Good choices: Portobello mushrooms with grilled sausages and peppers; warm frittata with shellfish; risotto with mahi-mahi, scallops over beet puree; fish stew; honey-roasted chicken with grilled vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes; grilled tuna with tapenade, capers; strawberry-plum crostada.
It's no secret that a well-established restaurant in a prosperous suburb can sail along almost indefinitely. Location, location, location, as the real estate agents say: Easy parking, a familiar menu, a convenient spot to meet friends. In the case of Walden Grille, formerly Walden Station, however, a metamorphosis occurred last fall when owners Bryan Gaymes and Jack Grant decided change was in order and hired a new chef. Thomas Cutrone, who had been chef at the former On the Square in Watertown and done stints at Tuscan Grill and other spots, coaxed a comfortable haunt into blossoming, a caterpillar changed into a butterfly.
The feeling of the place, even on a weekday evening, has an electricity, a frisson of expectation as diners watch the dishes being placed on the table, a burble of laughter and animated conversation. The long, pale wood-paneled room is pleasant and the big, horseshoe-shaped bar in the back isa lively spot, but it isn't really the atmosphere or even the solicitous service.
The excitement definitely comes from the food.
An appetizer of portobello mushrooms, grilled with sherry and a little balsamic, is placed on the table, the dish piled high with roasted red peppers, onions and chunks of spicy sausages. Conversation stops as the aromas rise and the rustic, savory flavors hit the palate. This is the strong-edged, Italian-rooted cuisine that took Boston by storm a few years ago. Although this lavish style has begun to wane in the new French-tinged restaurants in the city, Cutrone keeps the faith here.
And upon tasting a delicious vegetable frittata surrounded by tiny Taylor bay scallops and sweet golden clams and mussels, I realized I missed the over-the-top flavors of the genre. To be sure, all this stuff on every plate would get tiring night after night, but done right, the style evokes celebration.
It's great fun to share Cutrone's food, a bite of frittata, a scallop or two, samplings of the mushrooms, a taste from a companion's plate of fritto misto. The fried calamari, monkfish and shrimp were light and delicate, although the exterior could have been crisper. Shreds of brightgreen and white fried zucchini and sweet potato chips were part of the dish, the freshness and crunch making the frying worth the calories.
Cutrone says he enjoys working with seafood, which is obvious from the almost giddy piling on of varieties. A carefully done spinach risotto had chunks of lobster, clams and shrimp; another risotto, one of the nightly specials, combined a large piece of mahi-mahi with scallops over risotto that had been layered over beet stock. The combination looked unusual; the deep red base contrasted with the rich cream color of the risotto and the pale fish. This was definitely a rich dish with a lot to comprehend but nonetheless very good.
A fish stew concentrated on a more classic palate of flavors, a fragrant, rich tomato-laced broth with chunks of fish and shellfish, all of it cooked briefly enough so that the seafood was moist but long enough to meld the flavors of the vegetables and fish. Big pieces of grilled bread rubbed with garlic added to the enjoyment. A special of tuna was also well-handled, the plate brimming with extras of roasted vegetables, black olive relish, capers and a heavy shower of crisp fried parsnips.
The menu brings the same lavishness to the meat entrees. A roasted half-chicken glazed with honey was paired with lots of roasted peppers, grilled zucchini and a large bed of garlic-laced mashed potatoes, all of it satisfying and very filling.
My favorite dish was rather austere in comparison. A generous piece of grilled pork tenderloin, very lean and tender, was served over a cassoulet of lovely red potato chunks, white beans and sun-dried tomatoes. Then the tenderloin were covered by fronds of broccoli raab, grilled crisp, the bitterness of the vegetable in late winter giving an edge to the softer-toned vegetables and the meat.
Although Walden Grille is not a small restaurant with about 75 to 80 seats in the two-level dining area and more around the bar, the kitchen facilities are small, Cutrone says, making it necessary to bring in desserts. The strawberry-plum crostata from Verrill Farms was a lovely, not-too-sweet ending to a multiflavored, robust meal. But other desserts, including a lemon sponge cake with heavy layers of butter cream and a three-layered mousse of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and vanilla, were cloyingly sweet and heavy, all bearing that tell-tale staleness of too much refrigeration.
The wait staff, from the host at the door to the servers, were all personable and helpful. Even a major slip-up when the waitress misunderstood a main dish order was made palatable by not only apologies and prompt action but several complimentary glasses of wine. It made one realize that those pesky misadventures of dining can be solved by quick thinking and, of course, patience on the part of the customer.
Walden Grille proves the point that a 10-year-old restaurant can be upscaled and refitted to match the growing sophistication of the eating public, that change can be good.
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