Washington Square Tavern

Not your average risotto joint

by Robert Nadeau

DINING OUT

Washington Square Tavern 914 Washington Street (Washington Square), Brookline (617) 232-8989 Sun-Thurs, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5:30p.m.-10 p.m.; Fri, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; and Sat, 5:30p.m.-11 p.m. Beer and wine No smoking Sidewalk-level access

The word on Washington Square Tavern was that some of the principals had been involved in Matt Murphy's, the Brookline Village pub that broke the curse on Irish food in these parts.

Not only did Matt Murphy's have good food, but it served enough of it to satisfy the kind of appetite that you might work up after building all the railroads during a potato famine and singing at the top of your lungs the whole time. The Washington Square Tavern has reined in the portions and expanded the menu options, kept some of the pub informality, and added a bit of film-noir atmosphere. The food is sort of Italian, without really making a theme of it, and entirely satisfying, from the basic comfort food to the tricky risotto. This is what everyone aims for in the restaurant business -- an informal place with good food -- so why do so few succeed this well?

We started off with sourdough bread and butter, and then went right to work on some small plates. Sweetbreads ($10) were crisp and yummy; chicken livers ($8) were richly flavored with caramelized onions. A simple concept of fried cheese sticks and prosciutto ($8) was impeccably realized, and so was a potentially complicated hash of salt cod and potato. We also had a perfect salad of watercress, field greens, and gorgonzola ($7).

The appetizers may have been more beer food than wine food, but there was no such problem with the entrées, paired with a bottle of 1998 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand ($24). If 1998 seems a little young, remember that the Southern Hemisphere has spring vintages, and we've yet to go seriously wrong with a New Zealand wine.

One theme of the entrées is that someone is very good with the oven. Everyone thinks it's a snap to roast and broil, but it's not so easy to keep up the timing in a restaurant kitchen, and with high-heat methods, timing is everything. Good timing was especially evident on a vegetarian platter ($14) built around acorn squash. I don't find squash convincing as a steak-like centerpiece on an entrée platter, but a well-roasted hunk of squash is good eating. Artfully roasted Brussels sprouts, onions, and mushrooms made the carnivores jealous, as did a pilaf of big grains (barley or farro, I'd guess). The only weak spot was a dried-out parsnip. Save those for the stock pot.

Salmon ($15) got a good, gingery treatment and came with a nifty tomato coulis. The porcini-mushroom risotto ($16) didn't have much of the woodsy taste of porcini, but the rice was ideally creamy with a little wine flavor, and the broccoli rabe was a lively foil. Cassoulet ($15) featured a rather spicy sausage and cured-duck confit with a little sweet spice that fit right in. They just need to give the beans a bit more time, and the dish is theirs. A mushroom pasta dish ($12) had the most elegant macaroni-and-cheese-type sauce, and the mushrooms really stood out.

Washington Square Tavern is dark. That's the most tavernly thing about it. It's dark despite walls of Matisse yellow, like the ancient bistro Procope in Paris. It has shelves of old books, paintings of ships, and oriental rugs on the floor, and still manages a film-noir darkness. There is a little jazz in the background, but Washington Square Tavern is also mysteriously loud despite the rugs.

There are no desserts, but a serendipitous solution has opened right across Washington Street in the form of Athan's, a tony bakery with coffees, cakes, biscuits, and chocolates. Of course, some people will stay at the tavern to drink, and they won't need dessert, just more small plates now and then. Of all the risotto joints in all the world, you'll be very happy if you happen to walk into this one.

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My best Hanukkah present -- and still available for Christmas, Kwanzaa, Divali, and Eid al-Fitr -- is The World Family Cookbook; A Taste of the Culture and Cuisine of the World, put together by the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program at Boston University. I collect a lot of cookbooks like this -- how else to become an instant expert on all the various ethnic cuisines? -- but this one stands out for avoiding many of the clichés of "foreign food."

There are easy contemporary recipes I haven't seen elsewhere, gathered from students and correspondents in far-flung places. For example, there are a lot of nifty new things from Africa, such as greens with peanut sauce from Zambia, a honey bread from Ethiopia, a chicken dish called "nsolo kasai" from Congo, a grilled fish from Guinea, a gumbo of pumpkin leaves from Tanzania, a roast-chicken from Kenya, a very different chicken yassa from Mali (different from the more familiar Senegalese version), an easy beef stew from Sierra Leone, and a papaya pudding from Mozambique. The book is also quite good on the smaller countries of Europe. Recipes from the US are contributed by Boston's Rialto, Clear Flour Bakery, and Salamander -- and they are gems, clearly written and immediately useful. There are also a couple from Jeffrey Paige of Canterbury Shaker Village that embody the culinary wisdom of the Shakers.

Some things are real collector's items, such as an authentic chicken casserole from Palestine, and a pork-loin dish from Cauceda. Where's that? Well, it's not in my atlas, and I can't find it on the Internet. They make a Mediterranean-style pork roast there, though, and no doubt you could be the first person on your block to cook one.

Proceeds from the cookbook go to a project to feed children in Rwanda. The price is $25, with $2 for shipping and handling if you order it from the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, 704 Comm Ave, Boston, MA 02215. Make checks payable to "War Children in Africa"; e-mail ksenya@bu.edu or eromano@bu.edu for more information. And let me know if you find Cauceda.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at robtnadeau@aol.com.

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