East Somerville is gaining momentum as a dining destination with the 2013 opening of Sarma which I reviewed here on the blog, Highland Kitchen which has been around for some time and is on my list to try, and with the 2014 opening of  La Brasa which I visited with my friends this past week.

A couple of friends had raved about the restaurant to me and after last week’s Scenes from the Kitchen, I thought it was a good time to go out and let someone else do the cooking.  Thankfully, my spontaneous decision was met with great enthusiasm by my two friends, both named Sally and another friend, Maureen.  To La Brasa we went on a chilly Monday evening!

Opened in April of 2014, La Brasa is owned by Chef Daniel Bojorquez and Frank McClelland who you might know from that landmark Boston restaurant, L’Espalier?  Borjorquez trained in his native Mexico and has been working for McClelland at L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre for the past dozen years or so.  Fun fact – Borjorquez is also a past winner of Food Network’s Chopped.  The concept for La Brasa is to offer fresh and inventive food that showcases the “culinary influences rooted in the same countries as many of the residents of East Somerville:  Mexico, Peru and the Middle East to name a few”.  The preparation of the food is centered around the grill and an enormous wood burning oven that “fire kisses” each and every dish in some manner (even the butter for the bread).

The restaurant is large and welcoming with a bar that seats about 19, and table dining for roughly 120 patrons.  An open kitchen and a chef’s table for four finishes off the floor plan.  Reclaimed wood, exposed brick and the view into the kitchen make La Brasa look and feel like many of the other newish, hipster restaurants around town, but one thing that distinguishes La Brasa is the massive windows that flank the entire front of the restaurant offering wonderful lighting during the evening hours and its well spaced seating.  We dined early and as it was a Monday night, the restaurant was not as packed as we heard it had been over the weekend, but it slowly got busier as the evening progressed. The noise level was just fine and we didn’t have to shout to hear each other.

Four seats offer viewing into the busy kitchen…

Cutlery and chopsticks await your menu decisions…

La Brasa’s menu is designed for a sharing experience, similar in some ways to tapas, although the portions are more generous.  Five starters, five small plates (appetizers) and seven medium plates (entrees) are offered.  Three “specials” rounded out the menu.  Our server, Matthew guided us through the menu with great knowledge and humor and advised us how much and when to order as the dishes come out fairly rapid fire.

But first, we ordered a beverage.  La Brasa offers craft cocktails, some beers including Tecate in a can and a range of wines.  The Sallys ordered wine, Maureen had a Tecate which she affectionately referred to as the Budweiser of Mexico, and I enjoyed a Paloma which was a combination of tequila, grapefruit and bubbles (soda water). It was pretty fabulous…

And we ordered some bread that was served with softened butter topped with vegetable ash – the remains of intensely wood roasted vegetables.  Sounds strange, but it was really delicious, lending just a little smokiness.  Bread was from Clear Flour bakery I believe, one of my absolute favorites.  They really know how to make a French baguette, but I digress…

Matthew suggested we order four starters or smalls to begin and once we finished, order our next round of plates.  To begin, we selected La Brasa Fried Dough.  Lightly fried and topped with harissa, chickpeas, feta and broccolini, this dish was really fun and delicious.  Not greasy at all.  Lots of texture and a play on so many culinary influences, North African, Middle Eastern, Greek – a United Nations of fried dough…

Next up was a Roasted Delicata Squash salad with mixed greens from Apple Street Farm in Essex (owned by McClelland, also his residence), candied walnuts, some goat cheese and an apple cider vinaigrette.  This dish was a stand out for all of us.  The soft texture and sweetness of the squash combined with the creamy cheese, a little crunch from the nuts and an acidic bite from the apple cider vinaigrette made this dish really work well…

We also ordered the dish that the The Boston Globe’s Devra First called one of the Boston-area dishes to be thankful for, Mexican Fried Rice. Charred scallions, shitake mushrooms and rice make friends with little diced vegetables.  Is it Asian?  Is it Mexican? Who cares, it was scrumptious…

And for our last starter/small plate, we ordered the tacos de carnitas, a slow roasted pork shoulder that was served with salsa verde and a chile de arbol sauce in a double tortilla.  I have to say that as tasty as this was, the meat was a little dry…

We took our time trying to figure out what we wanted to order for our next round of dishes. Matthew, who by the way you should definitely ask for if you go as he was part of the reason why we had such a good time, talked us through many of the medium plates.  He also introduced us to one of La Brasa’s unique features which is a wood-fired rib roast, brought to you table side.  The roast is rubbed with ancho chili powder, salt and pepper and cooked in the wood fired oven, giving it great flavor.  Priced by the ounce, the meat is cut table side and served with a chimichurri sauce and a red wine jus…

Maureen ordered the roast for her meal which Matthew had the pleasure of cutting.  You can see chef Bojorquez in the background…

The meat is weighed…

One of the Sallys ordered the Spicy Thai Fried Chicken which was super crispy and moist as well as quite spicy, especially if you got a piece of hot pepper in your bite.  Sally loved it (and we all agreed after sampling).  Her comment was that she wished there was an accompaniment to help absorb some of the heat.  We thought a rice noodle might be nice…

The other Sally ordered the roast chicken breast served with collard greens and some crispy potato-sausage croquettes.  This dish was also a winner.  The chicken was incredibly moist and the collard greens were just wilted without being overdone.  The croquettes added some nice texture and depth to the dish…

I ordered the fire roasted hanger steak with celery root-espresso puree, charred Apple Street Farm turnips and the most unusual but delicious bone marrow bread.  This dish was a flavor explosion and while the meat was delicious, the combination of the celery root and espresso was my favorite (and I wished there had been more).  The bread was also a welcome surprise and had such unique flavor…

And finally, we decided to go back to the “small” dishes and ordered the collard greens and quinoa pie which was served in a crust with colorado chile, piperade and a slow poached farm egg…

This dish had a lot going on and introduced some French influences which I personally favor.  However, it almost felt like there were too many elements at play.  I would love to see it done with a milder spinach to let some of the other flavors shine through.  According to Matthew, the menu has microevolutions on a daily basis so it’s quite possible this dish will be transformed by the time you visit La Brasa.

Matthew was not going to let us miss the flan which he said, once we ate, we would never want a flan anywhere else, ever.  He might be right. La Brasa’s Dulce de Leche flan was served with a softly whipped cream topped again with the vegetable ash.  This dessert was out of this world and worth the trip alone…

And since there were only three options, we also tried the B-Bom, a burnt blood orange mousse which was garnished with toasted puffed cereal (I am definitely copying this at home).  Creamy, smooth and refreshing after all the bold flavors of our meal…

And a pretty cappuccino to end the meal.  The coffee beans are from Gracenote coffee roasters in Berlin, Massachusetts…

La Brasa has a small market attached to the restaurant which is open during the day until 3:00 and sells local produce, cheeses and other products.  You can also have counter service lunch during the week and on Saturdays and brunch on Sundays in the market.  La Brasa is open daily for dinner.

As for pricing, we thought our meal was reasonable, especially given the quality of service, the number of dishes and drinks we ordered and of course, the quality of the food.  It wasn’t inexpensive, but it didn’t break the bank either.

As for the menu, it’s hard to pinpoint other than to say that the food is incredibly creative and full of flavor, marrying lots of different cultural influences that mostly work and did not noticeably repeat themselves despite how many dishes we ordered.  It almost feels like you are on the receiving end of chef Bojorquez’s creative experiments in the kitchen (a good thing), yet the food is neither intimidating nor fussy as one of my friends said.  We all loved the atmosphere, the decor and the spaciousness of the restaurant.  And our server was really outstanding and made the night that much more fun because he guided us well through the menu.

La Brasa is very hip, so get your groove on and head out to East Somerville for a really fun dining experience!  Tell them The Kitchen Scout sent you!

Until next week…