America, for all its weaknesses (we’re looking at you, last
eight years of our lives), can forever boast of one badge of pride: its
diversity. This great expanse of red, white, and blue that we call home has
eternal bragging rights about the vast range of peoples and cultures that make
a (more or less) happy home between our coasts. So kick-start your wet hot
American summer with some yummy melting pot grub at the newly revamped,
revitalized, and reinvented Rattlesnake Bar & Grill. Chef Brian Poe — who
transformed the restaurant into Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake
earlier this year — is keen on breaching the great divide by recreating
Southwestern staples that reflect his years as a chef in Arizona, riffing on
South American culinary traditions he’s picked up during his many travels,
adding a few dashes of Southern comfort food from his Georgia roots, and
topping it all off with a taste-bud-titillating New England twist courtesy of
some super-local ingredients.
Sample some south-of-the-border flavor with “The Infamous
Avocado” ($12), which comes grilled, drizzled in oil, and topped with an
unlikely compatriot: New England lobster smothered in a lick-your-fingers-clean
lavender crème fraîche. This sea-meets-land, North-meets-South combo has all
the makings of a local summertime sensation.
For an updated take on the beloved taco, try Poe’s mouthwatering
celery root tempura fish tacos ($11). Locals will surely be able to pick out
the taste of cod in these neatly packaged little numbers, but with the
just-right texture of tempura and the surprisingly perfect pairing with a fresh
yet slightly spicy apple slaw, the fish is elevated to a taste you won’t find
by our timeworn Gloucester docks.
If you fancy yourself a more audacious diner, or if you’re simply
fed up with the same-old, same-old Boston fare, chef Poe has got the jumper
cables your listless palate needs. Stimulate yourself with chile-infused
rattlesnake cakes ($6), which impart impressive viper-eating status in the
comforting crab cake format we New Englanders know, love, and aren’t afraid of.
And don’t let your server leave the table without asking for an
order (or six) of the grilled chile cornbread ($6), which, when paired with a
flavorful Guadalajara butter, is the warmest, gooiest, and most satisfying
thing you’ll find this side of a dessert menu.
A stacked and scintillating bill of fare that blurs the lines
that once divided us? Now that’s something to which we can all pledge
allegiance.
