Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/121906
TASTE RIGHT: Scott Shoer's Martinez cocktail blends smoky, smooth, and sweet. SHOER'S SHAKE-UP ABOVE: The Hudson Valley Duck Board features sliced breast meat, grilled duck sausage, and smoked duck pastrami. LEFT: Co-chef Lydia Reichert with co-owner and co-chef David Punch continued from page 72 ingredients as No. 9 Park and Craigie on Main, apply the same cooking techniques, but our food is heartier and more rustic." Yet the menu is anything but dumbed down. "Initially I wondered: Should we offer more pasta? More chicken? But no," Punch says. "Lydia and I decided to cook the kind of food we're trained to cook." Right now that means green garlic semolina soup —DAVID PUNCH cradling a gooey soft-boiled egg and wilted pea tendrils, succulent slow-roasted salmon with sauce gribiche, and those screamingly delicious cutting boards for two. One week it could be the Hudson Valley Duck Board, holding rare sliced breast meat, grilled duck sausage, and toasts heaped with smoked duck pastrami; another week the spring lamb board, laden with crispy grilled lamb leg, rosy roasted loin, and lamb belly. Meals end with simple offerings, like a plate of ripe local cheese and house-made fruit jam or chocolate pot de crème with crunchy peanut brittle and banana chantilly. "You know, I don't do this to make a ton of money," says Punch, acknowledging that he can count on one hand the days off he's had since opening. "But I love what I do. I love the intensity of the job, meeting different people, and making people happy with good food." 755 Beacon St., Newton, 617-244-4445; sycamorenewton.com BC Bar manager Scott Shoer fine-tuned his cocktail expertise working under the celebrated Rob Iurilli at Abigail's in Cambridge before coming to Sycamore. While you can't go wrong with anything Shoer shakes up, his Martinez is one swell drink. Made from botanically rich Old Tom gin, Carpano Antica (sweet vermouth), maraschino, orange bitters, and flamed orange peel, it's smooth, smoky, and sweet with a bitter edge. "I knew people in Newton were dying for a place that was hip, cool, and good." 74 BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE For the ultimate in cozy romance, ask for Table 33, tucked in the upper left-hand corner of the dining room, right near the kitchen. The two seats form an L shape, making them almost side by side, near a shelf filled with Punch's collection of cookbooks. "Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France is the best cookbook ever," says Punch. "Duck, foie gras, Armagnac—I mean, every page looks delish." BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 072-074_BC_SC_SMD_LATESPRING_13.indd 74 4/10/13 10:05 AM