This January, The Charles closed for two weeks for a snap renovation. While crews reupholstered and repaired elements of the 8-year-old restaurant, Duro Hospitality’s designers updated the interior look, and kitchen leadership rebuilt the menu. Now the restaurant’s decor is darker and moodier. A celebration of the wood-fired grill runs straight down the center of the menu, taking pride of place. The mostly Italian wine list is getting deeper and better, too.
But none of these things is the biggest change at The Charles since my last visit, three years ago. No, that would be the rise in confidence. This restaurant has swagger.
It always did, you might point out. Look at that interior! From opening day, The Charles was festooned with Roman statues and columns, mirrors with snakes for frames, cheetah-print fabrics, and notoriously raunchy bathroom artwork. But the new, slightly more restrained design reflects the difference between the boastfulness of youth and the calmer self-assurance of a restaurant in middle age…