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Type: Eclectic
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 4 p.m.-1 a.m., Thur.-Fri. 4 p.m.-2 a.m., Sat. 9:30 a.m.-2 a.m., Sun. 9:30 a.m.-1 a.m.
Good choices: Grilled portobello mushroom, yuppie nachos, porcini ravioli, shrimp fajitas, barbecued chicken pizzettas.
Credit cards: All major credit cards.
Access: Ground floor entrance.
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CHRISTOPHER'S
1920 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
(617) 876-9180
Restaurant reviewed 02/11/99 by Adam Pertman
Some restaurants devise eclectic menus because their chefs don't want to be constrained by a particular cuisine or style of cooking. Others seek culinary diversity to prevent their customers from getting bored, and many just follow any trend that comes along. Then there is a place like Christopher's, which prides itself on offering a wide variety of dishes that mirror its surrounding community and cater to its tastes. That's an ambitious undertaking when you're located is in a multicultural melange like Porter Square, but this place has remained popular for 18 years because it rises to the task - and then some.
Which means that the tabouli, feta cheese, and olives on the Middle Eastern appetizer platter ($6.95) here would shine at almost any Greek or Lebanese eatery around. And there aren't many Mexican restaurants that serve a shrimp fajita ($9.95) on a fresher tortilla or with a more inviting blend of cilantro, lime, and other traditional spices than Christopher's does.
The consistency of both seasonings and preparation runs through everything from the Asian selections - we especially liked the Thai chicken ($8.95), a breast sauteed in a slightly zingy peanut-ginger sauce - to the new-American creations like the grilled portobello mushroom ($4.95) and the yuppie nachos (available in three sizes for $5.95, $8.95, or $11.95).
We were skeptical about the prospects for the nachos, which added goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes to the traditional chips and cheddar, but we were wrong. The combination of tastes and textures raised a routine bar dish to a level that even the junk-food detractors among us appreciated - and appreciated, and appreciated.
No one expressed any such reservations about ordering the portobellos, since we like them in almost any form and cooked in almost any way. Grilled just right, they were served with a salad of freshly diced tomatoes, swimming in a balsamic vinegar reduction that enhanced the meatiness of the thinly sliced mushrooms.
The pizzettas - a cute name for these very-thin-crusted pies that are grilled rather than baked - were also first-rate. They were oh-so crisp, available with either barbecued chicken, cheese, and scallions ($5.95) or with plum tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil ($5.50).
If it sounds like Christopher's is a cut above most cheap eateries, it's not. It's two cuts above, maybe three.
The setting at Christopher's is warm and inviting - very Cambridge, in the best sense of the phrase. Exposed-beam ceilings, a comfortable fern bar, tongue-and-groove floors, roaring fireplace. You get the idea.
And there's more.
Charlie Christopher and Holly Heslop, the owners, have chosen to use meat only from animals that are raised on natural foods. The result is better-tasting food and, presumably, greater appeal to some of their customers from the neighborhood.
Another bonus is that the menu is full of appetizing possibilities for vegetarians, who often get short shrift when dining at restaurants that cater to the carnivorous majority.
One of our favorite dishes, in fact, was the porcini ravioli ($9.95), handmade pasta rounds stuffed with sauteed wild mushrooms and served with a dreamy sun-dried tomato cream sauce. A less delicate delight was the bean burrito ($6.50), which came packed with pintos that were stewed rather than dumped from a can, gooey with cheddar and jack cheeses, and nicely presented in a swirl of traditional red and green sauces.
One of our few complaints about Christopher's, though, stemmed from a vegetarian order. The grilled vegetables ($7.95), a pleasant if unspectacular array of zucchini and other seasonal veggies, included a major helping of onions that spent too little time basking in the heat.
Apart from the nearly raw onions - which also made an appearance in another dish in which they were supposed to be grilled - our only other gripe was about the bread sticks; they weren't terrible, but they tasted like they came out of a package with a little dough boy on it.
This lapse is the exception. Otherwise, Christopher's rarely disappoints.
Tips & hits
