One of my oldest friends, Arlene who you read about when I posted her recipe for Apricot Chicken during the blog’s infancy, joined me for a long overdue catch up dinner last week. I was tasked with finding a place to meet. Wanting to find a place that neither of us had tried and was fairly equidistant between our two homes, I began the search. It didn’t take long for me to settle on 3 year old Comedor located on Union Street in Newton Centre, otherwise known as Piccadilly Square. Have you been? If you haven’t, I think you may want to check it out sometime soon…
Comedor is owned by Jakob and Fernanda White, a young couple who met while attending culinary school at Boston University’s Metropolitan College. After working in several local restaurants, the two chefs decided to open a restaurant together, merging their two cultures. Jakob is American from New York and Fernanda grew up in Chile. Comedor, which means dining room in Spanish serves “creative Chilean cuisine served with a dose of American ingenuity”.
The restaurant is generously sized, flanked on one side by a large open kitchen and bar. Side by side chef’s and cocktail bars provide 18 front row seats to all the action as you can see below. Table seating for another 40 people or so is also available. The space is warm and inviting and eclectic artwork adorns the walls…
We sat at the chef’s bar which I would highly recommend if you are a party of 2-3. We were able to watch the kitchen in action and speak with the chef which was fun. Our server was extremely attentive, was well versed with the menu and assisted us with our drink and food selections. Comedor offers a broad wine list including several selections from Chile and several beers including 3 on draft, but Arlene and I chose drinks from the restaurant’s craft cocktail menu. I chose the El Basilico (chili-infused tequila, aperol, agave and lime) while Arlene chose the specialty cocktail for the evening, Electric Lemonade (vodka, lemon juice, combier and campari)…
Along with our drinks, we were brought some delicious onion challah that was served with honey butter…
Comedor’s tapas style menu is divided into four sections: Meat, Seafood, Vegetarian and Sweets. Diners are encouraged to order 2 to 3 plates per person which we found to be just right (with some leftovers).
Arlene and I had a wonderful meal and I am looking forward to a return visit with my husband. Let me show you…
From the vegetarian menu, we ordered “Half a Pint of Pickles ($6)” that were served with a toasted baguette and some mustard. I love pickles so these were delicious to nibble on with our drinks and as we waited for our more substantial selections…
We also ordered the Papas Fritas ($7) which were topped with a scallion salsa, cotija cheese and merken. We asked the chef about the unique flavor the merken imparts. He told us Fernanda’s parents ship this special spice up from Santiago. It is made from a goat’s horn chile that is sundried and smoked and then mixed with coriander seeds and salt. These papas fritas were crispy straight from the fryer and completely addictive…
Also from the vegetarian selections we ordered the Brussels Sprouts Hash ($11) which may have been our favorite dish of all. Leeks, mushrooms, chiles and a crispy almond couscous accompany shredded brussels sprouts in this delicious dish…
From the Seafood menu, we ordered 2 dishes. The first was a Fluke Crudo that was served with an equally thinly sliced sun jewel melon and topped with the merken spice was saw before in the Papas Fritas. We both enjoyed this dish, but it wasn’t my favorite and I thought the actual plate could have been more chilled since it was a raw presentation…
We also ordered the Latin Spiced Yellowfin Tuna ($16) that was served with avocado, cucumber, salsa picante and spiced peanuts. Lettuce wraps were served alongside if you wanted to make the dish finger food (which we did). Creamy avocado, the fresh and spicy salsa and the crunchy peanuts all provided a nice balance to the rich tuna…
We didn’t order the Tuna Tartare special, but I asked to snap a picture of it. Fresh tuna was mixed with lots of different Catalan spices, shallot and lemon queso and served on top of cucumbers with blueberries…
Finally, we ordered the Chef’s Burger ($13) which changes week to week. The burger was served with whipped avocado (avo mixed with some ricotta), heirloom tomato and smoked tomato aioli. Thirteen seemed a little high for this smaller scale burger, but it was very good…
We did not order dessert, but our server was so sweet and brought us one of Jakob’s homemade ice creams to share. He makes a different creation every week with past flavors including chocolate-avocado, summer peach basil, and roasted corn. Our flavor was porcini-honey which I did not think I would like at all. I was skeptical after the first bite as was Arlene, but we were quick to take many more bites understanding how well the ingredients worked together to create a lovely end to our meal…
All of the dishes were beautifully presented and were extremely fresh and creative.
A couple of notes. Comedor feels like a neighborhood place, the kind of restaurant where you might go often to see what new creations the chefs are dreaming up. This young couple is clearly working really hard at their craft which I appreciate. I’d like to continue to seek out these smaller, one-off restaurants to put on the blog~
Also, Comedor has “buck-a-shuck” on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 5-6:30 if you are into that. As for hours, Comedor is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner beginning at 5:30 pm and is closed on Mondays. Brunch is served on Sundays from 11 to 2:30 pm.
I hope you check them out sometime!
One Year Ago: The Kitchen Scout in Where Women Cook Magazine
Two Years Ago: Outstanding in the Field Dinner at Wishing Stone Farm
