ve had one in the neighborhood. Oh, the Trident is only a mile away. But sometimes you just want a book. And you want it NOW, not after a 20 minute walk. And the only place to get a book is Gary Drug, that carries mostly trade paperbacks, but sometimes lit fic, and in any case works out if you’re desperate but don’t want to Kindle.

I can’t say that this hungry intellectual will miss the Hungry I. You can’t miss something you never experienced, can you? But I am sorry that Jim and I didn’t get there just once, if only to complain about it afterwards.

Yet another opportunity lost.