Craigie on Main: What They Lack in Selection is Made up for in Flavor

Craigie on Main
853 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.497.5511
www.craigieonmain.com

I put off going to Craigie on Main for more than a year after it was first recommended to me. Every time I looked at their menu online, it just didn't look like they had much to offer vegetarians. And while that may be somewhat true, what they do offer - which includes a vegetarian tasting menu - is quite good. Now I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner.

The biggest reason it doesn't look like they have much for vegetarians is that most of their offerings are variations on their meat-based dishes. The ragout of forest mushrooms (above) with farro, ramps, herbs and fresh flowers topped with a poached egg is on the menu as being served with sweetbreads. Often, I'm hesitant about a dish that is modified to make it vegetarian as it seems incomplete. That wasn't the case here. The vegetarian version of the dish made for a wonderful blend of flavors with no sense that anything was lacking.

The crispy potato galette (above) is off of the bar menu and is served with a horseradish cream sauce. On the menu it has salmon roe and bacon bits, but again the dish stood on its own, with a crispy outside and tender, flavorful inside.
The four-grain pilaf-stuffed Vidalia onion with spring vegetables (above) was tender and flavorful with the onion not being overbearing.

The surprise of the evening was a dessert I never would have ordered, but it was absolutely fantastic. It was creamy Anson Mills corn grits with a warm strawberry compote. Grits do not sound good to me at any time and especially not for dessert, but this was so sweet and smooth that it was not to be missed. I would stop in just for that.

Service at Craigie on Main is friendly and attentive. Vegetarian prix fixe is $61 and entrees ordered a la carte start at about $21. One drawback is that larger groups - parties of more than four people - can generally only be accommodated at the tables in the bar, where it can be crowded and noisy.

Molecules Fail to Line Up at Chicago's Moto

Moto
945 W. Fulton Market
Chicago, Illinois 60607
312.491.0058
www.motorestaurant.com

It's like tromp l'oeil, but for the palate. Nothing quite looks like what it is. The savory dishes look sweet; the sweet dishes savory; and the cigar (below) is a veggie dog. Molecular gastronomy takes what you know about food and turns it upside down. When it's done well, the presentation is amazing, but doesn't outshine the food. When it's done poorly, it's all about style over substance. Unfortunately, at Moto it's not done well. It's fun, it's frivolous, but the food suffers terribly. And the service leaves much to be desired as well. At about $500 for two (10-courses each and splitting the wine pairings) that just shouldn't happen.

The evening started out with the night's menu printed on bread, which you consume. The waiter promised to bring another menu out so my guest and I could follow along with the courses, but we had to remind him two more times before this happened. It only took minor revisions to the menu to create a vegetarian menu, but most things fell flat, as they did with my guest's omnivore menu. The vegetarian version of the cannoli (below), made to look sweet, but really a rolled taco, contained little more than avocado.

This dish (below) made to look like fruits and desserts was savory, and unremarkable. A bubble tea was little more than a tiny shot-glass-sized glass filled with cool tea. It counted as one of the courses, but would have made for a weak amuse bouche.

One of the better dishes of the evening was a take-off on the Hostess Sno Ball (below). A great disappointment was that the waiter spoke so softly that it was impossible to hear what he said as he described any of the dishes.
The final course was a root beer float (below). This came with dry ice floating out and an edible 'packing peanut'. There was perhaps a smidgen of rootbeer - or anything edible - to this most dramatic yet severly lacking dish.
Overall, the food was poor and service was just as bad. The wine pairings were consistently brought out at ill-timed intervals. In a nutshell, Moto is expensive and disappointing, and in a city such as Chicago, where there are so many good alternatives - Alinea anyone? - there is no reason to dine here.