T.W. Food Is Closing to Make Room for a ‘Totally Unique’ New Restaurant

TW Food. / Photo by Michelle Goldstein for Best Romantic Restaurant 2013

A pillar of the Boston area’s fine dining scene is saying goodbye to the tasting menu format. T.W. Food will shutter after service on February 19 to make room for a “totally unique” new concept from chef Tim Wiechmann, he says. Boston Restaurant Talk first reported the changes.

The establishment has offered an ever-changing, seasonal menu of refined, French-inspired courses, which was pretty edgy when he and his wife, Bronwyn, debuted it 10 years ago, Wiechmann says.

But these days, “People still want luxury, but they want it to be faster, more accessible, and more easy-going,” he says. The new menu will still be refined, “it still has the sensibility of me and Bronwyn,” but they’re ready to do things differently, Wiechmann says.

The chef won’t share details about the new concept just yet—and he says it doesn’t have a name at this point—but the cuisine is going to be “much more international,” he says. “And it will be totally unique, that is for certain. It will give people a chance to see a collection of food ideas that reflect a bunch of stuff I’ve done, travel-wise, and my interpretations of these things.”

Wiechmann has applied to upgrade for a full liquor license (T.W. Food has always served just beer and wine), though don’t expect a bar to go into the small space. The Cambridge dining room will get a cosmetic facelift, though, and a kitchen renovation. Wiechmann hopes to reopen the new restaurant by late March.

“It’s sad, but it’s so awesome. What a great run the restaurant has had,” Wiechmann says. “We love the restaurant, but we just want to do something different.”

Since debuting T.W. Food, the Wiechmanns have expanded their business with the casual bierhaus Bronwyn, and for a time, operated a Balkan-inspired sandwich shop, Playska.

For the next week-plus, the chef will continue to pay homage to the style of dining that put him on the map. It’s business as usual at T.W. Food, with duck liver pâtá and mangalista pork rillettes, ricotta agnolotti with winter squash, pistachio streusel with citrus meringue, and more classics on the three-course menu, and reservations still available for Valentine’s Day and beyond for a final intimate evening at a romantic original.

Stay tuned for more on T.W. Food’s next life.

377 Walden St., Cambridge, 617-864-4745, twfoodrestaurant.com.