Where to Forage, in Cambridge’s old Ten Tables space, tucked beneath a brick-walled Cambridge apartment building. If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were descending into a shrink’s office on the Upper West Side.
What for A cozy meal presided over by Stan Hilbert, the affable former general manager at Ten Tables’ Jamaica Plain location.
The scene The digs are subterranean; the lights are low; it’s steps from Harvard. If one were having an affair with an older professor, this would be a prime place to reconnoiter.
What you’re eating Whatever’s in season. Forage takes its name seriously and promises to prepare local ingredients with “dignity and respect,’’ according to its website. Thoughtfulness, too: A plea for berries is declined — “not in season yet,’’ apologizes a server — but sorbets appear instead. A tub of house-made hot paste with fermented garlic and chiles arrives when a guest requests spice. Goat cheese flan ($10) is draped with fresh asparagus; a half-portion of sweet potato soup (normally $11) is offered as a complimentary treat because it won’t be at its peak for much longer. For those who lament the lack of dandelion ice cream at J.P. Licks, come to Forage — here, it’s served with cold poached arctic char ($12). Main courses are unusual, too. A pork chop ($29) is brined with saffron and served with raisins, mint, and crispy kale; pan-seared mahi mahi ($27) comes alongside potatoes with melted Consider Bardwell Rupert. Never considered Rupert until now? Neither had we. (It’s a Gruyere-like cow’s milk cheese from Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm.) For dessert, perhaps burdock bread pudding with pea green ice cream ($9).
Care for a drink? Remember Clarence from “It’s a Wonderful Life’’? The fallen angel who got kicked out of a bar for wanting flaming rum punch? He’d drink well here. Circle Punch ($12) combines local rums, bourbons, fruits, spices, and clarified milk. Non-drinkers are treated to non-alcoholic sips like tarragon or nasturtium soda.
Overheard Brushes with fame. “Ugh. My husband’s going back on C-SPAN. He thinks he’s a celebrity,’’ a bespectacled woman sighs to a friend. “I’m an educated woman in a leadership role. Of course I’m voting Hillary,’’ her confidante later declares, but not before requesting more hot paste and mentioning a brush with the Obamas. Hilbert ambles to a table of white-haired lions in tweed. “This dish is a perfect example of fermented versus pickled!’’ he says. The fellows nod approval. “My son created an app for picking up women instantly. He’s tired of being rejected,’’ another dame says with a maternal swirl of pride and disgust. “It made the Times.’’
5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, 617-576-5444, www.forage cambridge.com
Kara Baskin can be reached at kcbaskin@ gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @kcbaskin.
