Where to The Table, a 20-seat restaurant within Season to Taste catering headquarters.
What for A prix fixe menu in toasty surroundings prepared by “Top Chef’’ contestant Carl Dooley.
The scene Summer camp for sophisticates. Patrons gather at six or so wooden tables with high-backed chairs, or in booths with black-and-white upholstery straight out of Apartment Therapy. The walls are bare, all the better to focus on the open kitchen led by chipper Dooley and his happy crew. Bushy-bearded guys and Cambridge ladies pop in, asking for menus; couples debate over wine and political choices. Outside, Mass. Ave. gridlock abounds, but a Talking Heads soundtrack drowns out the horns.
What you’re eating Dooley offers a $65 four-course menu that changes regularly; diners get two choices per course. Tonight, it’s grilled squid salad or beef tartare; lamb merguez or Maine mussels stew; foie gras-stuffed chicken or glazed hake splashed with butternut squash curry; and citrus pavlova (a meringue-y concoction with grapefruit sorbet) or a dark chocolate marquise coated in butterscotch and crunchy hazelnuts. Portions are big but not scarily so, and there are plenty of tasty extras, like sourdough bread with house-cultured butter, cups of garlicky duck consommé, and wedges of peanut brittle. Before you leave, you’ll likely get two tightly wrapped mini granola bars. “For breakfast tomorrow,’’ says a plaid-clad server. There’s also a small counter where walk-ins can graze on dressed-up snacks like foie gras mousse or sheep’s milk feta ($9).
Care for a drink? There are no cocktails, but there’s plenty of wine. Servers chat enthusiastically about “highly structured’’ reds and “snappy’’ whites; bottles top out at $84. There’s also a nice list of local and German beer in the $10 range. Not drinking? Ask for Spindrift soda.
Overheard Academic gossip, culinary name-dropping, political strife, beer worship. “She hasn’t been to campus since April. This just cannot go on,’’ a dignified older man tells a worshipful young protégé. “Were you on ‘Top Chef’? Our daughter goes to culinary school and works at Eleven Madison Park!’’ a gleeful couple inform Dooley, on hand to deliver entrees. “Wow, that’s great!’’ he says politely. “We need someone who will mobilize the militia. We need someone who will move this country!’’ a man with a popped collar insists. “Ballast Point deserves a gentle pour,’’ sighs a reverential server, who charmingly editorializes on the tastiness of each dish as it’s cleared.
The Table at Season to Taste, 2447 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-871-9468, www.cambridgetable.com
Kara Baskin can be reached at kcbaskin@gmail.com
