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Type: American
Hours: Lunch Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m; dinner Mon.-Sun. 5-10 p.m.; Brunch Sat-Sun 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Good choices: Smoked bluefish cakes, shrimp nirvana, potato and mushroom stew, sesame peanut noodles, Mistress Margie's Bombay curry, Danno's Szechuan shaboom, chocolate mousse.
Credit cards: Visa, MC, Japanese Credit Bureau.
Access: restrooms not accessible.
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CENTRE STREET CAFE
669 Centre St.
Jamaica Plain
(617) 524-9217
Restaurant reviewed 04/22/99 by Sheryl Julian
The waiter was one of those fast-talking stand-up comic types. You know, the kind of guy who would rather be writing Letterman gags than waiting on you. So when the young woman beside me wanted to depart from the dish described on the menu - like Sally kept doing in "When Harry Met Sally" - he started on a shtick. And when I called him over and hesitated for an instant before asking for something, he said, "Don't tell me. Let me guess. Water? Wine? Coffee? All three? No? Dessert?"
He's part of the charm. And maybe the draw in this wildly successful, funky neighborhood restaurant. The food comes out of the kitchen very quickly and tables are empty only for a second before they're reset for new diners. If you wonder how they do it, here's how owner Felicia Sanchez explains it: "You learn to hustle your bustle."
Last summer Sanchez and husband Michael Kirkpatrick moved Centre Street Cafe from its 11-year-old location down the street, which had 19 seats, to this 28-seat place. The spot had been vacated by Five Seasons, which moved to Brookline. Sanchez kept the old location at 597 Centre, now a tacqueria called Mi Casita.
This is a JP institution and the food has a '60s commune feeling. It also has a fresh-from-the-garden quality, beautifully prepared with lots of vegetables and exquisite greens.
Sanchez has a long restaurant resume that includes Romagnoli's Table, The Harvest, and The Colony, owned by the meticulous, quirky Bruce Frankel.
So she learned to run a tight ship and produce big platefuls of dinner. Every neighborhood should be lucky enough to have a place like this on its main street.
Smoked bluefish cakes ($5.95) were perfectly crisp and wonderful with the homemade tartar sauce. Succulent, pan-fried shrimp nirvana ($5.95) came wrapped in little cones of flour tortilla, with a spicy soy dipping sauce. Roasted beet salad ($5.95) contained surprisingly sweet beets on green beans tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Organic chicken livers, sauteed with onions and dried figs ($7.95), were scattered on a bed of sesame-dressed arugula.
Kirkpatrick raises some vegetables in the summer and buys as much organic and locally grown produce as possible. The nightly specials, which include a vegetable dish, and entrees made with fowl, pasta, and fish, range from $13 to $16. That's higher than a Cheap eater can pay, so we stuck to the regular menu for entrees. Don't feel sorry for us.
A potato and mushroom stew ($8.95) was deeply flavored with a musky broth. Sesame peanut noodles ($8.95) was a sea of crunchy Napa cabbage, bok choy, carrots, and celery over Chinese egg noodles and a peanut-y sauce. On this and many other dishes, you can add tofu for an additional $1.50; natural chicken for $2.50; shrimp for $4.
Mistress Margie's Bombay curry stir-fry ($8.95) was a terrific homemade curry, tossed with broccoli, carrots, Chinese cabbage, snow peas, and raisins.
Danno's Szechuan Shaboom ($8.98), was slightly hot and nicely flavored with ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce mixed with egg noodles, broccoli, carrots, and Chinese cabbage.
Several white and red wines appear on each menu, in addition to beer, and there are only a few desserts. Strawberries ($4.95) came drizzled with caramel and covered with real whipped cream. A chocolate mousse was intensely dark and pleasingly rich, made with beautiful chocolate.
The waiter with the gift of gab made a fresh pot of coffee after dinner, which is just what you want a waiter to do. Or maybe he was trying to make up for giving me a hard time earlier.
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