A coveted space in Harvard Square’s Charles Hotel has seen much transition since the nouvelle-fine dining hot spot Rialto departed in 2016. In its absence, the folks behind the wait-around-the-block Giulia opened Benedetto, but after a lease issue with the hotel, it closed early during the pandemic. Opening immediately in its stead was Bar Enza, then headed by Michelin-starred chef Mark Ladner, who cut his teeth in the restaurants of Todd English. In the spring of 2023, Ladner, whose signature offerings were a near cantaloupe-sized meatball and a single lobster ravioli that filled a plate, stepped back into management and turned the kitchen over to Tony Susi, another Todd English alum who revamped the menu with fantastic, pescatarian-leaning fare including a spicy seafood bucatini, hearty brodetto (seafood stew) and crispy fritto misto (fried calamari). Last month, Susi stepped off to pursue his own venture, Little Sage in the North End (an ostensible reboot of his former restaurant Sage). In came Boston culinary legend Lydia Shire, the gastronomic genius behind Scampo and first woman to win the highly regarded James Beard Award.
The move makes sense – Scampo and Enza fall under the Lyons Group holdings, which include Summer Shack, the Bleacher Bar and Sonsie. Shire’s makeover takes its foot off the fine-Italian pedal some but holds a strong pescatarian presence while incorporating some farm-to-table offerings. For the latter there’s a Belgian white asparagus with a six-minute egg; the “My Favorite Artichoke Bottom Annunziata,” an artichoke heart filled with fresh bufala mozzarella and adorned with Palermo frittedda (a sauté of young artichokes, fava beans and other early spring garden fare); and a deboned young chicken that comes with nicely crisp skin, a butter sauce reduction and spring veggies (roasted parsnip and carrots with baby peas). Among the larger plates are lamb chops, a pork chop Milanese and a head-on Dover sole that looks delightful and has me hooked to try, despite the eyebrow-raising price of $75.
Naturally there’s pasta, but it’s unique: lasagna with oxtail meatball; stuffed shells with broccoli rabe and deviled crab; and lumache, pasta shells with spinach pastis butter and baby squid. My standouts were the seafood and antipasto, along with those asparagus spears and artichoke bottoms. Enza’s baked clams are outstanding: minced (and meaty) fresh bivalves in a rich garlic butter with “sausage crumbs” (think bacon bits), some ultra light breading and plenty of herbs and vegetable repackaged back into the half-shell for serving. Delicious, flavorful and with a succession of textures, there’s not many on the plate and they go down fast – no sharing here. They’re almost worth a double order. With the fantastic and always fresh and crisp Enza tricolored salad, they make for a rich meal.
But there’s more. The fisherman’s soup is a wild and imaginative hybrid of a hearty fish stew and lobster bisque. It’s fair if you think that sounds bizarre; it’s anything but. The rich brown broth is akin to that of the classic Bermudian fish chowder and has a similarly tangy pucker, but it’s not as thick as your classic New England chowder. And in it is a bounty of tender chunks of lobster – so much coming up from the shallow bowl that it feels like something of a clown car trick. It comes with a thin but dense uni fried rice cracker, which needs some time to sop up that bronze, gravylike broth; push it to the side and come back midway through emptying the bowl, when it’s soft and soaked through.
Each Enza variation has been an upgrade, and all have had their surprises. Not everything gets lost in the turnover – there are still meatballs on the menu, for instance, but they are a more manageable size. I do wish they’d bring back Ladner’s secret chicken Parm. The sandwich, those baked clams and that soup would make for a more than formidable gustatory rotation.
Bar Enza, 1 Bennett St., inside The Charles Hotel, Harvard Square, Cambridge
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.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.
