A kitchen with real chemistry

Dining Out

Near MIT, Catalyst gently pushes the boundaries of convention

November 23, 2011|By Devra First, Globe Staff

CATALYST ***

300 Technology Square, Cambridge. 617-576-3000. www.catalystrestaurant.com. All major credit cards accepted. Wheelchair accessible.

Prices Appetizers $9-$15. Entrees $15-$28. Desserts $9.

Hours Sun 5-10 p.m. Mon-Thu 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4:30-10 p.m. Fri 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4:30-11 p.m. Sat 5-11 p.m.

Noise level Just right.

May we suggest Chicken liver mousse, seared scallops, tournedos of beef, roasted cod, butterscotch-passion fruit pudding.

Dining right now is having a real “Revenge of the Nerds’’ moment. The world’s most famous chefs come to Harvard to talk about science and cooking. Bartenders create cocktails with centrifuges and rotary evaporators, formerly considered lab equipment. (Whatever happened to good old body shots?) A recent episode of “The Simpsons’’ showed Marge, Bart, and Lisa eating a “Caesar salad’’ of lettuce gel, egg ice, crouton foam, and anchovy air at a restaurant called El Chemistri. Food and technology are trending hand in hand. An August Gallup poll asked respondents to rate their feelings about 25 US business sectors. The computer industry received the most positive ranking, followed by the restaurant industry. All five of the top sectors were related to computers or food. (The federal government placed dead last. Perhaps Congress should start a food blog. Or do something really ridiculous, like declare pizza a vegetable.)

Meanwhile, we find Catalyst, in the area surrounding MIT that is suddenly bursting with restaurants. Despite its name and location, it is not techie or whiz-bang. The only chemical reaction it speeds up involves dopamine. We eat here, we feel pleasure. Catalyst serves delicious food largely prepared using traditional methods: the braise, the sear, the pickle. Of course, these are science, too.

The kitchen, headed by chef-owner William Kovel with chef de cuisine Anthony Mazzotta, turns out dishes that gently nudge convention without trying to overthrow the hegemony. One that I suspect has already become a Catalyst signature is a piece of beautifully roasted cod in chowder reinforced with mussels, clams, and potatoes crushed with olive oil and creme fraiche. The broth is chowder refined - lighter and just a bit tart from the cultured cream.

Another very nice dish is spit-roasted chicken, which hasn’t changed much since medieval times. You either do it right or you don’t. An early visit to Catalyst yielded dry meat. Either the process has been refined or my table lucks out. (I suspect I was recognized as a reviewer on several visits.) Now the bird is juicy from breast to leg, accompanied by chanterelles, haricots verts, lardons, and potatoes that cook beneath the rotisserie in the drippings from the chickens.