Delicious is a word that Boston Public chef/co-owner Pino Maffeo uses a lot. It’s a simple word, direct and passionate — much like the chef himself.
I first fell in love with Maffeo over a bowl of truffled popcorn that he served instead of a bread basket. I’d never seen or tasted it before, nor had I ever been offered a spritz from a spray atomizer packed with the essence of fresh herbs, held over my dish by the server as comfortably as he might brandish a pepper mill. Maffeo is still the edgiest chef in Boston, but at his new restaurant, he made a decision to soften that edge. A few months ago, Maffeo and his partners transformed their Restaurant L into Boston Public, an “Asian, protein-heavy concept restaurant” that feels like a steakhouse with Asian overtones. Curious and a little crestfallen, I went for dinner there, expecting to be pleased by the meal but a little let down. Wrong. The food was magnificent, from the French fries stacked like Lincoln Logs to the perfectly seared tuna. It was food that was familiar and fantastic at the same time. Though it’s still housed in the Louis Boston building, Boston Public is as conceptually distant from Restaurant L as two restaurants could be. This one isn’t about dazzle and flash, Maffeo says, but “all about delicious.” So I was curious. What happened? Why the shift from edge to ease?
Q: Does this mean anything about the super-tech Spanish food revolution? Is it “over” the way cuisine nouvelle is “over”?A: Not at all. As a result of the “Spanish revolution,” cooking changed permanently, as it always will. Nouvelle cuisine changed cooking, too, changed the way we think of how food should taste and look. Revolutions always change the course of the future, and the good stuff sticks and things stay changed forever. And, by the way, the revolution didn’t only happen in Spain — it’s just that people got tired of writing about France and Italy. Food changes as culture changes. Show me a plate from any decade and I can tell you more about the culture of the times by studying how it is plated, how the sauces are layered, how the food occupies the space.
Q: Has your cooking changed dining in Boston?A: When I first came to Boston, I was the only one using some of these techniques. Now, bit by bit, the best restaurants in Boston all use some of the same techniques. Food changes as tastes change. Think about sushi: everyone thought that was a trend, too — and now people routinely expect that their tuna will be flash-seared and served rare. The problem with “new” cooking techniques is that there are people who try to copy it, jump on the bandwagon, don’t know what they are doing, and do it badly. What’s the point of doing chemistry-set cooking if you can’t deliver a meal that is better tasting, juicier, has more “wow” factor, or is more delicious? If you can’t make something more delicious by playing with it, leave it alone. Here’s a good example: last week at Boston Public, a bunch of chefs came in, and for dessert I served them a perfectly ripe nectarine, uncut, set on a bowl of ice. They sort of snickered at me, “What’s this?” I told them just to taste it. When they did, the juice was running down their chins. They said it was the most delicious thing they had eaten all summer. That’s the real point of the new food for a chef. It isn’t just about striving for the new; it’s the discipline of asking yourself if what you are doing is making the basic product more delicious.
Q: So does this mean the era of froth and foam is over?A: The froth and foam thing was never really the point. The real point is that the global food community is very small and very creative, and we learn from each other very quickly these days. The food press was simply bored and had nothing new to write about, and so they focused on the science part. Along with an exploration of the science behind cooking comes the interest in the ingredients: how the cows are fed, where the chickens are being bred, the excellence of the produce. That’s part of the food revolution, too. Just a few years ago, very few chefs or diners were paying as much attention to the ingredients that went into the plate. Now, everyone — chefs and diners — pays close attention to where their food comes from, who and how it was raised. Great restaurants don’t have to say “our food is organic.” God damn it, it better be!
Q: What’s the Boston Public concept?A: More approachable for the general public — and more diverse. It’s sort of a modern steakhouse concept, focused on Asian and beef, but you can come in here and not eat steak — or anything Asian — and have a wonderful time. It’s also a more masculine feel in the space, with Asian flair — lots of gold, rich, deep colors, mirrors, fabrics — that matches the accessibility of the menu. We’re adding a raw bar that we call the Boston Fish Pier. We’ll serve 10 to 12 different kinds of oysters daily, and other raw products like ceviche, razor clams, conch.
Q: Do you miss Restaurant L?A: Big time. I love doing that kind of cooking. And I know some of my customers miss it too. I like to be on the cutting edge — in food, in décor, in fashion. But that kind of menu comes at a high cost for a chef. It is very kitchen-intensive, and if you are an artist, and passionate about the food and the customer, cooking that kind of on-the-edge food means that you can never leave the stove — or be away from the restaurant. Even with my team, all superstars who come from the best restaurants in New York, I felt I had to be there 24/7, that I owed it to the customer. And that meant I could never try out some of the other restaurant concepts I’ve been thinking about. When my contract was up with Louis, I was already shopping the business plan for Boston Public, and had plans to roll out the concept in a fancy, swanky hotel in Miami, and then take it to other cities. But [Louis Boston president] Debi Greenberg and I agreed that it made sense to open in the original Louis space. You can’t get better real estate than this. It’s a simpler business deal and a more accessible concept. A win-win for both of us.
Q: Where is food going next?A: I don’t really know. But it will get better and more delicious. Science and new techniques will play a part, but that’s just a part of the package. Today, chefs are stars; just think, Emeril has recorded more shows than the biggest, longest sitcom ever! But big-time chefs like Wolfgang Puck are also big-time businesspeople with lots of real estate in fancy cities, and as businesspeople and media stars, we need to use our publicity power to make a difference in the food supply and help it become more green, more sustainable, and profitable for small-scale farmers — and most of all, more delicious. @
