Bucking the Trend at City Landing

Photo by Bruce Peterson

Restaurant menus have gotten a little formulaic lately. Pork belly? Check. Old-timey cocktails? Small plates? Check, check. While catering to trends draws crowds, it won’t always keep them around for the long haul — a fact not lost on former Wequassett resort chef Bill Brodsky, who opens the waterfront restaurant City Landing this month. “We are looking for people who appreciate quality, but aren’t seeking the over-the-top foodie experience,” Brodsky says. “Having a few dishes that people can identify with, that still offer a creative flair, is what I was after.” He designed his menu accordingly, offering 70 percent reimagined classics (liver and onions with leeks and porcini pierogi), 10 percent meat-and-potatoes fare (New York strip steak with garlic-and-shallot chips), and 20 percent food-nerd-approved masterpieces (pizzetta nova, pictured below, with crème fraîche, smoked salmon, salmon roe, and quail eggs). “I want my restaurant to be for people who know where to get high-quality food that’s not pretentious,” Brodsky says. “If it becomes a scene, then that’s cool too. I just want it to be for the right reasons.”

255 State St., Boston, citylanding.com.