Oleana
134 Hampshire Street
Cambridge, MA
Dinner: Sunday thru Thursday 5:30 PM -10:00 PM
Friday and Saturday 5:30 PM - 11:00 PM
Most of my food shopping is at Stop and Shop and Trader Joe’s. That should sum up my range of tastes - just short of twigs, bark, nuts, berries and wild game. If it weren’t for a microwave oven, I might perish.
Once in a while, however, I go upscale. Most of the adventures are a treat - tasty and well prepared - but don’t inspire taking notes on a napkin as the dinner winds up.
Two appetizers, one entrée, wine, and one desert later, I was in what a foodie might call a gustatory daze. Shock and awe, restaurant style.
Appetizer one, the menu reads: ‘Spinach falafel with tahini, yogurt, beets, and crinkled cress’ ($11). What comes out of the kitchen is a plate filled with three falafel - spinach, chickpea flour, fine herbs - fried to a feathery fare thee well, each one topped with a dollop of tahini sauce, and each sitting atop a soft lavash bread that is spread with beet tzaziki (finely chopped beets), with a tiny bunch of arugula drizzled with mild balsamic dressing and a pickled slice of turnip.
The waiter suggests rolling the appetizer like a wrap and biting in. The tastes swirl around blissfully in the mouth. Simply sensational.
The second appetizer, a special of the day: warm flatbread (made on premises) lightly chewy and warm, layered with basil and hazelnut pesto, black trumpet mushrooms and leeks, and topped with two warm mild cheeses - ricotta and taleggio. A generous size, we cut into quarters and eat it with our hands. ($12)
Every ingredient announces itself in my mouth with either a slight bow or a grand curtsey. I am reassessing my eating habits.
Next comes the entrée: ‘Scallops with pistachio, fig and heirloom tomato kibbeh’ ($26). Four plump scallops, tender and moist, each covered with a soft warm fig, set on a large plate in a little pond of tomato kibbeh and a swoosh of faint green pistachio paste for dredging.
Executive chef Ana Sortun, says our waiter, has Scandinavian roots, is from Seattle, and was trained in the Cordon Bleu School. She’s inspired by culinary traditions from Eastern Europe to Morocco. The home page on her website has a subsection in Turkish - and she often shops in the Armenian section of Watertown, MA - gives you an idea you're going to be eating outside the usual culinary box.
The combinations of tastes we’re eating are leaps of the imagination of an adventurous, “Why don’t we try this?” chef. What she imagines putting together let no man put asunder. The food comforts but in the same way Rolls Royce comforts compared to a Cadillac. The food has a high wow factor without being wowwy for its own sake.
The pairings of tastes are the main draw here. And the prices are reasonable for the food you’re eating, certainly comparable to other high quality places in town (that I’ve heard about but not visited due to my Not Your Average Joe’s mentality, which just took a big hit tonight. I might have to have a boy’s night out once a month to venture into this foodie territory).
134 Hampshire Street
Cambridge, MA
Dinner: Sunday thru Thursday 5:30 PM -10:00 PM
Friday and Saturday 5:30 PM - 11:00 PM
Most of my food shopping is at Stop and Shop and Trader Joe’s. That should sum up my range of tastes - just short of twigs, bark, nuts, berries and wild game. If it weren’t for a microwave oven, I might perish.
Once in a while, however, I go upscale. Most of the adventures are a treat - tasty and well prepared - but don’t inspire taking notes on a napkin as the dinner winds up.
That would have been Sunday, August 1, my birthday, at Oleana in Cambridge, MA.
O, Boy...Appetizer one, the menu reads: ‘Spinach falafel with tahini, yogurt, beets, and crinkled cress’ ($11). What comes out of the kitchen is a plate filled with three falafel - spinach, chickpea flour, fine herbs - fried to a feathery fare thee well, each one topped with a dollop of tahini sauce, and each sitting atop a soft lavash bread that is spread with beet tzaziki (finely chopped beets), with a tiny bunch of arugula drizzled with mild balsamic dressing and a pickled slice of turnip.
The waiter suggests rolling the appetizer like a wrap and biting in. The tastes swirl around blissfully in the mouth. Simply sensational.
The second appetizer, a special of the day: warm flatbread (made on premises) lightly chewy and warm, layered with basil and hazelnut pesto, black trumpet mushrooms and leeks, and topped with two warm mild cheeses - ricotta and taleggio. A generous size, we cut into quarters and eat it with our hands. ($12)
Every ingredient announces itself in my mouth with either a slight bow or a grand curtsey. I am reassessing my eating habits.
Next comes the entrée: ‘Scallops with pistachio, fig and heirloom tomato kibbeh’ ($26). Four plump scallops, tender and moist, each covered with a soft warm fig, set on a large plate in a little pond of tomato kibbeh and a swoosh of faint green pistachio paste for dredging.
Executive chef Ana Sortun, says our waiter, has Scandinavian roots, is from Seattle, and was trained in the Cordon Bleu School. She’s inspired by culinary traditions from Eastern Europe to Morocco. The home page on her website has a subsection in Turkish - and she often shops in the Armenian section of Watertown, MA - gives you an idea you're going to be eating outside the usual culinary box.
The combinations of tastes we’re eating are leaps of the imagination of an adventurous, “Why don’t we try this?” chef. What she imagines putting together let no man put asunder. The food comforts but in the same way Rolls Royce comforts compared to a Cadillac. The food has a high wow factor without being wowwy for its own sake.
The pairings of tastes are the main draw here. And the prices are reasonable for the food you’re eating, certainly comparable to other high quality places in town (that I’ve heard about but not visited due to my Not Your Average Joe’s mentality, which just took a big hit tonight. I might have to have a boy’s night out once a month to venture into this foodie territory).
Oh, and there was desert. Almond cremolata (a non dairy home made ice cream, just almond paste, water, ice) with candied almonds served in a parfait glass on a plate with two thin panino with warm dark chocolate sandwiched between them - an imaginative pairing of tastes that added an exclamation mark to the dinner.
The restaurant has two inside spaces and a patio, highly sought after in summer. The patio is quite noisy, one bank of tables for twos and fours are jammed together like airline seats, If you're determined to eat outside, the best bet would be the handful of tables on the rest of the small patio.For my money, the better seats are in either dining room or the bar. The bar with eight seats is a good bet if there’s a line ahead of you (and there often is). The other small tables in the bar are close together but seem more intimate than the patio. The best seat in the house for two people is a tiny alcove at the far end of the bar. That was our perch for this fabulous dinner.
Although there are no photos on this post to display the food (I arrived with a smile, no notebook, no camera, I was "off duty"), check their website for menu and wine list. I might forget what each of these courses looked like but I wont forget how they tasted. Stouffer’s Frozen Food will never taste the same again.Photo from Oleana web site.
This was great. I've been curious about their food. Now I know.
Posted by: Rebecca | September 07, 2010 at 03:15 PM
Go with two or three others and you'll be able to sample a good swath of Ana Sortun's creations. Leave room for dessert.
Oleana pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick opened Hi-Rise Bread Company and Hi-Rise Pie Company in 1999. In 2001, Kilpatrick teamed up with Sortun to open Oleana. Her desserts combine eastern and western Mediterranen influences and lots of surprises your taste buds will applaud.
Posted by: Paul aka pt at large | September 07, 2010 at 03:32 PM
Hi Paul,
Ana is a dear friend of mine and you’ve done her justice with this piece! We celebrated Jess’s birthday there at 18 and again this year at 24. Oleana is one of those special places……………
Happy Birthday, dear Leo twin of mine!
Posted by: Diana | September 07, 2010 at 03:35 PM
Hey Diana,
Oleana is a terrific place to celebrate an occasion, isn't it.
It is one of the great restaurants where you stop mid bite because your taste buds have entered an enchanted forest of delight and you try to pinpoint the name of that spice that's on the tip of your tongue.
Happy Birthday!
Posted by: Paul aka pt at large | September 07, 2010 at 03:42 PM
We were just at Bayside thinking we wouldnt see you and why would you be down south in the summer! So love your blogs. I'm now in England visiting aunt with broken hip. Chris
Posted by: Chris McArdle | September 07, 2010 at 03:47 PM
The Bayside in Westport is a great home style restaurant with fresh seafood and great homemade pies. Isn't the view of Buzzards Bay exquisite! Hope your auntie heals quickly. Thanks for the response.
Posted by: Paul aka pt at large | September 07, 2010 at 03:50 PM
Hi Paul,
Your description of your birthday dinner has my mouth watering.
I'm heading there on my next trip to Boston. My youngest daughter just moved to Union St in Cambridge.
We hit Emma's Pizza on Hampshire St after moving the furniture in, great thin crust pizza.
Next trip it's Oleana!
Best regards,
Austin
Posted by: Austin | September 07, 2010 at 04:51 PM
It's a far cry from Emma's, which I will put on my list of places to try, but I hope your Oleana experience matches mine for extraordinary taste combinations and presentation. Please let me know your opinion when you visit there.
Posted by: Paul aka pt at large | September 07, 2010 at 04:55 PM
You had me on the description of the first appetizer! This place sounds amazing! The menu is so appealing and unusual.
Glad to know your birthday was celebrated with these gustatory delights.
I hope you sent your non-review review to the restaurant. Despite (or maybe because of) your usual 'diet', you sure have the knack for describing how this unique food affected your tastebuds - you could get a gig as a food writer, I swear....
Posted by: Sarah Cross Mills | September 07, 2010 at 10:05 PM
Thank you for the kind words, ma'am! I had as much fun writing about it as I did eating there! I appreciate the "feedback"!
Posted by: Paul aka pt at large | September 07, 2010 at 10:28 PM
Greetings from France
BTW. One of our favorite restaurants.
Posted by: Bill P. | September 09, 2010 at 11:25 AM