West Bridge In Kendall Doin’ Big Thangs

I know, we already wrote about West Bridge. I hate to be repetitive when there are so many great restaurants out there, but a recent media dinner there was just TOO EPIC not to share. Man oh man, West Bridge is hot fire. Like Flo Rida ‘oh hot damn this is my jam’ status. This is one of those places that not only executes perfectly but uses exciting ingredients and techniques that put a breath of fresh ayer (ayer) into the restaurant scene.

Bread basket = old news. Fried chicken skin with aioli is the new ish. Sounds fatty and greasy and weird, but it was actually light, crispy and oddly delicious.

The amuse bouche for the evening was a piece of condensed canteloupe sprinkled with almond crumbs and chopped olives.

Served with the amuse was an amuse drink, West Bridge’s take on prosciutto and melon – cantaloupe juice with guarache. Guarache (I didn’t know what it was at first either) is apparently just like bacon but from the cheek of the pig rather than the belly. So good. Also, why isn’t cantaloupe juice something I can buy at the grocery store?

My favorite part of the entire dinner was the Egg In A Jar appetizer made with duck egg, hen of the woods mushrooms, pomme puree, and crisp duck skin. Get this. To cook it, they poach the egg THROUGH THE JAR by placing it in a water bath — almost like sous vide minus the vacuum seal. That’s so awesome.

Not to mention the combination of duck skin (almost like bacon lardon texture), potato and duck egg yolk was like sweet silky heaven. See what I mean? Big thangs at West Bridge.

Next up was Char served with artichoke, brioche and basil grapefruit. It was excellent — crispy skin, bitter but well-balanced sauce, perfect portion size, beautiful presentation, etc.

The picture really says it all, but the Duck Breast with hibiscus beet vinaigrette, black rice and rainbow carrots entree was marvelous.

It didn’t stop there, dessert started with the S’more Verrine – made with chocolate panna cotta, marshmellow, miso and graham crumbs, it was classic but also really interesting with the addition of miso. Then out of nowhere comes a basket of mini baked beignets. A perfect end to a perfect dinner.

West Bridge just kills it. A truly amazing experience from start to finish, and I didn’t even tell you about the drinks because this post is already too long and you get the idea — go there ASAP! It won’t be long before it’s going to be tough to get a reservation.

1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA