Blog de Puree

Randye and I spent the Friday after Valentine’s Day at our new favorite local restaurant, Ten Center Street–now that Theory has closed its doors.

What it lacks in Theory’s ultra-coziness (I think it sat no more than 30 people), Ten Center Street makes up for in sumptuous culinary delights by Head Chef Harley Smith and wicked seasonal and imaginative cocktails. Here’s the story of how we came to know what we call our favorite restaurant in Newburyport.

A couple of years ago, late one summer afternoon, we and some friends were looking for a place to eat and tried to get into Ten Center Street, but the wait was too long. We told ourselves we would be back because the menu looked verrrrry interesting. Fast forward a year-and-a-half and we discovered Theory, a little bistro on State Street. A flash in the pan, this restaurant was so good—and tiny—that we didn’t want to tell anyone about it, as a past blog post explains. But all good things must come to an end and the little place on State Street closed its doors by late summer of 2007. A tragedy.

Flash forward a couple of months to September. Randye is due with our son in a few weeks and we decided to get one last great meal before the uncertainty of parenthood sets in. “Hey, we always wanted to give Ten Center Street a try, let’s go there,” Randye suggested. The plan was sound and we sallied forth.

The best and worst part about our meal that night was that the menu contained sushi, oysters, steak tartare, soft cheeses, foie gras and insanely delicious looking cocktails—all the foods that Randye loves but couldn’t eat for being off limits to pregnant women for a myriad of reasons. But that didn’t stop me from sampling the oysters and cocktails.

Randye had the lobster mac & cheese and I don’t remember what I ate, thanks to the drinks, but I remember being more than excited about the sumptuous repast that evening. We vowed that evening that Ten Center Street would be the location of our first date night after our son was born and we were able to find a proper babysitter.

Special thanks goes to Randye’s folks a few months later for visiting and watching our son one evening as we made are way back to the scene of the crime. This time for a delicious refection, no holds barred. Randye went the tapas route, eating:

1. Roasted seasonal wild mushrooms over a creamy herb polenta, truffle oil & shaved asiago
2. Roasted Fuji apple with a brulee of Hudson Valley foie gras stuffed with duck confit, pinenut spinach & cider horseradish demi
3. Ham and four cheese tortellini antipasto salad with proscuitto, olives, artichokes, bell peppers and parmesan dressing

I had oysters on the half shell and the duck special with salty, crispy skin (Yum!) that was close to the best duck I’ve ever had. Desert was a chocolate-banana tiramisu that was not to heavy, not too sweet and the perfect way to end our meal.

However, this last meal was the best yet. It started it out with a pinot noir from our favorite Sonoma winery Gundlach Bundschu, which by the way, we were excited to finally see on a wine list in the area. A first, I think, and a special golf clap goes to the individual who decided to carry it. The chef then “gifted” us with a maple carrot puree in small cups. An amuse bouche. For appetizers we had Hudson Valley foie gras Monte Cristo with wild Maine blueberry preserves, fried cinnamon bread and creamy fluff, and lobster wasabi shumai with lemon grass chili sauce, pickled cucumber and toasted cashews. For the second course, we ordered a sushi roll of miso marinated organic salmon sashimi with Hawaiian poke salad and insalata mista with beef bresola, carpaccio of portabella mushroom, house cured olives, gorgonzola dolce and pepperoncini. The main course consisted of Randye’s bone-in Angus beef rib eye steak with chopped salad, crispy onion strings and gorgonzola dolce and my Tandoori-spiced New Zealand rack of lamb with potato paneer, spring peas, mint oil, toasted cashews and fig preserve.

And then there was dessert. A deconstructed pecan pie with vanilla ice cream that was a big plate of orgasmic yummy mush.

To say that we were fat and happy after this meal would be an understatement. If I were on death row, this would be the where I’d want my last meal to come from. And to anyone looking for a culinary adventure that befits the style and uniqueness of Newburyport, Mass, this is the restaurant to visit.