Mendes, who grew up in a tight-knit Portuguese enclave in Danbury, Conn., is making ready to create a brand new set of reminiscences in New England. He’ll debut a restaurant on the posh new Raffles Boston Lodge & Residences this summer time. Known as Amar, the fine-dining restaurant will give attention to Portuguese delicacies “via a contemporary lens.”
“It’s going to be situated on the seventeenth flooring overlooking Copley Sq. with great sweeping views of the town,” he mentioned. “It actually units the stage to place forth what I wish to name a really humble delicacies. I give it a contemporary interpretation, however my aim is absolutely to remain true to the authenticity of the recipes after which construct on them. And that’s actually what my imaginative and prescient was at Aldea. It actually looks like Amar goes to be a continuation of that path for me.”
Mendes opened Aldea within the Flatiron/Union Sq. neighborhood of New York in 2009. Shortly after it opened, a New York Instances reviewer described the chef’s delicacies as “ambidextrous.”
“One minute you’re nibbling on crisp pig’s ears,” wrote Frank Bruni of the restaurant. “The subsequent you’re rigorously maneuvering your spoon underneath a translucent, quivering orb of concentrated mushroom broth — a kind of liquid ravioli that the Spanish alchemist Ferran Adrià made well-known — in an avant-garde consommé.”
Starting in 2010, Mendes was awarded a Michelin star yearly Aldea was open. Along with updating household recipes, he began tinkering with delicacies from Portuguese-colonized nations, similar to Brazil. He shuttered the restaurant in February 2020 to “take a break, recharge creatively, and refocus.” After a short stint at Veranda, a restaurant situated in a SoHo lodge, he’s headed to Boston.
“I’ve a household now,” he mentioned. “My spouse and I’ve a 2-year-old and one other one on the way in which. As a lot as we love New York, we had been itching to maneuver someplace new. After which this chance offered itself.”
He’s at the moment home looking in Boston as he works on the menu for Amar (the identify of the restaurant means “love” in Portuguese). He was tight-lipped concerning the specifics of the menu. He mentioned he’ll try for Amar to be a Michelin-starred venue however doesn’t need it to easily be a elaborate lodge restaurant or a restaurant for particular events. He’s aiming to create an important day and on a regular basis restaurant rolled into one tidy bundle. A spokesperson for the restaurant mentioned costs for entrees and appetizers might be set when the menu has been accomplished.
“I can inform you that it’s going to be closely seafood-focused and vegetable-focused,” he mentioned. “I actually wish to amplify and showcase the bounty of what Boston’s waters have to supply,” he mentioned. “That’s actually going to be the start line. However I don’t wish to create a menu till I’m within the kitchen, and we don’t have entry to the kitchen on the restaurant but. Nevertheless it’s a contemporary Portuguese menu.”
Whereas there might be similarities between Aldea and Amar, Mendes mentioned he’s not trying to re-create the restaurant. His signature dish at Aldea was duck rice (arroz de pato). He mentioned some model of the dish could seem on the menu at Amar as a result of rice is integral to Portuguese delicacies.
The one dish Mendes assured might be on the menu is his coveted egg tarts. The candy custard egg tarts may even be obtainable at a first-floor cafe at Raffles, the place pastries might be baked onsite. Raffles may have a complete of 5 restaurant and bar choices: Amar on the seventeenth flooring, a first-floor patisserie, a extra informal neighborhood restaurant situated on the primary and second flooring, a speakeasy on the 18th flooring, and the lodge’s chain-wide Lengthy Bar will on the seventeenth flooring. The Singapore Sling originated at Raffles’s Singapore location. Mendes may even be overseeing a lighter, New England-focused menu on the Lengthy Bar.
Mendes has already begun reaching out to native farmers and fishermen, getting again in contact together with his New England roots within the course of.
“I‘m excited and I’m nervous on the identical time enthusiastic about the method,” he mentioned. “Nervousness is wholesome. However I’m excited as a result of this is a chance to supply a bit of little bit of my heritage and my ardour. . . . That’s actually the driving factor for me.”
Christopher Muther could be reached at [email protected]. Comply with him on Twitter @Chris_Muther and Instagram @chris_muther.
