Waltham spot spices cuisine with world flavors
Tempo American Bistro
474 Moody St., Waltham
Telephone: 781-891- 9000
Website: tempobistro.com
Hours: Monday-Thursday 5-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 5-11 p.m.; closed Sunday.
Handicapped accessible
Major credit cards accepted
There are so many ethnic restaurants along Moody Street in Waltham, one could dine out all week without eating the same type of food. Thai, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian are only a few of the choices.
If you're looking for a smattering of flavors with extraordinary twist, try Temple American Bistro. This 3-year-old eatery, with a sleek, wood- and steel-accented decor, serves American food with a combination of tastes from almost every continent and culture.
During a recent visit, my husband and I were greeted by our waitress with a cone of toasted bagel chips and a roasted pepper dip. The breads, crackers, and chips are always changing, she said. In coming weeks, we could expect ciabatta bread to replace the chips.
After giving us menus, she pointed to the extensive list of specials on a blackboard.
A telephone call a few days later revealed that those enticing entrees are all recipes created in the kitchen, located behind a glass wall so that guests can watch the chefs. Executive chef and owner Nathan Sigel said that if a special is popular it graduates to the menu.
Sigel cooks with Michael Libby, the restaurant's other executive chef. The two collaborate on the menus and the specials. "They bounce ideas off each other," said restaurant manager Erin Barnicle.
On the evening we visited, a pistachio-encrusted rack of lamb with a Dijon sauce was on the board, along with mahi mahi coated with macadamia nuts. Portuguese soup, coffee-rubbed sirloin steak, and a mussel dish made up some of the other offerings.
We kept to the extensive menu, which allowed us to explore a few "American" dishes accented with unique spices.
I opted for an appetizer of jumbo lump-crab cakes served with a jalapeno and roasted pepper aioli sauce ($12). Two perfect crab cakes, crunchy on the outside, tender and juicy inside, were filled with large pieces of crab and only a little batter to hold the cakes together. The corn and pepper salsa and the roasted pepper aioli enhanced the cakes.
My husband had the chicken lettuce-wrap appetizer ($10). A large plate arrived overflowing with Boston baby bib lettuce, bean sprouts, and an oversized white soufflé bowl holding chopped chicken that had been sautéed with water chestnuts and pine nuts. It was flavored with a hoisin and spicy peanut sauce. The chicken mixture was perfectly seasoned and a low-calorie approach to the usual sandwich.
My entree was the summer vegetable pasta ($21), a bowl filled with the chef's handmade capellini covered with seared oversized gulf shrimp, summer squash, zucchini, roasted tomatoes, and garlic. The shrimp were tender and succulent and the serving was so large it couldn't be finished.
My husband chose the all-American slow-cooked barbecued baby back ribs ($24) and loved his selection. Slathered in a dark rich sauce, it came with hand-cut French fries and the creamiest coleslaw I've ever seen. Again, the portion was too large to finish.
Barnicle said Nathan shops at the Boston fish pier every day and buys only local produce, which is why the vegetables in the pasta dish were so fresh.
There was no place to put any of the desserts created by pastry chef Jennifer Renaud. So, we took our pleasure watching confections go to other tables. Peach tarts, brownie sundaes, chocolate cakes, and blueberry pie came out of the kitchen on a regular basis. (The pies are made from Maine blueberries, freshly picked by Sigel's mother.) All desserts are $8.
Renaud changes pastry offerings regularly, Barnicle said. We'll just have to go back just for a cup of coffee and one of those desserts.
DENISE DUBÉ
