Boston food lovers, mark your calendars for November 13 to dine with some of New England’s most acclaimed chefs. David Standridge, this year’s James Beard award-winning Best Chef: Northeast and the proprietor of The Shipwright’s Daughter, and Adam Young, owner and baker at Sift Bake Shop—both out of Mystic, Connecticut—are joining chef Robert Sisca and team at the Banks Seafood & Steak in Back Bay for one night only.
Mystic has emerged as a culinary hot spot on the East Coast, attracting visitors from around the world to try fresh and innovative seafood. What can diners expect when “Mystic takes Boston?” Following an extensive lineup of welcome canapes comes a rich, four-course meal that the chefs created together.
Standridge regularly cooks with overlooked and invasive species, and he’ll showcase his commitment to sustainability with the first course, Shipwright’s caviar. It starts with monkfish poached in a green crab stock, and a green crab gelée spiked with lime and honey. A generous layer of Pearl Street osetra caviar, a dollop of onion crème fraiche and a single leaf of citrus marigold finish the dish. It’s a throwback to a creation he was once responsible for as sous chef at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, the two-Michelin-starred (now-closed) restaurant at the Four Seasons in New York City.
"It’s a beautiful start to a menu that is luxurious and complex," Standridge says. "My goal with it is to take two fairly lowly ingredients like green crab and monkfish and make it into something very fine dining.
“Incorporating green crabs into our menu is so important to us simply because of the degree of damage they are doing to the ecosystem locally," the chef continues. "From eating baby clams to destroying eel grass that helps to buffer storm surges, they are a true menace. We are so thrilled to see more restaurants and patrons embracing our goal of creating markets for these little culinary gems."
Following the caviar will be courses of braised wild boar agnolotti with fig honey and black truffles, and Brandt Beef prime New York strip.
Sisca, who is supported by the Banks executive chef Edson Rojas and the restaurant group’s wine and beverage director, Benjamin Chesna, tells Time Out that he’s been hoping to collaborate with Stanridge for some time.
“I love David’s approach to sustainability and how he supports his local farmers and fisherman in numerous ways,” Sisca says. “As chefs, we both have similar backgrounds working for some amazing chefs in New York and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for us to collaborate on a dinner in Boston.”
The final dish of the meal is a Hubbard squash crème caramel with roasted quince gel and frozen fromage blanc. It’s by Sift Bake Shop’s chef Young, who was Food Network’s Best Baker in America in 2018, and grew up on a farm in Vermont. "We frequently cooked with Hubbard squash, which is something you don’t typically see in modern pastry, as people favor the butternut and acorn varieties," Young notes. "I’m excited to showcase something different while paying homage to my agricultural roots."
To try a taste of Mystic right in our own Back Bay, tickets for this special Mystic Takes Boston Chef's Dinner are $125.