Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Shop to Eat or Eat to Shop?
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As the shopping season kicks into high gear, the newly opened Natick Collection may become a hot spot for people all over the state, not just for designer shopping, but for eating. The Collection (insider Natick speak) sports outposts of three Boston area favorite restaurants: Sel de la Terre, Finale Desserterie and Bakery, and Met Bar and Grill, a new concept from the creator of the Metropolitan Club in Chestnut Hill.
The high costs of real estate in Brookline, Boston and Cambridge have made the burbs increasingly attractive to business owners. But the tastes and demands of suburban customers are just as discerning as those of their urban neighbors. They want beautiful shops with designer merchandise and enough high-end services to fill a luxurious few hours, if not a whole day.
“What I’m looking for when I shop or go out, is I want to eat really good food. That’s what I’ve built here,” says Kathy Sidell Trustman, owner of the Met Bar & Grill. “Here you can get a nice scarf at Burberry and have a sophisticated lunch at the same time,” says Geoff Gardner, executive chef and partner at Sel de la Terre.
Step inside any of these three places and even if you’ve never even been in the vicinity of Natick before, you’ll get a comfortable feeling of being someplace familiar. Each restaurant uses the designs and concepts that have made their other locations so distinctive. Yet, say each of the owners, the Natick Collection offered an opportunity to also create something original, and to do so at an affordable price.
“Trying to create something special and of great value in a humble and unpretentious way has always been at the core of our mission,” says Gardner. Yet, because all of the food is made from scratch, he says, making a “carbon copy” would be impossible. So, while there are some signature dishes featured on each of his restaurant’s menus – such as the Provencal braised boneless beef short ribs with olive oil whipped potatoes and the grilled black Angus rib eye steak frites with a red wine shallot reduction – chef Daniel Bojorquez in Natick has been given free rein “to be creative in his own right,” says Gardner. Included in Bojorquez’s original fare are a pan-roasted Maryland striped bass with white bean casserole, caramelized pearl onions, and PEI mussels and a spice-rubbed pork tenderloin with a beet-potato gratin and pickled red onions in a bourbon-barbecue jus.
Trustman wanted to do something more casual than her Chestnut Hill spot. The answer is the Met Burger Bar, with Executive Chef Todd Winer’s “internationally inspired” burgers, like the Tokyo, made with Kobe beef, sticky soy and Daikon sprouts and the Paris, with brie and truffle mayo. But while the food features ingredients such as truffle oil and seared foie gras, the prices won’t discourage you from continuing to shop.
The menu at Finale, which uses a central pastry kitchen under the direction of executive pastry chef Nicole Coady, is the same as at the company’s Boston, Brookline and Cambridge locations; however, says co-founder and president, Paul Conforti, the hours certain dessert items are available are different. The most indulgent desserts, including a decadent creation called the Manjari Mousse, bittersweet chocolate mousse layered with chocolate buttermilk cake and French apricot puree, served with a napoleon of blackberry cabernet sorbet and strudel dough, can be ordered earlier in the day at the Natick location, and as late as 11:00 pm during the week and midnight on the weekends.
Gardner, Trustman and Conforti, who are all parents themselves, say that they serve more children at their Natick locations than their other restaurants, and little diners are made to feel very welcome. Sel de la Terre and the Met Bar have special kids’ menus.
At the Met Bar, Trustman made a conscious effort to make the space accommodating to children. For example, the aisles in the restaurant were built to be wide enough for even a three-across stroller. Explaining her restaurant’s kid-friendly attitude, she says, “I would rather be with my kids than with anyone.”
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