"Everyone's a critic when they walk in the door," says chef
Eric Brennan, two days into his regime as executive chef of Post 390, the
newest, largest hot spot to open in Boston in over a year. "In a restaurant
like ours, a huge urban tavern, we serve food that people know well, food they
eat on a regular basis - ribs, meatloaf, roast chicken, mac and cheese - and as
a result, they feel free to share their opinions of whether your meatloaf or
their mom's meatloaf is the best meatloaf in the world."
Brennan knows a thing or two about critics. He grew up in the
Four Seasons system and worked in two Five Diamond restaurants before coming to
Harvest and then heading on to Excelsior as executive chef. "In fine dining, you pair ingredients in ways
that diners don't expect and present it in ways they would never attempt at
home. There's a wow factor. Diners kind of leave it to the professionals to
tell them whether their meal is good or bad. But when it's home-style,
all-American food like we serve at Post, everyone has an opinion. Luckily, I
don't get irritated by opinions." Not that Brennan has a lot to worry about.
Customers are rushing in the door at Post and gushing with kudos. The address
is central, the bar is swishy, and the food simply dishy. What can you say that
isn't great about a chef who uses top-quality products and can turn out huge
portions of house-smoked St. Louis-style barbecued ribs for $18, and the best
lemon garlic roast chicken and mashed potatoes just north of your mom's for
$19.50? Post is destined to be a smash, and not just because it's the right
location with the right price. It's the food we grew up eating and plan to keep
eating for the rest of our lives.
Sometime in the haze of last year's recession, Excelsior failed.
One of the hallmark special-occasion restaurants in town, Excelsior had a great
run, starting with its launch by Lydia Shire and continuing on under Brennan.
But then the doors topped swinging open, and Excelsior became one of the first
dining casualties of the recession. Even as Brennan was closing down the
restaurant, finding jobs for his staff, and dismantling the kitchen, he was
working on the menu for Post. (The same company that owned Excelsior owns Post,
as well as Harvest and Grill 23.) "I went through 19 drafts of the menu, and
maybe one dish survived without changes from the first draft," Brennan
says. He floated each dish around to
gauge the reactions, but he wasn't only out to impress his professional
buddies. He wanted to get a read from people "who just like to eat," like his
neighbor who wanted him to try his recipe for mac and cheese, or his friend
with a great barbecue sauce. Or Brennan's wife, who thought that a great
grilled tuna salad belonged on the menu. (She won.)
The goal for Post was to create an affordable gastro-pub with a
downtown glisten. And glisten it does. The bar is sexy and bright with
big-screen TVs and big windows capturing Boston's best cityscapes. The finishes
are wood, leather, tile, and steel, manly and square, but combined in ways that
make women feel welcome at the clubhouse. It's cozy too, with lots of nooks for
conversation and tables by the fire. Expectations are that the Post concept and
menu are timeless, models for future locations. But Post isn't just a
placeholder for Brennan, or anyone else, to mark time until fine dining is
resurgent. Nope. Post is here to stay, and Brennan is gambling that even if and
when big paydays return, people will still want to eat the food they know and
love, made with better ingredients and more finesse than if they'd made it at
home. "It isn't that we don't think people will return to fine dining," Brennan
says. "It's more that they will never turn away from refined American
classics." Like steak frites with fries not frites, and meatloaf stuffed with
Black Forest ham and oozing with a tunnel of fontina cheese. What's not to
love?
-Louisa Kasdon
Louisa Kasdon can be reached at
louisa@louisakasdon.com.
