I walked into a French bakery the other day and had Chinese porridge. True story, I swear.
It was satiating but not your typical Chinatown congee. It’s part of the the unique all-day menu at Verveine, the Monica Glass- and Ken Oringer-owned bakery near Central Square, which seemingly has become a hive of French bakeries: Praliné French Patisserie, the Paris Baguette inside H-Mart, arguably Flour and Mariposa and PRB Boulangerie, which has outposts not too far away. Oringer also owns area hot spot Little Donkey, as well as Coppa and Toro in the South End. His partner in the venture, Glass, has won best pastry chef awards locally and nationally.
When you walk into Verveine, you enter a small, spare cafe area. Behind the counter, busy bakers knead doughy mounds and haul trays of delectables from a stack of baking ovens. Next to the order kiosk is a vast and enticing display of baked goods sweet and the savory that draws your eye and appetite.
Verveine has a short breakfast menu (with an 11 a.m. cutoff) that offers an egg, bacon and cheese sando on a Japanese milk bun. The lunch menu serves up a chicken shawarma as well as a honey tuna chili melt on toasted, light and airy Japanese milk bread. But the place to be is on the all-day menu with its avocado and ricotta toasts, Moni’s chili biscuit and that maitake congee.
Congee is a thick rice porridge – think of it as cream of wheat that’s not sweet and twice as viscous – and maitake, more commonly known as “the hen of the woods,” is a meaty mushroom. As applied, in taste and texture it’s almost like bits of braised pulled pork that’s been roasted for extra leanness. The key upgrades to the congee besides the glorious “hen” are the sweet Thai chicken sausage and jammy egg (soft boiled and halved). It’s a hearty and flavorful fill-up spin on a dish that dates back to the Zhou dynasty, circa 1,000 BC.
The list of teas and coffees at Verveine are basic and solid, with some fruity plays (there’s a strawberry matcha to boot). In the pastry case, there’s always something a little off center to pull your interest, be it the strawberry vanilla chip cookies or kimchi egg cheddar danish (yup, you read that right). Also eye-grabbing on the lunch menu is the folded ’za, which as you can guess is folded pizza stuffed with mortadella, burrata, pesto and arugula.
The boulangerie’s name refers to a European flowering herb (also know as verbena or vervain) used in teas and herbal medicine to calm and soothe and aid in digestion, as well as for cramp relief. It has been cited in lore as a means to stave off vampires and even burn them if applied to the skin. Pretty potent stuff.
Verveine, 298 Massachusetts Ave., in Cambridgeport near Central Square
Tom Meek is a writer living in Cambridge. His reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in the WBUR ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.
This post was updated Dec. 20, 2024, to make clear that Verveine is owned equally by Monica Glass and Ken Oringer.
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