Craigie On Main in Cambridge, MA operates based on their four enduring principles around constantly changing cuisine:

1. First find the ingredients, then create the menu.

2. Mother Nature knows best.

3. Our food and drinks sing off the same song sheet.

4. There is no place like home.

Q. Tell us about Craigie on Main:

A. Busy... fun... refined rusticity. We do sashimi and we do dainty herbs and big pig heads.

Q. Who have been some of your greatest influences in the nose-to-tail movement? 

A. Growing up, my family was never afraid to eat funky stuff in Chinatown - marrow, bones, feet. I had tongue sandwiches and liverwurst on rye from the deli as a kid. My grandmother's staples were stuffed derma and marrow bone soup. 

My experience in France made me stop and think. The restaurant I worked at got all our animals with horns, feathers, hooves. There it was just what they did - it wasn't political, but it reignited a flame. I realized that with a little extra technique and know-how I could make tough and chewy things succulent and delicious.

 

Q. Choosing sustainable fish seems to be more complicated for consumers than meat - what are some of your recommendations for eating more sustainably from a consumer perspective?

A. I think they're both complicated for different reasons. Sometimes what you read isn't quite accurate - there can be an agenda behind it. 

My most basic set of advice is:

1. Get to know your farmer / fishmonger / butcher.

2. Develop a trust with them, so you know they're only buying the best.

3. Labels like organic, all natural, day boat don't always mean anything.

 

Q. Your cocktail list follows the same “Four Enduring Principles” that your cuisine follows. Which is easier the cuisine or the cocktails for you to create and your customers to understand?

A. Cocktails are probably a little easier. The product is more consistent; the ratios are more straightforward; many recipes are new versions of classics.

 

Q. From a chef’s point of view, what’s your favorite meal to create and eat at your restaurant?

A. Like all chefs, we value repetition and consistency, but we get super-excited about what walked through the door that day. Whatever is making my mind race with excitement and possibility is my favorite meal on any one day. That goes for wine too.

Q. What are 3 parts of animals you think are the most under-appreciated, underused, yet easiest to use and what are your tips for using them?

A.

1. Neck - braised or slowly roasted.

2. Hearts - great rich flavor, marinated and grilled or folded into sausage meat.

3. The femur bone - filled with marrow. It gives great richness to soups and stocks.

 

Q. How about with fish (most under-appreciated and underused)?

A. The head - most fish have great meat in the cheeks and above the gills. It requires a little work to get at, but it's absolutely delicious if slowly roasted or braised.

 

Q. If you could ask a fellow chef (currently working in the US) one question, who would it be and what would you ask them? 

A. I would ask Thomas Keller or Daniel Boulud how they consistently recruit and retain great cooks?

FIND...

Q. With your respectable collection of cookbooks, which are your favorites for nose-to-tail cooking?

A. The Cooking of Southwest France, by Paula Wolfert - real honest recipes.

The River Cottage Cookbook, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - tons of information.

[See details.]

Q. As a knife collector, what resources do you use to find knives? Do you have a favorite knife producer? What’s your “white whale” of knives?

A. Knives are very personal. I don't have just one. Current go-to ones are a Nenox slicer and my Suisin fish knife.

[See details.]

EAT...

Q. What local restaurants would you send a visiting chef to and what would you recommend they eat?

A. Boston Speed - for their Speed Dog.

[See details.]

Q. What’s an iconic New England food and where’s the most authentic restaurant to find it?

A. Fried Clams at The Bite in Menemsha, Massachusetts.

[See details.]

Q. Where do you like to eat that won’t break the bank, but has killer food?

A. Jumbo Seafood in Chinatown  -  authentic, consistent, never lets us down.

[See details.]

Q. You mention France in your bio, if we gave you a plane ticket to fly there, what specific restaurants would you go to and what would you order? 

A. L'Astrance in Paris - there's only one menu, so whatever is on it.

Michel Bras  in Laguioule - there's only one menu, so whatever is on it.

Cafe des Federations in Lyon  - Oeufs en Meurette.

[See details.]

DRINK... 

Q. Where would you recommend starting the night for a drink?

A. Neptune Oyster - for oysters and great white wine.

[See details.]

Q. Where should we end the night?

A. The Bar at Craigie On Main or Green Street Grill in Cambridge.

[See details.]

Recommendations

Details of Tony Maws’ recommendations for books and knives, and where to eat in Boston, Martha’s Vineyard Paris, and Lyon.

Cocktail Recipes

- The Alphonse

Food Recipes

- Mussels with Buttery Miso Broth

- Smoked Bluefish Rillettes