A local concept clicks, but hold the francais
By Joe Yonan and Amy Graves, Globe Staff, 9/20/2002
Excuse us?
''The peaches,'' he said dryly.
Oh. Of course. The guiltiest party at our table, the one who ordered this
particular dessert and should have recognized at least the word ''peche'' for
''peach,'' gulped at the waiter's Frencher-than-thou attitude. When we looked at
the menu later, the pretentiousness became all the more clear: Not a single
dish, including the peaches, was described in French.
The exchange transported us to Paris, where we've dined at the mercy of many
a famously rude garcon, except that we were just outside Harvard Square, at the
new Craigie Street Bistrot, and this waiter had actually been quite friendl y,
even a bit effusive, until then. Thankfully, little else felt pretentious about
this place, a near-perfect rendition of a bistro in the Marais or Montmartre:
elegantly simple food at reasonable prices, and a decor saturated with mustard,
black, and red.
On tony little Craigie Circle, a cul-de-sac that was home to
''Lolita'' author Vladimir Nabokov in the 1940s, this bistro takes up the
fine-dining cause that Butterfish and Cafe Celador had valiantly fought in the
same space. With only three parking places, this would seem to be a
tough spot for a destination restaurant, and the demise of Butterfish and Cafe
Celador, with their pricey menus, bolsters that estimation.
What about a neighborhood emphasis, then? All these manor-like homes nearby
must be occupied by folks who want to eat well, and if their stock portfolios
have taken a dip, all the more reason to come to Craigie Street, because they
won't find an entree over $20 on the menu. Even the wines range from $15 to $82,
with most well under $40.
After chef Tony Maws's mother, the hostess, Marjorie Maws, plied us with
glasses of sweet Lillet Blanc and a Granier Pastis, that licorice-flavored
aperitif, until our foursome was complete, we settled into our red-leather
banquette, gazed at the graphic retro posters on the walls, and scoped out the
neighborly crowd.
The place was barely half full on this Thursday night, in its first week of
business. A young couple - she with that studied-geek look and he in jeans and
plain white T-shirt, with long sideburns - were as hip as they come, and after
he told the waiter he had been a co-worker of the chef, Maws came out to catch
up.
The menu is small; we tasted everything on it except one entree. Two of us
took Craigie Street up on its ''neighborhood menu,'' a prix -fixe approach that
offers an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert for only $29.
There were a few small disapointments: pallid tomatoes with the skate wing, a
bit of blandness in a pork chop that the waiter had effusively sold. But most of
the food shone, from the soup that sang of pure celery to the duck rillettes
that came in a gorgeous red Le Creuset terrine to the chicken two ways.
The latter dish required a 35-minute wait, but with an appetizer course such
a wait was undetectable and would have been worth it nonetheless. Roasted breast
sat atop a buttery confit thigh, and both pieces had the kind of crispy skin we
usually only dream about. The desserts, from the ''peche'' with lemon verbena
ice cream to the chocolate mousse terrine, were perfectly subtle.
The best part? With three aperitifs, a bottle of wine, four apps, four
entrees, and four desserts, our grand total came to less than $200.
Such a combination of taste and price - as long as the Francophonic attitude
remains a side dish - might be precisely the Craigie Circle formula that sticks.
Craigie Street Bistrot -- 5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge,
617-479-5511.
This story ran on page C12 of the Boston Globe on 9/20/2002.