When Bina Osteria opened in 2008, reaction fell into two camps: 1) The food is incredible! 2) The food is expensive! The restaurant didn’t look stereotypically upscale. It was modern, sleek, not too formal. Some found the decor stark. The menu, however, was sophisticated, offering quail cooked in hay, suckling pig confit compressed into rich ingots, and some of the dreamiest gnocchi I’ve ever eaten. Perhaps it was hard for diners to wrap their minds around opening chef Brian Konefal’s elegantly interpreted Italian cuisine, served in a room that felt relatively casual, resulting in a check that could equal one at the city’s best occasion restaurants. Perhaps the economic moment was just wrong. At any rate, Bina soon changed its concept, embracing less-expensive, simpler fare. Konefal moved on (he was last spotted in Flagstaff, Ariz., at the Piano Room).
Elegance simplified at Bina Osteria
Dining out
It took a while for Bina to regain its footing, but it has. Will Foden, previously chef de cuisine at Dante in Cambridge, stepped into the kitchen a year ago. His menu is hearty but not heavy, balancing rich and light. There are appealing snacks to accompany drinks after work or before a show or movie: bresaola with melon, lamb meatballs in creamy, tangy goat cheese fondue, bruschetta topped with truffled lardo and chestnut honey.
Some appetizers are hits, such as the rich coins of cotechino sausage made in house, teamed with Brussels sprouts, walnuts, salty ricotta salata, and a runny egg. Others are misses. Tomato-braised octopus tastes fishy and is chewy and tough, although the greens, preserved lemon, and black chickpeas are striking companions. Bottarga - the salted, dried fish roe that is a specialty of southern Italy - is a wonderful ingredient, but if it’s in this dish as the menu states, I can’t taste it.
A section of Foden’s menu is devoted to off-cuts such as oxtail, sweetbreads, and a sweet little tripe dish, the cow stomach tender and mild in tomato sauce with pickled vegetables and grilled bread.
Pasta is the strongest part of the menu. An entire fall picnic is contained in the tortellini with smoked hen ragu, walnut sauce, apples, and the sheep’s milk cheese calcagno. The rustic flavors and silken pasta come together beautifully. Stracci are “rags’’ cut from a sheet of pasta dough made with chestnut flour, their hint of earthiness driven home by mushroom ragu and truffle-spiked pecorino. Ricotta gnocchi are pudgier than those Konefal created, but this is folk dancing compared with ballet, two different forms. The dumplings are satisfying served with hubbard squash, guanciale, fried sage, and ricotta salata, another example of Foden’s ability to play complementary flavors off one another.