Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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CUTTING-EDGE CLASSICS Modern grilled cobia is paired with traditional pease porridge. Chef/owner Will Gilson likens himself to the humble parsnip. "I'm bringing back the oldstyle dishes, but serving them in a more playful way."—WILL GILSON Every night is a busy one at Puritan & Company. pilgrim's progress STUFFIES, CHOWDER, AND TAPIOCA GET REINVENTED AT PURITAN & COMPANY, WHERE THE ATMOSPHERE IS AS COZY AND MODERN AS THE FOOD. BY VICTORIA ABBOTT RICCARDI PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDY RYAN W ill Gilson, chef/owner of the upscale, Yankee-style eatery Puritan & Company, once admitted that the ingredient that best personifies him is the parsnip. "It's a vegetable people don't really understand, but when it's prepared well, they really enjoy it." Fast-forward to a recent Friday night at his new restaurant, where, even without a full liquor license, every seat in the house is full. Smiles, laughter, and stories fill the air as folks sip funky wines and beers at the long white bar, slurp up oysters and munch on cured meats at the seven-seat charcuterieoyster bar, and indulge in Moxie-glazed lamb belly and roast chicken at chunky wood tables scattered throughout the soothing blue and white room. 66 Gilson steps out of the kitchen to survey the scene. His chest puffs with pride, and the grin on his face seems to say, "The humble root vegetable has arrived." But getting to this point has had its traumas. When Gilson pulled up stakes at Garden at the Cellar to open his own urban farm-driven eatery in June of 2011, he was riding high on risk. When his plan failed to materialize, he headed to Cape Cod to do a pop-up restaurant for the summer. He loved it. The locals loved him. But when summer ended, he had no job. "I didn't know what I was going to do, so I moved in with my parents," says Gilson, who grew up cooking at The Herb Lyceum at Gilson's, his family's farm in Groton. "There I was, back in my childhood bedroom again, feeling like a failure." But then Gilson got a call. The old Puritan Cake Company building had a vacancy. A partner materialized (Ming-Tai Huh) and— ahhhh—his career was looking like a bumper harvest once again. "It took almost one year and 11 months to the day to open," says Gilson, whose contemporaries include Bill Brodsky of Boston's City Landing, Chad Burns at Newton's Farmstead Table, and Chris Parsons of Steel & Rye in Milton. Like many chefs of his generation, Gilson decided to serve Pilgrim-era dishes with a modern twist. "We're in this category of 'new' New England food," he says. "I'm bringing back the old-style dishes that have gotten lost over time, like stuffies, johnnycakes, and New England boiled dinners, but offering them in a more playful way than the standard sort of recipe you'd find in a book." continued on page 68 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 066-068_BC_SC_SMD_Spring13.indd 66 2/12/13 3:08 PM