Small Bite: Not Your Garden Variety
The new no-frills space atop the dive-y Cellar bar may not look like much, but nearly every restaurant in town could learn from Garden at the Cellar.
The new no-frills space atop the dive-y Cellar bar may not look like much, but nearly every restaurant in town could learn from Garden at the Cellar.
Lesson 1: Cheap food needn’t be boring food. Chef Will Gilson, a former line cook at Oleana, uses fragrant herbs from his father’s farm, the Herb Lyceum, to jazz up snacks like marinated cheese skewers and spiced meatballs with butternut squash.
Lesson 2: Just because the chef’s got talent doesn’t mean he has to be fussy. Gilson makes a juicy—and ginormous—burger; simple, elegant salads; and a range of hearty soups (add $2 for a gourmet grilled cheese on the side).
Lesson 3: No matter how casual the joint, the service should be knowledgeable. When we visited just a month after the Garden opened, our lovable waiter helped us make good choices, including steering us to the warm spiced chocolate cake, which puts the usual molten chocolate to shame. Sort of like what the Garden does to the competition.
991 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-876-2580, gardenatthecellar.com.