Walking into Catalyst Restaurant, it is abundantly clear that you are in Massachusetts Institute of Technology territory. The spacious dining room features an uncovered concrete floor, no?frills wooden tables and a wooden latticework ceiling through which you can just see exposed pipes and vents. Instead of feeling unfinished, however, the effect is one of elegant simplicity. Floor?to?ceiling windows look out on Kendall Square, and the lighting is dark enough to feel cozy but light enough to read your menu.
My mother, aunt and I ordered drinks from the full bar while we perused the menu. I recommend the FloraDora, a house drink with Hendricks gin, lime and muddled raspberries. Being big believers in eating family?style, we ordered three appetizers and two entrees and split everything, a request that the helpful staff easily accommodated.
First up: an arugula and endive salad with Asian pear, walnuts, Berkshire bleu cheese and a whole?grain mustard vinaigrette. Generally, to enjoy an arugula and endive salad, one ought to have a particular love of sharp, somewhat bitter foods, but the sweetness of the pear and the bleu cheese balanced the flavors out nicely. This dish was finished at an undignified speed, and I caught my mother using her fingers to pinch up the last little pieces of bleu cheese before the server took the plate away.
Next was the farmers' market vegetable salad, which featured turnips, fennel, radishes, peppercress and a topping of crispy onions - basically tiny little onion rings. The dish was unfortunately forgettable. It lacked both flavor and interesting presentation. The crispy onions were definitely the best part.
Moving right along, we had the appetizer?size version of the mushroom ravioli with "hen of the woods" mushrooms. I have no idea what "hen of the woods" actually means, but it's freaking delicious. Despite the poultry reference, the dish was actually vegetarian and featured perfectly cooked ravioli stuffed with pockets of earthy, savory mushrooms. Even my self?proclaimed food?snob aunt declared this dish "more than passable" as she snatched the last piece directly off my plate.
Then they brought out the big guns. We ordered the honey?glazed duck breast with baby turnip, bok choy and water chestnuts, and the tournedos of beef with rainbow chard, Taleggio ravioli, garlic and parsley bordelaise sauce - both medium?rare.
The duck was a shade rare for my taste, but still delicious, with a peppery crust and a sweet sauce to balance out the saltiness. A word of caution: The dish consisted of several slices of duck and proved too much even for our voracious appetites. Order only if you're feeling extremely hungry and ambitious.
The tournedos of beef were the highlight of an already impressive meal. For those of you who, like me, have no idea what tournedos are, the term refers to the central portion of the tenderloin. The two medallions were perfectly cooked - juicy, but not too rare; garlicky, but not overwhelmingly so. The rainbow chard was an ideal accompaniment; it allowed us to pretend to be healthy as we tore through slabs of red meat and creamy bordelaise sauce. The last few bites of this dish sparked major family drama, but thankfully the staff seemed accustomed to this type of competition.
At this point in the meal, the three of us were borderline comatose, but I had already offered to write a review, and by God, I was going to order dessert if it killed me. I looked at the menu for about thirty seconds, saw the word "chocolate" and placed my order. The dish turned out to be chocolate fondant with caramel glaze, banana coulis and hazelnut streusel. A chocolate mousse?esque interior covered by a more solid chocolate layer wasn't quite what I was expecting, but the plate blew me out of the water nonetheless. Good thing I wore my stretchy pants.
Though I definitely want to go back to sample the rest of Catalyst's menu, the price and location are deterrents for a humble college student. I would recommend dining there with parents - they'll love the sleek decor and well?prepared, elegantly presented food. You, on the other hand, will get a meal that will put Dewick?MacPhie to shame.
