Lumiere

We'll take a short break from the Thailand! series to focus on a couple Boston restaurants. Newton is a town right outside of Boston adjacent to Watertown, where all those crazy things happened the week following the Boston Marathon Bombings. Newton was under lockdown as well during this time.

I don't go out to Newton much.

Sure, I'll make the occasional special trip to visit one of our favorite chefs who used to work in Cambridge. But it's a trek. Public transportation out there from Cambridge is cumbersome, and traffic can be pretty bad right around mealtimes.

But then last Christmas, Bryan received a really thoughtful gift from one of his co-workers. I guess their family knew Bryan likes eating out, and gave him a gift certificate to Lumiere.

I can't believe we waited this long, but we finally made a reservation to visit this popular restaurant on a Friday night just a few weeks ago.

Lumiere means "light" in French. Indeed, the lights at this restaurant are both whimsical and fun (see first photo on top).

The moment I walked in, I immediately liked the friendly vibe of the restaurant. Though it's an elegant and sophisticated space, the environment is also warm and cozy - not the least bit stuffy. In fact, the dress code listed on the restaurant website is "casual" and conversations are open and relaxed.

Chef-owner Michael Leviton, who is also the co-owner of one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge, started Lumiere in 1999 and it has been going strong since, often showing up on "best of" lists for the greater Boston area. Lumiere applies both classic French and modern cooking techniques to local, sustainable, and seasonal ingredients. They source a lot of their produce form Verrill Farm in Concord, MA, Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, MA, and the Northeast Family Farms Cooperative.

The Lumiere menu is divided up into "first courses" ($12-$18), "main courses" ($29-$32), and "sides" ($8-$11). You can also choose the chef's tasting menu, which costs $70 (additional $30 for wine pairing) and includes five total courses (three savory courses, cheese, and dessert).

Not everyone has to get the tasting menu, a philosophy I really, really like. I always feel constrained by that requirement, though I understand why restaurants do it. We decided Bryan would get the tasting menu but I would order some other dishes off of the a la carte menu.

Instead of getting the wine pairing that goes with the tasting, we opted for a half bottle of white to start off the meal and then a bottle of red to finish. Though we were not particularly familiar with their wine list, they did a fantastic job of helping us select out wines.

It's nice when the servers try to recommend bottles that they personally think are great values and not necessarily always the most expensive ones.

We started with a tiny amuse of smoked sablefish pate and cucumber. I loved how the light and crunchy cucumber balanced out the smoky and creamy sablefish.

For my starter, I enjoyed the first bounty from spring! Roasted Asparagus and Spring Onions were topped with a perfectly poached Chip-In farm egg and served together with Romesco sauce, chopped almonds, and hazelnuts. The egg "popped" when I broke it open, and the runny yolk became a sauce covering the whole dish. Yum.

Bryan's first course in his tasting menu was a Fish Tartare topped with avocado cream and served alongside a spicy soy-sesame vinaigrette. The flavors were fine, reminiscent of tried-and-true Japanese-inspired combinations.

Bryan's second course was Barnegat Light Sea Scallops served over a carrot purée and topped with carrot-fennel salad. The entire dish was then dressed with a gorgeously fragrant citrus vinaigrette and fennel oil. Though I typically don't love orange flavored savory dishes, I was so surprised how well it worked in this application. This dish was fantastic and easily my favorite dish of the evening.

I had ordered the entree sized portion (not pictured), which comes with a generous five scallops. You can also get the appetizer portion, which comes with three scallops. The version pictured above is the tasting menu portion.
 The main dish was a simple Grilled Steak, which came with Shitake mushrooms, cipollini onions, and beef jus. Bryan ordered it "as rare as you're willing to cook it." When the steak came, although it was *just* a bit over (maybe on the way to medium rare), Bryan thought it was fine and started cutting it and eating it.

A few moments later our server stopped by and remarked, "that does not look like a true rare steak. Let me get the kitchen to make you a new one."

"But I've already started eating a significant portion of it."

"That's quite alright. You should get a properly cooked steak."

She whisked that one away, and moments later, a new, absolutely perfectly cooked piece of rare steak came out.

Now that's really good service.

Although the steak typically comes with fries, the tasting menu portion did not include French Fries, so we ordered a side of it ($8). These fries were only OK, being just a bit soft and not super crispy. Nevertheless, they were tasty enough that we still demolished most of that basket!

The tasting came with a cheese course. We had the Von Trapp Farmstead“Oma” Cheese, which was served with apple mostarda, Aquidneck honeycomb, hazelnuts, and a cider reduction. The cheese was pretty mild but definitely enjoyable. Bryan typically prefers stronger cheeses but he was still perfectly happy to finish this one.

Finally for dessert, we shared Bryan's final course, a tiny homemade Apple Galette topped with Greek yogurt ice cream. It was very good - simple and satisfying.

General Thoughts
I was not sure what to expect here, but I really enjoyed my dinner at Lumiere. I shouldn't be surprised, considering that it's like the "parent" of one of my Cambridge favorites. The food was excellent, and everything was prepared with care. The ambiance was warm, cozy, and relaxed, and the service was superb.

If it were not so far away, I could see myself quickly becoming a regular here. In fact, we met a couple sitting next to us who had been coming almost every other week for the past fourteen years. That's dedication.

We're so thankful to Bryan's co-worker for giving us this gift certificate. Otherwise, I'm not sure how long it would have taken before I went out to Newton to try this place on my own.

Lumiere
1293 Washington St
Newton, MA 02465

Sycamore

We had such a great thing going. Why did it have to be cut short so soon?

Bryan and I moved into the neighborhood just north of Harvard Square a little over a year ago. After ten years, we had gotten quite comfortable living between Central and Harvard Square (where we'd established our favorite haunts). It was a bit unsettling to start all over when we moved.

Thankfully, we soon discovered Ten Tables, a cozy, quaint little restaurant tucked away on a residential street just a few minutes' walk away from our new home.

Chef David Punch was super friendly and showered us with warm hospitality every time we visited. Soon, we became regulars, preferring to sit up front at the newly installed bar so that we could chat with Dave, mostly about our common passion: food.

One day - out of the blue - we arrived at Ten Tables to learn that Chef David Punch was no longer there. He had left to open his own restaurant in Newton Center. Chef Dan Janus (who had been sous chef while Dave was there) had been promoted to executive chef.

Newton?? Why so far away, Dave??

We knew we had to visit our old friend and say hello. A couple days after Sycamore opened in December, we drove through rush hour traffic (yes, it took 45 minutes from Cambridge) to visit Chef Dave Punch and his new digs.

The menu at Sycamore is divide into four sections: snacks ($4-$7), starters ($9-$13), mains ($19-$25), and sides ($5-$6). Some of Dave's signature dishes from Ten Tables, such as his incredible boudin blanc, have made their way over to the Sycamore menu.

The plan is to change the menu relatively frequently, guided by the seasonality of ingredients and Dave's imagination.

We ran into some friends who were dining there that same night. After exchanging pleasantries, they got straight to the point.

"You have to get the gougeres. They are transcendent."

That got my attention. These friends of mine do not use the word "transcendent" lightly.  It sounded like we had to try some for ourselves. The Warm Gougeres, which Dave calls "alpine cheese puffs", is a "snack" that's sold for only $4. We immediately placed an order for gougeres.

Warm Gougeres $4

The gougeres were delicious. They were light and airy, yet had a substantial and deep cheese flavor at the same time. Instead of being thick and dense, oozing out cheesiness like some gougeres I've had, these were more like pillows - light as a feather. You could eat these all day and not feel weighed down.

In fact, our friends liked the gougeres so much they decided to get two additional orders as their dessert.

I kid you not.

Because we really didn't know what to order, we just asked Dave to "cook for us." We gave him complete free reign in deciding which dishes he wanted to share.

Keep that in mind while you look at these pictures. While some of them may reflect the actual size of the dish on the menu, in other cases he may have scaled down the portion sizes since we ended up eating 5-6 courses.

We started with the  Roasted Beet Salad, a "special of the day" that is not on the regular menu. This particular salad came with pistachios and a horseradish (or was it parsnip?) cream. As I've come to expect from Dave, the ingredients were fresh and excellent quality.  I love beets in general, and I liked having the combination of red and golden beets. It was a great way to begin the meal.

The Grilled R.I. Squid came next served over pinquito beans, arugula, braised cardoons, and crispy black olives ($13). Chef Dave is a master at cooking rustic, flavorful dishes, and this was no exception. The Mediterranean-inspired flavors came together beautifully, and the squid was incredibly soft and tender. They were barely cooked (that's a good thing!) and had absolutely no hint of that rubbery texture you see too often with overcooked squid.

Dare I say this? It was the best squid I'd had since the squid sashimi I had at Sukiyabashi Jiro in Japan.

This dish was most definitely a winner and probably my favorite of the night.

The Roasted Fluke, a main dish, came with crispy potatoes, artichokes, and garlic confit. It was served with this vividly green herb puree and topped with a Meyer lemon chip. The fish was executed well, with simple but solid well-balanced flavors.

The Handmade Agnolotti (a "starter"  on the menu) became a mid pastas course for us. It was tossed with sage in a savory roasted bird jus sauce. The texture of the agnolotti was excellent (yay fresh pasta), and the roasted bird jus gave the dish an intense, deep umami flavor.

One of the most special items on the menu is the Hudson Valley Duck Board for two for $60. On this board, you'll enjoy duck prepared a number of ways - roasted breast, leg confit, grilled sausage, and duck marmalade. The board also includes chestnut puree, grilled pear, parsnip mostarda, and cranberry compote.

The picture above only shows you a portion of the duck board. My friends had ordered it and had already started eating it when we arrived at the restaurant. I was able to snap a photo of most of the board (looks like the leg confit and the breast are still intact, but maybe they ate all the sausage?).

Dave also served us various bites from the duck board, such as the leg confit over crostini.

Dave's house-made duck sausage was fantastic served with a little bit cranberry compote.

The roasted duck breast was gorgeously cooked (look at how pink it is on the inside!) and came served with the grilled pear (also part of the normal duck board). Our friends were very impressed with the entire duck board, and I must say that all the little bites we had were excellent. This was another one of our favorites from the evening's "tasting."

For dessert, the server highly recommended the Lemon Pot de Crème, which came topped with huckleberries and served with a side of rosemary shortbread ($9). Bryan and I both loved this dessert. The  pot de creme was rich and creamy yet well balanced by the tartness of the sweet huckleberries. I loved the intense fruit flavors that came from the huckleberries as well.

I would definitely order this again.
 Bryan got the Warm Beignets ($8), which came with apple butter and canela crème anglaise.  Not surprisingly, these were delicious, though I've had good beignets in lots of places. It's a safe stand-by, but I personally found the lemon pot de creme to be a much more interesting dessert.

Overall, we were very impressed with all of the food. For a restaurant that's only been open for less than a week, we were pleased with how smoothly everything went. The place wasn't completely packed, which probably made it easier. Chef Dave said they wanted to open quietly and softly so they could slowly ramp things up. Honestly, they seem to have it together pretty well already.

Chef Dave Punch is really talented, and it's exciting to see him finally open up his own place. I can't wait to see what he dreams up once spring arrives and he has the whole bounty of spring produce with which to experiment.

Expect rustic, flavorful dishes that are executed really, really well. You won't see anything too crazy here (no foams or weird gels). After all, Chef Dave is more of a traditionalist when it come to cooking ("kids these days can use all these fancy gadgets yet don't even know how to properly grill a fish!"). He uses age-old techniques, but executes with extreme precision and skill. Sometimes I swear the food he cooks is so tender it must be done via sous vide, even though I know it hasn't. The guy's just that good.

I'm still a bit sad he's not in my 'hood anymore, but I'm also really excited for him. Opening up Sycamore is a fantastic opportunity, and I'm sure he'll do really well.

And it's not like Ten Tables disappeared. In fact, Chef Dan has been doing a great job as executive chef so far, and we still continue to frequent Ten Tables. At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest blessing of all is that Boston gets to gain an excellent restaurant without losing another one.

Win win, I say.

(especially for you folks who live in Newton)
Sycamore
755 Beacon St
Newton, MA 02459