True story. We went to dinner at Maxwells 148, a nice, elegant restaurant located just outside of the center of town, and then headed over to the community arts center for their opening night performance of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. It was just like a night out in Boston without having to pay for parking and tolls!
Maxwells 148 is an Itialian-Asian restaurant. I once read that it was a fusion restaurant, but saw very few fusion examples on the menu. Taking a closer look my second time around, there does seem to be more distinct Asian and Italian dishes, but there are a few fusion items to be had.
Their website describes the restaurant and your experience as:
“This wonderful treasure located in Natick, MA is the creation of partners Mitchell Maxwell and Randy Nason. Invaluable assets such as Maxwell's culinary skills and Nason's savvy business experience create the perfect duo for success at Maxwells 148. The imaginative Italian and Asian cuisine shines with the inspired glow of Maxwell's experiences with chefs from the Friuli region of Italy, and by traveling through Hawaii, Japan and south to Indonesia. Partner Randy Nason is the accomplished leader of Maxwell's staff, a superior crew providing extraordinary service. Take your time to peruse the specially selected eighty bottle wine list, a delight for wine lovers, and a tribute to Nason's wine knowledge.”The restaurant itself is very nicely appointed – its Asian influence comes out in the décor. It’s not over the top or even really classically Asian, but it’s very calming and serene. I’d almost describe it as “zen.” It’s not a huge space, but they do a great job to make sure that the tables are not on top of each other. It’s elegant and tasteful without being too high-falutin’, and it does have a small bar. I wouldn’t say it’s an “eat at the bar” sort of place, but you can get a drink while you’re waiting for your friends to get there.
We started with a cocktail, and while B stuck to his old standard Bombay Sapphire martini, I opted for the special Ketel One martini with anchovy and bleu cheese stuffed olives. My old standard is a Grey Goose martini, dirty, up with olives. I know, not much of a stretch, especially if you do like to experiment with stuffed olives as I do. But in fairness, I was actually leaning toward experimenting with their black fig vodka martini (which I overheard is their private label vodka). I did request the martini to be made on the dirty side, and I think that prevented me from really tasting the anchovies influence in the flavor, but it was still quite a good olive.
For an appetizer, we shared a risotto cake that was served with mushrooms and some type of mushroom cream sauce. (Forgive me for not knowing or being able to describe the details… remember, I’m a wannabe foodie. Still working this stuff out.) It was delicious. But then again, I love risotto, I love risotto that has been fried or pan seared in any way, and mushrooms are the world’s greatest fungus. (There is a joke in there about fungus, but I’m writing about food so I’ll let it go.)
B ordered the mozzarella salad special, which sounded good, looked good, but I never tried and I can’t remember what else was in it. It was not a caprese-type salad which I think made it interesting, and the mozzarella was marinated. He cleaned his plate. He’s good like that.
I ordered the salad with baby greens and roasted mushrooms. It had a lemony salad dressing (by this time the martini was in my head and we were onto a lovely bottle of Italian red wine, so the details get fuzzy) and shaved Parmigiano Regiano cheese. (Notice, I didn’t say “parmesan cheese.” That’s significant. This cheese actually came from Italy.) The salad was really good, but I thought it could have used a bigger hit of the dressing to kick up the flavor. I would have salted it had there been salt on the table. (But I do love that really nice restaurants don’t put salt and pepper on the tables because their food is supposed to arrive perfectly seasoned.)
Choosing my entrée was a challenge. While it’s not a huge menu per se, there is an enormous selection of delicious sounding meals. The menu focuses on house specialties that include both Asian and Italian fare, but also has a generous assortment of other meals – pasta, fish, chicken and meat – both from the Asian and Italian side of the culinary table.
I went simple… Shrimp fra diavolo. B opted for the rack of lamb special – one of the fusion type dishes I mentioned, it came with lobster fried rice.
The fra diavolo was definitely devilish… it was spicy and yummy. I could only eat half of it. (I confess to ordering spicy pasta dishes when I’m trying not to do overdue it in an Italian restaurant. Inevitably, I cannot eat the whole thing because my mouth is en fuego.) But let there be no confusion – it was delicious. (I don’t “review” a lot of restaurants…. I’m working on my synonyms for delicious that don’t make me sound like an asshole. Scrumptious, mouth-watering, to die for… yeah, just not there yet.)
B cleaned his plate. And I’m proud to say he did this without picking up the bones and sucking them clean. (We differ on the appropriateness of this in a public setting, but he threw me a bone this time, no pun intended. And he didn’t actually throw me a bone.) He ordered the lamb medium rare, and thought it might have been over cooked. I thought it looked perfectly cooked. That then launched us into a discussion of what medium rare is supposed to look like. I say “warm red center.” I don’t know that he had a description, but quite frankly, they looked closer to rare than medium if there was an argument to be had. But his meal, his opinion. (Compromise is that thing about marriage I’m having the toughest time with… It’s hard to take an Italian-Irish girl who has been on her own for a long time and tell her she can’t always get her way.)
The one thing about Maxwells 148 where there was no debate – the service. It was impeccable. The servers were knowledgeable without being pretentious, friendly without being overbearing. I’m not 100% sure, but when we asked to order a bottle of wine that would complement both of our meals, I believe it was Randy, the co-owner, who brought the list to our table, suggested three bottles that would be good, and offered us a sample of the one that was also available by the glass. And his recommendations ranged in price – from the $90 bottle that they had a limited amount of, to the $44 bottle we ended up buying. (And not because we’re cheap… B spends a ridiculous amount of money on wine in restaurants. But now that we’re married, the show’s over… let’s rein it in, buddy. That money needs to go towards a new house with a big, fancy chef’s kitchen! Oh, just imagine the blogs… but I digress.)
The servers worked well as a team. There was never any doubt who our server was, but we had our water re-filled by a number of different people, as they didn’t just focus on their tables. They all took care of the restaurant. And what I really liked was that the chef made the rounds. I saw him in the dining room several times, and he stopped by our table to ask how our meals were and if we had any questions for him. Nice touch. Restaurants need to do that more. Well, really just the nice ones. No offense, but I don’t need to make small talk with the head chef at TGI Friday’s.
So, I highly recommend Maxwells 148 if you are ever in the Natick or Metro West area. Just one suggestion… if you order one of the off-menu specials, you might want to make sure how much they cost. We were a little sticker shocked by my $18 martini (that’s more expensive than Grill 23, and it wasn’t nearly as big) and B’s $52 rack of lamb. I still chuckle that his entrée cost more than the bottle of wine we ordered. You just don’t see that very often!
Maxwells 148 is located at 148 East Central Street, in Natick, MA. They are open for lunch Tuesday – Friday (noon to 2:00 p.m.) and dinner Tuesday – Friday (5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) and Saturday (5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.). You can find them on the web at http://www.maxwells148.com/. Reservations are available through Open Table.
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