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DISPATCHES
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FOOD&DRINK
RESTEDROOT
Savoring spring
with the help of a
few hibernating
vegetables
New England’s winters
can last well into
May, but Charles
Draghi, chef-owner of
Piemontese restaurant
Erbaluce in Boston’s
Bay Village neighborhood,
says he never resents watching
the rest of the country binge
blithely on asparagus
and fiddleheads. His
favorite cold-climate
consolation prize:
spring-dug parsnips,
which spend all winter
in the frozen soil and, in
the process, undergo a
semi-magical transfor-
mation. The starches
convert to sugars,
leaving the parsnips
sweeter and more complex.
“
The fibrousness breaks down,
and they take on a honeyed
JOE FRESH
An innovative tra oria pumps
up the postprandial coffee
THE ESPRESSO AT CINQUECENTO,
recently
opened in the South End by the Aquitaine
Group, isn’t just good. It’s remarkably good.
Strong, clean and aromatic—and hot in a
way that jolts your memory about tem-
perature as a coffeemaking parameter—it’s
topped by a tawny crema frothy enough to
be mistaken for the crown on a cappuccino.
This would be high praise for an artisan java
joint. For a midpriced Roman-style tra oria,
where the coffee is an a er-dinner drink, it’s
downright extraordinary.
For that, you can thank Cinquecento’s staff
barista, who’s charged with ensuring the
restaurant’s coffee service is more than mere
a erthought. Order a cuppa with dessert at
your typical eatery, and chances are your drink
is coming froman industrial-sizeddispenser or
anautomatic espressomaker. Here, it’s brewed
to order by a trained specialistwho serves it at
your table like a caffeine-pushing sommelier.
Aquitaine culinary director Christopher
Robins says the decision to upgrade the
espresso service came about during a fact-
finding trip to Rome, where a brainstorming
session was fueled by a flawlessly brewed
round. “Weweremaking a list of all the things
we liked about restaurants inRome, andwhat
we wanted to bring back to Boston. Excellent
coffee was way up there.” —J.H.
DISHING THE DIRT
Spring parsnips,
beautiful on the inside
PICKINGUP STEAM
Cinquecento’s coveted espresso
ANDY RYAN (BOSTON CHOPS); KEVIN DAY (PICCINI);
SHUTTERSTOCK (PARSNIPS); IZZY BERDAN (ESPRESSO)
Trimming the Fat
Sometimes an architectural marvel can prove too
marvelous for its own good
When Boston Chops co-owner
Brian Piccini signed the lease
for his new South End steak-
house last year, he inherited
an architectural sensation. The
original 1917 Classical Revival
structure on Washington Street
was grand enough, but it was the
lavish multimillion-dollar over-
haul in 2008 (for the launch of
short-lived upscale restaurant
Banq) that had design scribes
swooning. Architecture journals
extolled the “intrepid spirit” of
the interior’s undulating curves
and swoops.
Wallpaper
crowned
it the year’s best restaurant
design, noting that it “sets the
senses swirling with its banyan
tree–inspired aesthetic.”
That is, it used to—until Piccini
and his partners spent $10,000
to rip out the renovation, right
down to the last award-winning
scrap of CNC-milled Baltic birch
plywood. “The previous space
was all about form,” Piccini says.
“
It looked beautiful, but in terms
of operating a busy restaurant,
it made zero functional sense.”
The “flow” was off, as were the
acoustics, he says. “It was basi-
cally an echo chamber, a loud
space that was uncomfortable
