Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/498400
LocaL FLavor Chef Matt Jennings CoMes hoMe and starts fresh with his new restaurant, townsman. By Scott Kearnan photography By Morgan Ione yeager For yea rs, chef Mat t Jennings ha s been at t he forefront of New England's farm-to-table move- ment , helpi ng d i ners appreciate f resh foods raised right in regional soil. But with the open- ing of his new Boston rest aura nt , Tow nsma n, Jen n i ng s is t he one recon nect i ng w it h— a nd reclaiming—his local roots. "Grow ing up here, you go t hrough a per iod where the worst thing you could call someone is a townie," says Jennings. But the Boston native has built a reputation that extends well beyond local borders. A four-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation's prestigious award for best chef in the Northeast, Jennings is probably best known for his heralded Providence, R hode Island, restau- rant Farmstead Inc., a forerunner of today's now- ubiquitous eateries focused on hyperseasonal, locally sourced American cooking. But last spring, after 12 years and shortly following the birth of their second child, Jennings and his wife, Kate, a pastry chef, decided it was time to sell Farmstead and return to Boston to raise their family—and launch a new restaurant—on their old home turf. The result is Townsman, nestled on the ground level of the Radian, a 26 -f loor luxury apartment building on Kingston Street where Chinatown, the Ladder District, and the Financial District meet. Its name is a proud allusion to that other t-word, a semantic choice that ref lects the maturation of a Townsman's succulent lamb porterhouse is procured from a small farm in Maine. continued on page 80 bostoncommon-magazine.com 79 taste this Issue: Reinvention