A Song of Fire & Ice

 A restaurant like Fire & Ice, located in Boston’s Back Bay, is an example of how spectacle can sometimes carry a restaurant over the quality of the food. Uncooked meats, vegetables, fish, and poultry are available at various “stations” for patrons to select before bringing them up for cooking on a large circular grill for all the diners to see. Two grill-meisters operate this metal behemoth, shimmying about it’s circumference flipping burgers and tossing noodles. I would imagine it takes a good deal of mental fortitude to do all that cooking surrounded by at least 20 people making sure you don't cock anything up, but they get the job done, and sometimes tap into their inner showmen by tossing morsels mid-air. The quality is, admittedly, nothing special, especially since you can't expect everything to cook perfectly on the same grill, but the entertainment factor compensates for it somewhat. Fire & Ice used to have a location near Harvard Square, that, unfortunately, has since gone silent. But it’s Back Bay location probably rakes in more of a profit, even if the concept probably leaves some of the nearby haute cuisine restaurants appalled.