Misstropolis

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Not Your Father’s Steakhouse

by Clara Silverstein

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When chef Pino Maffeo and his business partners decided to redesign and rename Restaurant L in Boston, they went back to a basic concept – a steakhouse. But Maffeo, recognized last year as one of America’s Best New Chefs by Food & Wine magazine, never intended to just offer meat and potatoes. Known as a culinary innovator whose dishes sometimes literally pop on the tongue, Maffeo still plans plenty of surprises from behind the gauzy brown, sparkling curtains at the new Boston Public Meat restaurant.

“It’s not like an old school steak house,” says Maffeo, who is slightly hoarse after several days of instructing staff above the din of the kitchen. “We’re always doing fun things. The textures and multi-layered flavors are still there.”

That means raw oysters topped with crunchy fried rice and ultra-finely minced apples, or a bowl of papardelle dotted with truffle foam. An entire “Chinatown” section of the menu is devoted to Asian-influenced dishes, including pork and prawn egg rolls, and crab wontons.

The steak section starts with prime cuts – many from grass-fed cattle raised on local farms – but takes them in new directions. A special oven flash-cooks the meat at 1800 degrees, searing in the juices. Accompaniments are interesting, too – cinnamon pickles with the Kobe beef burger, miso butter with the skirt steak. Side dishes include fries, of course, but also taro puree, gnocchi, sautéed oyster mushrooms, and pickled eggplant. Maffeo even stocks 30 kinds of salt in his kitchen, including a Himalayan rock salt that comes in a block. Servers grate it over the meat tableside, the way they might grate Parmesan cheese over pasta.

The energetic chef seems to thrive on cutting-edge techniques and unusual ingredients. Boston Public Meat’s name comes from Maffeo’s East Boston roots. He and business partner Nino Trotta both attended Boston Public Schools. Growing up in a large, extended Italian family, Maffeo developed his interest in food at family meals. “You name it, they cooked it. We even had pigs’ feet,” he says. His first jobs, however, were at his mother’s cleaning company, which sent crews into state buildings. After graduating from Newbury College’s culinary program in 1991, he worked in San Francisco, where he became friends with chef Patricia Yeo. Later, he joined her in New York at AZ and as co-executive chef at Pazo. In 2004, Maffeo opened Restaurant L. Originally, he and his partners (Trotta and Olzhas Tugelbayev) planned to open their steakhouse at a hotel in Miami, but then decided to stay in Boston.

Redesigning Restaurant L’s two rooms on the ground floor of the Louis, Boston store in the Back Bay challenged them to rethink how the space worked. “We wanted something relaxing and comfortable, in darker tones,” says Maffeo. They ended up installing a bar to the left of the entry, and hanging photos of cows and a Mongolian cowboy on a motorcycle above it. The dining room’s brown walls are offset by white tablecloths, hanging pinewood lamps and Danish wallpaper decorated with circles that look like sponge prints. Throw pillows add contrasting colors and coziness. The wait staff wears jeans with a squiggle of light blue fabric across each back pocket.

Maffeo says he hopes the restaurant’s décor will help people relax and enjoy the menu, which is he describes as completely flexible. “You can mix and match. If you want a big steak, you can have it. If you want Pino’s surprises, you can have those, too.”

Maffeo anticipates that Boston Public will become part of several new food ventures, though he declined to go into more detail about them. “It’s part of a puzzle. The name will make even more sense when we open the others.”

Boston Public, 234 Berkeley St., 617-266-4680. Open for lunch and dinner.

Barbecued Ribs with Green Thai Chile Sauce
Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as an entrée

This recipe from the “Chinatown” section of the Boston Public menu pairs pork ribs with a spicy sauce. The ribs should be tender but “not falling off the bone – kind of semi-soft,” says chef Pino Maffeo. The sauce is quite spicy, so a little goes a long way. Look for oyster sauce, lemon grass, Thai chile peppers, and Thai fish sauce at an Asian market or a supermarket with a well-stocked Asian section.

Green Thai Chile Dipping Sauce:
8 green Thai chile peppers or 2 jalapeno peppers
1/2 clove garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (also called nam pla)
2 tablespoons lime juice

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Adjust the taste with more sugar or lime juice, if needed. 

Ribs:
6 tablespoons Chinese oyster sauce
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (also called nam pla)
1 stalk lemon grass (white part only), finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons), or 3 tablespoons lemon peel with pith
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Black pepper, to taste
2 pounds pork ribs

1. In a bowl or large, re-sealable plastic bag, combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce, lemon grass, sugar, garlic, and black pepper. Add the ribs and toss until they are thoroughly coated with the marinade. Cover the bowl or seal the bag tightly and refrigerate for 24-36 hours.
2. To bake, place the ribs in a roasting pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. To grill, preheat a grill to a low temperature. Place the ribs on the rack and grill over low heat, turning frequently, until the ribs become browned on all sides, about 25 minutes.
3. Serve with Green Thai Chile Dipping Sauce and rice.

Photo of Pino Maffeo by Eric Levin