G6 The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
ing mid-October, andGuyFieri’sTe-
quilaCocina.
Puritan & Company chef Will Gil-
son plans to open an all-day restau-
rant, cafe, and bar with a rooftop ter-
race at Cambridge Crossing, a mixed-
use development near the Lechmere T.
And the Cunard Building on State
Street sees a happy return: Ozcan
Ozan, who operated Sultan’s Kitchen
downtown for 36 years, is back with
Servia. Ozan, from Turkey and the au-
thor of “The Sultan’s Kitchen: A Turk-
ish Cookbook,” isn’t fixing what ain’t
broke: He’ll serve seasonally inspired
Turkish cuisine. (Only time will tell if
he’ll offer the vegetarian sampler plat-
ter that was one of the area’s best
lunch deals.)
Several prominent locations have
new tenants:Rochambeau, a French
brasserie from the Lyons Group,
moves into the old Towne Stove & Spir-
its space on Boylston in Back Bay. It’s
in the hands of a talented team: Nick
Calias, who knows from French bras-
series (he was formerly at Brasserie
Jo), and Matthew Gaudet of the late,
lamented Westbridge. (Calias also cre-
ated the menu forBarMoxy, opening
in the Theatre District’s Moxy Hotel.)
Also in Back Bay: Greek meze and
wine barKrasiand cocktail bar
Hecate, in the longtime Cafe Jaffa
space. Where once was Townsman, on
the Greenway at the edge of China-
town, is now the just-openedStillwa-
ter. Chef Sarah Wade, a “Chopped:
Gold Medal Games” champion former-
ly at Lulu’s Allston, is serving reimag-
ined comfort food. (She grew up in
Stillwater, Okla., thus the restaurant’s
name.) Concord’s Woods Hill Table
gets a city presence, in the Seaport lo-
cation where Anthony’s Pier 4 once
stood. Restaurateur Kristin Canty says
Charlie Foster of the Concord location
will also be executive chef atWoods
HillatPier4, to open in November.
The restaurants share the same ethos,
and the Seaport menu will feature lo-
cally grown organic vegetables, wild
and line-caught seafood, grass-fed
meats from their own New Hampshire
farm, and carefully sourced, non-in-
dustrial oils such as ghee, coconut oil,
and organic olive oil.
Beyond the city, the dining scene
becomes ever more interesting, with
experienced chefs looking to Beverly,
Lynn — and even, in one case, another
country altogether. Here are some of
the most interesting restaurants on the
horizon.
Bianca
In 2007, Tim and Nancy Cushman
opened O Ya, a serene hideaway near
South Station that offered diners a
new view of Japanese food and an edu-
cation in sake. Since then, they’ve
brought O Ya to New York, and de-
buted Hojoko, Gogo Ya, and Ms.
Clucks Deluxe Chicken & Dumplings
in Boston. Now they move outside the
city with Bianca, coming to Chestnut
Hill shopping center The Street. They
plan to open around the holidays or
shortly thereafter.
Although the name means “white”
in Italian, Bianca isn’t an Italian res-
taurant; it’s a reference to the color of a
clean plate, sort of like the restaurant
version of a blank slate. “That lets us
do whatever we want to do,” says Tim
Cushman. “We want an American res-
taurant, and that can mean almost
anything these days.”
The aim is for Bianca to serve the
neighborhood in many capacities,
from date night to weekend brunch
with the kids — for it to be somewhere
nice, comfortable, fun, and family-
friendly that means locals don’t have
to drive into the city, says Nancy Cush-
man. There will be plenty of wood
cooking: a smoker, wood grills, wood
rotisserie, and wood-burning ovens.
And although Bianca isn’t Italian,
there will be a few pizzas on the menu.
“Tim is obsessed with pizza,” says
Nancy.
“I am obsessed with pizza,” Tim
confirms with a laugh.
47 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill,
@bianca_chestnuthill
OYainMexicoCity
The pair is also looking beyond
Chestnut Hill — far beyond. On Thurs-
day, the team opens a new branch of O
Ya, in Mexico City. Restaurateur Javier
Romo visited O Ya on a trip to Boston
and fell for the restaurant. He was con-
vinced the concept would translate
well. The result is a collaboration in
the Polanco neighborhood, home to
Pujol and other well-known restau-
rants.
“Our food is bold for Japanese tra-
ditional tastes,” says Tim Cushman.
“We use chiles and serious umami, in-
tense flavors. That’s why we think it
will be a good fit here. Mexican culture
likes those flavors.” The format of the
uWHAT'SNEW
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menu will be similar to Boston’s: about
50 dishes a la carte, with two tasting
menus of 18 and 22 courses. It will in-
clude some of O Ya’s most popular
dishes from Boston, but it will also in-
clude ingredients native to Mexico,
such as fish, avocados, and herbs. The
kitchen will make miso from vaquita
beans, incorporate local baby corn into
a “baby elote nigiri,” and serve warm
dessert tamales with truffle creme an-
glaise poured tableside.
There are about 20 kinds of sake on
the menu. They weren’t easy to get,
Nancy Cushman says. Just as she was
on the forefront of the sake scene in
Boston, she hopes to help it grow in
Mexico City. The O Ya team worked
closely with the Mexico-based staff,
who came to Boston for training.
When the Cushmans opened O Ya
in Boston 12 years ago, Nancy says,
they wouldn’t have believed they’d one
day be doing the same in Mexico City.
What will the future bring? One possi-
bility: O Ya in Tokyo. “If we say it out
loud enough, we think it will happen
one day. It’s always something we talk
about.”
Anatole France 70, Col. Polanco,
Del. Alvaro Obregon, CP 11540, Cd.
Mexico, 01 55 5266 4226, http://www.o-ya
.restaurantElTacubaCocina&TequilaBar
The team behind Tenoch, the fast-
casual restaurants justifiably beloved
for their delicious tortas, plans to open
a full-service spot in Medford Square.
Brothers Alvaro and Andres Sandoval
are currently eyeing a late November
debut for El Tacuba. The restaurant
will offer the Mexican dishes custom-
ers have come to expect, along with
seafood specialties from the owners’
native Veracruz. Expect tequila, mez-
cal, and craft beer as well. “We are ex-
cited,” says Alvaro Sandoval. “We think
it’s something the square needs.”
35 Salem St., Medford, http://www.el
tacuba.comFrank
Frank McClelland came to L’Espal-
ier as a young chef de cuisine in 1980
and went on to own the restaurant,
one of Boston’s finest until it closed at
the end of 2018. There he was instru-
mental in bringing the farm-to-table
movement to the city. He spent much
of his childhood living with his grand-
parents on their farm in New Hamp-
shire, and a love of local ingredients is
in his DNA.
Now he will be showcasing those
ingredients at Frank, his fittingly
named new venture in Beverly, which
will open sometime before the holi-
days. “I’m going to cook what I want,
which I’ve always done, don’t get me
wrong, but this is a little more rustic:
out of the garden and onto the plate,
simple and so delicious,” he says. That
might mean anything from a lobster
roll to ramen to duck-for-two, a more
relaxed version of a L’Espalier signa-
ture.
Frank will be part restaurant (open
for lunch and dinner) and part mar-
ket/cafe, offering prepared meals
(think: takeout spiced roast chicken),
wine and beer, and jams, hot sauce,
and other pantry staples. Many will be
made in house using recipes from Mc-Clelland’s grandmother and great-
grandmother. The sensibility will be
very New England, he says. “I grew up
here. I’m a New England kid.” Eventu-
ally he hopes to expand the retail por-
tion to other locations.
In some ways, Frank is very differ-
ent from L’Espalier, which offered for-
mal dining and multicourse tasting
menus. In some ways, it’s not that dif-
ferent at all. “What I love to do is run a
team and chase perfection, in a differ-
ent way,” he says.
110 Rantoul St., Beverly, www
.farmtofrank.comGrandTour
Select Oyster Bar chef-owner Mi-
chael Serpa is bringing something dif-
ferent to the same Back Bay neighbor-
hood. Grand Tour is around the corner
in what he calls a “little tiny building”
on Newbury Street. (The restaurant is
named for the three Grand Tours of
professional cycling.) The space that
used to be a smoothie shop is being
transformed into a Parisian bistro
(“but not, like, aFrenchbistro,” he
stresses). It will be charming, urban,
and fun, he says. The menu is likely to
include cheese and charcuterie, steak
frites, rabbit in mustard sauce, and
other simple yet thoughtful fare. In
season, the patio will be a fine place to
tuck into tartare over a bottle of wine.
314 Newbury St., Back Bay, Boston,
http://www.grandtourboston.comLenoxSophia
“I always wanted a daughter,” says
chef Shi Mei. “When I get older, I know
my son won’t take care of me.” He
laughs.
It’s a good enough reason to give his
forthcoming restaurant the name he
and his wife would have used if they’d
had a girl: Lenox Sophia.
Mei grew up in the South End, then
moved around a little bit: to California,
where he worked at Yountville’s famed
French Laundry for a year, becoming a
saucier; to Texas, where he worked
with San Antonio restaurateur Jason
Dady at restaurants like Bin 555. But
he still has family in the area, and his
wife, who went to college here, wanted
to return. It seemed right to come
home to open his own place.
Lenox Sophia is taking over the for-mer KO Catering & Pies space in South
Boston. Mei plans to keep things
small, with about 16 to 18 seats. He
hopes to open sometime this winter
(in the meantime he’s been working at
local restaurants like Asta and Whal-
ing in Oklahoma). As for the food, it
will be modern American, incorporat-
ing French, Italian, and Asian influ-
ences. “I call it casual fine dining with-
out the fuss,” he says. “You just walk in
here and it’s very casual, but with very
refined techniques.”
87 A St., South BostonNightshadeNoodleBar
Chef Rachel Miller worked her way
up through kitchens at well-known
restaurants like Bondir and Clio. She
was chef de cuisine at the latter when
it closed. “That was a pretty pivotal
point because I couldn’t find a job I
wanted,” she says. At the same time,
she was falling in love with Vietnam-
ese cuisine. “I would fall into YouTube
wormholes of cooking videos. I be-
came completely enveloped in Viet-
namese food really quickly. It’s all I
wanted to eat, all I wanted to cook, all
I wanted to read about.”
In 2017, she started a pop-up called
Nightshade, serving the kind of food
she couldn’t stop thinking about, uti-
lizing the kind of technique she
learned working with chefs such as Ja-
son Bond and Ken Oringer. “I was able
to find my own voice,” she says. “That’s
just how it happened.”
Now, after more than 60 pop-ups,
Nightshade is putting down roots in
Lynn. Nightshade Noodle Bar will
open in early October, serving lunch,
brunch, and dinner. The small menu
will change frequently, featuring new
dishes as well as some of the pop-up’s
greatest hits. That might mean some-
thing traditional like the Vietnamese
crab soup bun rieu, or a riff on the
noodle dish mi quang; one Night-
shade version featured the turmeric
noodles with skate wing and spicy
clams.
Nightshade is located in a small
space right downtown, a block from
the train station. It used to be the
Campus Coffee Shop. Miller, a Lynn
resident, developed a relationship
with the people who owned it for more
than 30 years. When they wanted toretire, things just worked out. Night-
shade Noodle Bar puts the focus on the
word “bar”: It has a full liquor license,
and almost all of the tables are high-
tops. Miller’s partner, Liana Van de
Water, is the wine director; John Groh
(Tavern Road, Downeast Cider House)
is bar manager; and pastry chef Rae
Murphy, of pop-up bakery Plum Deli-
cious (you may have eaten her cre-
ations at Field & Vine or Sarma), will
bake sweets and bread for banh mi.
73 Exchange St., Lynn, http://www.night-
shadenoodlebar.comNorthernSpy
Cambridge restaurant Loyal Nine
focuses on the culinary traditions of
New England. So it makes sense that
the team behind it is opening a restau-
rant within a historic copper rolling
mill at the Paul Revere Heritage Site in
Canton. They hope to open Northern
Spy in late fall. “If not then, fresh in the
new year,” says co-owner Daniel My-
ers. “It’s always a moving target.”
While Loyal Nine has showcased
recipes and techniques of yore, North-
ern Spy takes inspiration from more-
recent local history: the restaurants
Myers ate at growing up in Central
Massachusetts. “You’d drive three or
four towns over to have dinner be-
cause they deliver your popovers in a
basket. We are only going deeper into
that. What is the perfect baked stuffed
scrod?”
At Northern Spy, much of the cook-
ing will be done over open fire. Chef
Marc Sheehan oversees a gloriously
classic menu: clam chowder, hot but-
tered crab on Parker House rolls,
prime rib, a pork chop. “The most ex-
citing thing for us is working on the
kids’ menu,” Myers says. “I have a 2-
year-old son and I’m looking constant-
ly for somewhere to bring him to eat,
but not a prepackaged, pre-frozen item
or something from the deep-fat fryer.”
Northern Spy is figuring out how to
sneak in vegetables, make baked fish
sticks, and generally create things kids
want to eat, even without ketchup.
96 Revere St., CantonTambo22
Chef Jose Duarte is always a little
bit ahead of his time. He has long been
one of the area’s biggest champions of
Peruvian cuisine, now gaining popu-
larity: It’s been almost 20 years since
he opened Taranta in the North End,
infusing Italian food with aji amarillo,
huacatay, and other ingredients from
the country where he was born. He has
also long been a leader when it comes
to green restaurant practices. And he’s
spent the past four years working to
create an eco-lodge in Huaripampa,
Peru,tosupportthelocalagricultural
Andean community. “We will consume
everything we produce,” he says. “We
basically only bring in salt, olive oil,
and coffee. The rest of the stuff we can
source there. We sweeten things with
honey, use produce from the garden,
grains to make the flour, etc.” The ulti-
mategoalistoconnect theproducers
with the global community, cutting out
the middleman so they can sell directly
to consumers.
Then there’s his new project closer
to home, for which he has partnered
with Taranta general manager Taylor
Choquet. Both live in Chelsea, and Du-
artehaswantedtoopenarestaurant
there for years. Tambo 22 also makes
connections between produce, labor,
and people, Duarte says. “The word
‘tambo’ means a place to rest and eat
and recharge.” During the time of the
Incan Empire, mail was delivered by
chasquis, runners who would trans-
port messages from one tambo to an-
other in a giant relay. Chelsea’s Tambo
has about 20 seats and will serve a Pe-
ruvian menu of anticuchos (skewers),
ceviche, papas rellenas, lomo saltado
(and paiche saltado, made with the
Amazonian fish), and more. Chris Ti-
tus, who worked at Taranta and Future
Chefs, will lead the kitchen. The wine
list will be mostly South American, fo-
cusing on biodynamic and natural
wine, and they are trying to bring in a
few Peruvian craft beers that aren’t
currently available here. “We will work
with local breweries like Mystic and
Night Shift, and perhaps eventually
collaborate doing a brew using unique
Peruvian ingredients,” Duarte says.
One of his great interests is the in-
tersection of technology and food, and
how they might be utilized together in
the name of sustainability and prog-
ress. Duarte is collaborating with an
MIT fabrication lab to develop a small
vertical farm simulating Peruvian eco-
systems inside Tambo 22. “If we can
contribute directly to the community
by having some guided tours and semi-
nars, teaching the children from local
schools about tech and working on
projects with them, it will be really
good for the community,” he says.
His collaboration with MIT is a real
motivation for him at this point in his
career, he says. “How to achieve the
perfect burger, I’m sure I can do that.
Get good ingredients and mix it up.
But how can we grow the burger?
That’s how people should be thinking.”
22 Adams St., Chelsea, 978-766-
4648, http://www.tambo22chelsea.comDevra First can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow her on
Twitter @devrafirst.Thenew
season’s
new spots
ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE/2015
ELTACUBACOCINA&TEQUILABARTherestaurantfromtheteambehindTenochinSomervillewillfeature Mexicandishes
customersatthatspothavecometoexpect,liketortachoriqueso(above).GRANDTOURChefMichaelSerpa
debutsaParisian-stylebistro.ROCHAMBEAUTheFrenchbrasseriebringsitsseafoodandotherdishestotheold
TowneStove&SpiritsspaceonBoylstonStreetinBackBay.JESSICA NASH
BIANCANancyandTimCushmanofOYaarebringinganeighborhoodapproachto
theirrestaurantatChestnutHillshoppingcenterTheStreet.