I met chef-owner Patrick Shannon of Side Street Café in 2007 as part of a CISA dinner for which he and I had volunteered to cook. I spent most of the day in the kitchen and basement of the restaurant prepping for the dinner. I can surely say that, after that day, I have no hesitation about eating at Side Street. The basement and walkin were clean and the staff had a great attitude toward the food.
SIDE STREET CAFÉ (42 Maple St., Florence, 587-8900, www.sidestcafe.com) consists of two rooms, the original space with the kitchen in the back and a newer space with a bar. In summer months, there are tables for two outside on the wooden porch. During the day, the café has a lunch menu; in the evenings, it serves entrees with more complexity. Like many restaurants these days, Side Street offers a standard menu and a “Recession-Proof Menu” of three courses for $20.09.
Shannon was the former executive chef at the Del Raye in Northampton and it shows in how he thinks about food. He combines ingredients with more sophistication than an average “corner” restaurant, but doesn’t cover up the flavors of those ingredients with sauces or overpowering spices. “They say a sauce can cover a thousand sins,” he said, laughing. “I want to keep things pure. The Valley is filled with good stuff. Why make [them] into something else?”
Patrick was at a Red Sox game the night we showed up last week, which meant that I was as anonymous as any diner. We ended up in the bar room, which was cooler but noisier.
Fried calamari are a cliché these days. Side Street does them as a pan roast, with sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives and spinach. Calamari are tricky: You have to cook them quickly until they are just opaque, or for a half-hour or more, with both methods producing a tender result. These were somewhere in the middle – a touch chewy, but still full of flavor. We also had the curry spiced chicken wings appetizer, five large wings dusted in a hot curry powder and served with a cumin-spiked yogurt cucumber sauce.
Entrees come with a house salad, which diners can upgrade for an extra $3. We tried the roasted beet salad and the Side Street salad. The roasted beet salad was a hit – beets with braised fennel, spinach, carrot and a garnish of fried leeks. The Side Street salad (avocado, frisee, marinated cucumber, roasted red peppers and smoked almonds) was good, but not as good as the beet salad.
For entrees, we shared the puebla chicken (a mole-sauced chicken breast with a jicama-mango salsa and a panko-crusted jicama cake), the blackened scallops (four large scallops on smoked shrimp and artichoke risotto with a carrot-achiote vinaigrette), and the adobo-dusted tenderloin tips (with oven-dried tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus and spinach in a blue cheese cream sauce over penne pasta). The mole was the standout of the evening. Shannon uses sweetened Mexican chocolate rather than the unsweetened chocolate that is more typical. It may not have been as authentic, but the slight sweetness brought out the chocolate flavor better than most of the moles I have had. The scallops were done just right and the sweet carrot sauce drizzled over the plate was unusual and tasty. The tenderloin tips were the least successful, I thought, although all the ingredients were correctly cooked.
We paired the dinner with an ‘05 Montevina Terra d’Oro Zinfandel ($38) which was rich and tasted of dark berries. For dessert, we split pieces of Key lime pie and a rich chocolate torte.
These are trying times for restaurants: People have been eating out less and when they do eat out they look for bargains. Side Street does a good business and it comes up regularly on local lists of favorite restaurants, but every restaurateur has to match his or her menu to what customers are ordering. When I talked with Shannon, he was working on a new menu due out later this month that will combine the standard and Recession fare. Diners will be able to choose an entree with two price points – that is, a full dinner or a smaller (and less expensive) portion – or order from a Café Specials section, also offering smaller portions.
Shannon grew up in Florence and aside from a short stint in New Mexico, his career has been based in the Pioneer Valley. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute in 2000, he interned at the Del Raye and stayed there for five years, the last two as executive chef. He left to help open the Tavern on the Hill in Holyoke, but soon departed to start the Side Street Café in 2006. The café is a CISA member and buys much of its meat and produce locally. Shannon just expanded his own garden to 30 by 40 feet and uses some of what he grows for his restaurant. Can’t get much more local than that.
Although the menu will change, the prices and items probably won’t vary too much. Currently, lunch dishes hover around $7.95. For dinner, appetizers range from $8.25 for a roast vegetable and brie quesadilla to $12.95 for three oysters and three shrimp. Salads ordered separately are $5.95 for the house salad to $8.95 for the roasted beet. Entrees range from a $18.95 vegetable paella to $24.95 for the scallops or tenderloin tips. Many of these are available on the appetizer/entrée/dessert Recession-Proof menu for a total of $20.09.
I met chef-owner Patrick Shannon of Side Street Café in 2007 as part of a CISA dinner for which he and I had volunteered to cook. I spent most of the day in the kitchen and basement of the restaurant prepping for the dinner. I found that the back areas were clean and the staff had a great attitude toward the food. Ever since, I’ve eaten at Side Street without hesitation.
SIDE STREET CAFÉ (42 Maple St., Florence, 587-8900, www.sidestcafe.com) consists of two rooms, the original space with the kitchen in the back and a newer space with a bar. In summer months, there are tables for two outside on the wooden porch. During the day, the café has a lunch menu; in the evenings, it serves entrees with more complexity. Like many restaurants these days, Side Street offers a standard menu and a “Recession-Proof Menu” of three courses for $20.09.
Shannon was the former executive chef at the Del Raye in Northampton and it shows in how he thinks about food. He combines ingredients with more sophistication than an average “corner” restaurant, but doesn’t cover up the flavors of those ingredients with sauces or overpowering spices. “They say a sauce can cover a thousand sins,” he said, laughing. “I want to keep things pure. The Valley is filled with good stuff. Why make [them] into something else?”
Patrick was at a Red Sox game the night we showed up last week, which meant that I was as anonymous as any diner. We ended up in the bar room, which was cooler but noisier.
Fried calamari are a cliché these days. Side Street does them as a pan roast, with sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives and spinach. Calamari are tricky: You have to cook them quickly until they are just opaque, or for a half-hour or more, with both methods producing a tender result. These were somewhere in the middle – a touch chewy, but still full of flavor. We also had the curry spiced chicken wings appetizer, five large wings dusted in a hot curry powder and served with a cumin-spiked yogurt cucumber sauce.
Entrees come with a house salad, which diners can upgrade for an extra $3. We tried the roasted beet salad and the Side Street salad. The roasted beet salad was a hit – beets with braised fennel, spinach, carrot and a garnish of fried leeks. The Side Street salad (avocado, frisee, marinated cucumber, roasted red peppers and smoked almonds) was good, but not as good as the beet salad.
For entrees, we shared the puebla chicken (a mole-sauced chicken breast with a jicama-mango salsa and a panko-crusted jicama cake), the blackened scallops (four large scallops on smoked shrimp and artichoke risotto with a carrot-achiote vinaigrette), and the adobo-dusted tenderloin tips (with oven-dried tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus and spinach in a blue cheese cream sauce over penne pasta). The mole was the standout of the evening. Shannon uses sweetened Mexican chocolate rather than the unsweetened chocolate that is more typical. It may not have been as authentic, but the slight sweetness brought out the chocolate flavor better than most of the moles I have had. The scallops were done just right and the sweet carrot sauce drizzled over the plate was unusual and tasty. The tenderloin tips were the least successful, I thought, although all the ingredients were correctly cooked.
We paired the dinner with an ‘05 Montevina Terra d’Oro Zinfandel ($38) which was rich and tasted of dark berries. For dessert, we split pieces of Key lime pie and a rich chocolate torte.
These are trying times for restaurants: People have been eating out less and when they do eat out they look for bargains. Side Street does a good business and it comes up regularly on local lists of favorite restaurants, but every restaurateur has to match his or her menu to what customers are ordering. When I talked with Shannon, he was working on a new menu due out later this month that will combine the standard and Recession fare. Diners will be able to choose an entree with two price points – that is, a full dinner or a smaller (and less expensive) portion – or order from a Café Specials section, also offering smaller portions.
Shannon grew up in Florence and aside from a short stint in New Mexico, his career has been based in the Pioneer Valley. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute in 2000, he interned at the Del Raye and stayed there for five years, the last two as executive chef. He left to help open the Tavern on the Hill in Holyoke, but soon departed to start the Side Street Café in 2006. The café is a CISA member and buys much of its meat and produce locally. Shannon just expanded his own garden to 30 by 40 feet and uses some of what he grows for his restaurant. Can’t get much more local than that.
Although the menu will change, the prices and items probably won’t vary too much. Currently, lunch dishes hover around $7.95. For dinner, appetizers range from $8.25 for a roast vegetable and brie quesadilla to $12.95 for three oysters and three shrimp. Salads ordered separately are $5.95 for the house salad to $8.95 for the roasted beet. Entrees range from a $18.95 vegetable paella to $24.95 for the scallops or tenderloin tips. Many of these are available on the appetizer/entrée/dessert Recession-Proof menu for a total of $20.09.
Originally published Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 7, 2009
