We couldn't get ready for Saturday night. It's kind of weird to say, but we were just too busy on Friday and Saturday night, and we have a small kitchen. Mark Romano: "We tried to do that when we first opened. Somerville Patch: Do you have any plans to open up Saturday brunch? You know there's a lot of anticipation for getting a great meal and great service." Brunch: People are waiting in line to get in. We keep trying to make it better, you know. I guess that's how you win those awards, right? To have a lot of people who like your restaurant, you've got to be proud of that. We've got a loyal fan base, if you want to call it that, that writes nice things about us. Somerville Patch: You've received a lot of awards. We won Best of Boston this year for Best Southern Restaurant." I never intended to open up a Southern restaurant. Because we do have some Southern stuff on there, we do a Southern themed brunch, and we do kind of get pigeonholed as a Southern restaurant, too, which is fine. There's Southern stuff, there's some Caribbean stuff, there's some Italian stuff. But as far as the style goes I call it American because it's a mix. So me and the chefs, there's a lot of freedom to do whatever they want. We do a raw bar, a vegetarian soup, sometimes a dessert, we do drink specials, and that's our ultra seasonal stuff. And then we have our blackboard nightly specials, where we do two entrees, two appetizers, always a grilled fish.
I can't believe I'm serving brussels sprouts in the summer, but that's the way it is. We've got a bunch of stuff that people love and it's kind of hard to take off. Our regular menu, we change a few things four times a year. Mark Romano: "I call it seasonal American comfort food.
Highland kitchen how to#
Somerville Patch: If someone asked you how to describe your food, how would you describe it? People who Virgie's, they still come in here and feel comfortable." It became a place to go get a nice drink and a meal, but still keep it comfortable and casual enough that everybody's welcome. And what we're happy about most is the neighborhood really loved it. We kind of opened and let it grow organically. I think I sent out one press release when I got the liquor license. We opened the doors and kind of let the place become itself without any PR. We were here, and we kind of opened up without fanfare. Somerville Patch: Do you feel you're part of that change? On the real estate end, it seems like more people are moving in who can't afford Cambridge." It's changed as far as, there's more restaurants coming in. Somerville Patch: Since opening in 2007, do you think this area has changed at all? They put in new bathrooms, and they kind of changed the layout." And they were called Madison's on the Ave … they kind of re-did it. It was a place called Devlin's for a couple of years … and they sold it to these guys who I bought it from. If you talk to any old Somerville residents or anyone who grew up in Somerville, they'll know Virgie's Rendezvous … for years and years it was kind of your old neighborhood bar and Italian restaurant, and then they sold it. Mark Romano: "For years and years and years it was Virgie's Rendezvous. What we wanted was a good neighborhood spot, and it's become a destination spot as well, so, so far it's worked out." We thought it would be a good spot for Spring Hill.
So this was on the market for a while, and it just worked out. Some you need to take on an investor, and we were really looking to do it with our own money.
There's a lot of empty restaurants, but they're not all good. Mark Romano: "I worked in Cambridge for years, a little bit in Boston but mostly Cambridge, and my wife wanted to open up a place, and we preferred this side of the river. Somerville Patch: Why did you chose this location? Mark Romano: "We've been here since December of '07, so this is our sixth year … coming up this Christmas, roughly, will be our sixth year." Somerville Patch: How long has Highland Kitchen been here? We sat down briefly with Highland Kitchen's chef and owner, Mark Romano, to talk about the restaurant, which celebrates its birthday this December. The unassuming neighborhood restaurant regularly wins "best of" awards from from the local press-Boston Magazine, Improper Bostonian, the Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix, may it rest in peace, and even the venerable Somerville Patch-and from national outlets, like Zagat. For many people, Highland Kitchen is one of the best things about Somerville.
0 kommentar(er)
