Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/256387
have created an audacious spin-off to Punch's successful Ten Tables Cambridge, where he was co-owner and chef. The casual, 48-seat dining room is welcoming, as is the 16-seat bar to the right of the entrance, where diners can elect to eat or merely sample some dozen excellent wines by the glass or inventive cocktails like the Ghost of Mary, with citron vodka, spicy tomato water, and dilly bean; or the Harlan County Buck, with house-infused apple Bourbon and fall- scented spices, conjured up by skilled bar manager Scott Shoer. Punch and Reichert have created what they call "a neighborhood bistro," and the dishes flirt with European influences while asserting their own culinary identities. Little bites, or what the menu calls "Snacks," for example, include rarely seen, warm, French-inspired gougères, dainty, airy, Gruyere-infused puffs of pâte à choux ($5); parsnip-almond skordalia, a Greek dip redolent with garlic ($5); or delicate, tiny, meatball-sized Spanish croquettas, studded with chorizo and sitting in a savory pool of a red pepper, almond, and tomato-rich Romesco sauce ($6). "Starters" are larger, more elaborate dishes and can include Equinox farm greens, tossed with Manchego cheese, smoked almonds, crispy shallots, and a sherry vinaigrette ($9); a silken mushroom soup made with chanterelles and garnished with cornbread croutons and herbed chantilly sauce ($10); or, the supernal dish of the evening on a recent visit, the nearly confectionary cappelletti, delicate pasta bundles of red kuri squash, laced with sage-infused brown butter, chili, and dusted with the sweet almond-scented crumbs of crushed amaretti cookies ($12). For the main course selections the house has created an always- changing signature dish, meant for two, which is currently the beef board ($65), offering samplings of beef — grilled, smoked, roasted, braised, and as part of a refined sandwich — all accompanied with smoked onion puree, mustard-infused spaetzle, sauerkraut, dill pickle, and rye bread. 178 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 local cuisine "the dishes flirt with European influences " Cook B E T H F U R M A N 176-181_WWMa14_local cuisine_trio_v2_local cuisine 2/2/14 1:27 PM Page 178