Boston Restaurant Review: Craigie on Main ? Awesome Local New England Food and Best New Restaurant in Boston

Let me put this quite simply, because to be honest it’s difficult to articulate quite the way I’d like.  I’ve found my favorite overall ‘restaurant experience’ in Boston, and it lives at the ‘Ringside’ seats at Craigie on Main in Cambridge.  Not sure what ‘Ringside’ seats refer to?  The pics should help – there are 4 seats basically in the kitchen, right up against a little bar that adjoins the open air kitchen that is right in the middle of the restaurant, separating the bar and seated areas.  We lucked out and got 2 of them and buckled our seat belts for an awesome ride and truly unique experience.

Aimee and I went to Craigie on Main in Central Square the other night expecting a really good meal after all of the buzz that has been surrounding the spot since its opening and move from their previous location when they were known as Craigie Street Bistro.  We went on somewhat of a whim, and lucked out by grabbing a couple of the ‘ringside seats’, which I didn’t even know existed before walking in.  The kitchen in front of us was fast and furious as you might expect, with each of the dozen or so chefs fine tuning their dishes and working together to turn out Craigie’s fare.

Chef Tony Maws oversaw the whole operation from the ‘window’ and carefully tasted, adjusted plating and called out for dishes.  He was even nice enough to speak with us now and again about what we were eating.  Enough about the seats though, let’s get to the food.

The first thing that struck us about Craigie was how in your face their passion for local food is.  Below the menu, there was an entire listing of the local farms where their ingredients are grown with a big ‘Eat Local!’ heading.  This really impressed us, as locally sourced, seasonal ingredients are important to us in the food we eat.  It was impressive how many farms were listed also, there must have been at least 20 there.  Awesome.

Cocktails and Amuse Bouche:

The drink menu looked great to me, and as Aimee and I have increasingly been ordering cocktails instead of wine, I went for the Cucumber Gimlet which was divine – with a good balance between the acid of the lime and smooth cucumber flavor.  An awesome color and great start to the night.  We were also very impressed with the complimentary amuse bouche.  The practice of the amuse bouche is one that every chef in every restaurant should embrace.  It’s not going to cost you too much time to execute, but the gratitude you get from the customer is huge.

The folks at Craigie set the tone for the quality of food we were about to enjoy by serving us Tempura Brandade with Squid Ink Aioli which was succulent and beautiful in its presentation, and an impressive selection for an amuse bouche. For those of you who haven’t sampled brandade, it’s a French dish that typically combines salt cod, milk or cream and olive oil, and it’s absolutely delicious (especially when it’s fried tempura style!).  I’ve never tasted squid ink aioli (or heard of it really), and it added acreamy richness to the dish.  The other amuse bouche we were offered was a Local Mozarella with House Cured Proscuitto and Alfonso Olive Puree. The olive puree flavor resembled that of Kalamata olives, but the consistancy was that of  of a fine ketchup.

Appetizers:

We were really torn when we were ordering at Craigie on Main.  So many of the dishes looked so good – it took some serious deliberation to decide on our appetizers.  The first one that really stuck out to me was the Trio of House-Made Terrines: Lamb Rillettes, Pate de Campagne, Quatre Fois.  I’m definitely a pate fan, and knowing that these pates were made from locally sourced ingredients made us feel really good about ordering the dish.  Each pate was paired with a separate condiment – whole grain mustard, pickled shallots, minced gherkins and some traditional purees.  The consistency of the terrines went from rather course to the super fine mousse that was the quatre fois.  Really enjoyed this app and would recommend it to anyone.  My only complaint is that the 2 toast points that they served alongside wasn’t enough for us to share, especially since we wanted to eat every bit of what was on the plate.

The second appetizer we ordered was a Salad of Greek Sardines that had been cured in salt and served alongside some awesome Thyme vinaigrette and ‘farmer’s market’ vegetables that included root vegetables and bitter fall greens.  The dish was beautifully seasoned and was really nice.  I’ve never really been a sardine fan, as I sometimes find their flavor a little overwhelming in its fishiness, but that was not the case with these.  There was a hint of the fishiness that you might expect from sardines, but the acid from the vinaigrette settled that down a bunch (not to mention the curing process!)

Main Course:

The first of the selections that we chose for our entrees was Grilled Octopus with Hearts of Palm and Chorizo Sauce, an ingredient that Aimee can’t seem to get enough of lately.  We actually selected this from the appetizer menu, but it was a great selection for a light main course. When we bit into the octopus, we were both impressed by the tenderness of it.  We learned from the waitress that the octopus came from a manufacturer in Spain that puts it through a tenderizing machine, which she likened to a washing machine, and then stores the octopus in olive oil for delivery to restaurants.  The chefs at Craigie then grill it to perfection and artfully serve it with cipollini onions, fresh hearts of palm, and a deliciously salty chorizo sauce.  The dish was as beautiful as it was tasty.

The second main course dish we had, Vermont Organic Pork Three Ways, was the star of the night.  It doesn’t take long to figure out that Chef Maws has an affinity for pork.   Not only is the kitchen decorated with pig-shaped cutting boards, the animal is also used as the main logo for the restaurant on Cragie’s website.   Because we had already shared way too many appetizers to be prepared to tackle the pig’s head, which is probably the most famous and daring entree the restaurant offers, we knew we couldn’t go wrong with the pork trio.  This dish included a spice-crusted rib, crispy suckling confit, and grilled pork belly.  The meat on the rib was barely clinging to the bone, and was so tasty that we were bartering for the last bite.  The pork belly was absolutely sinful.  The portion size was perfect – just enough to feel indulgent without feeling overly gluttonous.  The crispy suckling confit was cooked perfectly, and it all was delightfully accompanied by the local maitake mushrooms and fall vegetables also on the plate.

Dessert:

I am sure it seems hard to believe that after eating everything described above that we had saved any room for dessert.  Normally, we are likely to pass on this part of the meal, but you have to understand that it was being prepared right in front of us, as was everything else, all evening.  As we were deciding on a sweet treat, we were surprised by two Tea-Infused Sour Milk Panna Cottas, a gift from the house.  We wanted to be polite, of course, so we had to eat them!  They were both delicious, but the one we most enjoyed was infused with a jasmine tea, which had an amaing cooling effect on the tang from the sour milk.

The dessert which we then ordered was a Cornbread Pain Perdu.  Aimee in particular absolutely loves cornbread, which made this impossible to pass up.  It was a piece of cornbread, which was amazingly moist and gooey, that was cut from a loaf and then toasted.  It was served with a red plum puree, candied fennel, and anise hyssop ice cream.  We had the pleasure of learning about anise hyssop, a remarkably aromatic herb, from Chef Maws himself.  It is actually a member of the mint family, but it has an amazing anise or licorice flavor.  Neither of us typically like a strong licorice flavor, but we absolutely loved the refreshing flavor of this ice cream.  Absolutely amazing!

Finally, just when we thought we had thrown in the towel, we were gifted with a final course.  Luckily for us, this course consisted entirely of foam, so we managed to polish it off just fine!  It was a Peach Foam, which was served in a shot glass to showcase its beautiful color, topped with a yogurt foam, just like a little cappuccino.  Adorable and delicious!

Overall, our meal was one of the most enjoyable we have ever had.  What a treat to see the extremely talented and focused chefs executing their extraordinary dishes.  And we can’t end our review without noting that our service was also spot on.  Our hope for this young restaurant, as it comes up on its first year, is that it will spend many more years sharing its passion for preparing delicious, seasonal, and local food in our neighborhood.