Ragout of forest mushrooms, cock's combs and farm-fresh egg, Serrano ham and almond sauce, herbs and flowers from Craigie on Main.
Whether it’s steak frites and frisée aux lardon served up in bistros, or high-end French restaurants that tempt with fragrant, handcrafted fromage, Bostonians’ love a;air with haute cuisine means you don’t have to look far to get a delicious French meal in nearly any part of the city.
The area’s e;ervescent food scene is getting plenty of worldwide attention, too. Cambridge is home to two modern-day French knights—Ihsan Gurdal, co-owner of Formaggio Kitchen, a renowned specialty cheese shop, and Raymond Ost, chef and owner of Sandrine’s Bistro. Both were recently awarded the medal of the French Order of the Mérite Agricole. The famous Parisian cooking school Le Cordon Bleu opened doors here to culinary students in 2007. And three of this year’s James Beard Foundation nominees for Best Chef Northeast are known for their French cuisine: Michael Leviton from Lumière in West Newton, Tony Maws of Craigie on Main, and Marc Orfaly of Pigalle. There’s even some star shine with celebrity cheftestant Michael Schlow of Radius, a modern-French restaurant, who competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, which began airing over the summer.
An appetite for French food means you’ll have your pick, too, from comfort food to cutting-edge, French-inspired dishes that highlight the best of the local New England bounty. Here is just a sampling of some of the finest French restaurants throughout the city.
853 Main St., Cambridge
617-497-5511; craigieonmain.com
Long a local darling, chef and owner Tony Maws garnered some national love with his first James Beard Award nomination for Best Chef Northeast. Despite the new, more spacious digs he recently moved into, Craigie is still jammed with locals. Maws trained in French kitchens in Lyon, France, and took that technique to heart. Here you’ll find a stack of roasted marrow bones served with coarse sea salt and country bread, stu;ed pigs’ trotters, or scrumptious terrines and rillettes.
Adventurous diners should place themselves in Maws’ capable hands by ordering the Chef’s Whim. Available four nights a week beginning at 9 p.m., four courses run $39.99; six courses are $54.99.
Note that the bartending here is superb, as well. Bar manager Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli is fond of Chartreuse, classic pastis and absinthe, and is widely recognized for his encyclopedic knowledge of vintage cocktails, such as the Negroni, Sazerac and the Maiden’s Prayer.
774 Boylston St., Boston
617-266-8800; seldelaterre.com
The newest location for this approachable French brasserie is bubbling with energy, from the main-floor café and bar to the second-floor dining room. Hip,
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