Pino Maffeo, the chef of Boston Public Meat (formerly Restaurant L), is known for a scientific approach to cooking—using a centrifuge to clarify Kobe beef fat, or serving soup in test tubes. But Maffeo’s inventive cuisine is much more than high-tech devices and molecular gastronomy.
Do you have a cooking philosophy?
Restaurants have become theater—but not just visually. A lot of times when a new restaurant opens, the first question will be, Who designed it? But there’s theater going on when you put something in your mouth, too. My whole thing is to add something to a dish to make it functional and make it work, but with a wow factor.
So when you’re eating it, you’re thinking not about that wow factor, but, Hey, this tastes great?
Exactly. The number-one goal is serving high-quality food that’s delicious. Everything else is secondary.
You’re using some untraditional cooking techniques to execute those ideas. What role does science play in your kitchen?
The problem with food and science is that people freak out when [they] hear both in the same sentence. Great chefs aren’t here to produce lab experiments; they’re here to give you an experience in incredible food in the most wholesome and delicious way possible. If you can surprise people and add a bit of excitement while you’re making the food taste more delicious, all the better.
What’s one of the most innovative dishes you’ve prepared?
We do seared foie gras with yeast ice cream in between pieces of bread. We take the yeast out of the bread and reintroduce it as ice cream, so the sour is coming from the ice cream, not the bread. It plays with the tongue and the mind.
What did you think of the last meal you had at an event?
It sucked. I know how difficult it is, but if you’re a friggin’ chef and all you do is events, you have to be forward-thinking. My aunt just redid her vows and my family went to the food tasting, which they said was fantastic. But at the wedding, it sucked. If you don’t put out the exact same dish with the same texture and the same heat and the same look [as at the tasting], that’s a breach of contract. You see it all the time with hors d’oeuvres—things that should be crispy are soft.
During the 2004 Democratic National Convention, you handled the food for a big party at Restaurant L. What did you serve?
We had soup served in test tubes sealed off by gelatin, and as you brought your lips to it, the soup popped through that front part. We had popcorn dust mixed with pop rocks and ground fried sage served in little cones. So it’s about surprises and texture and flavor without being silly or dumb about it.
Any other words of advice?
People spend so much money and the event is all about what it looks like—the colors and the flowers. Whatever the designer is spending in time and effort, that’s how much time and effort should be spent on the food. Just because an event is for 500 people doesn’t mean you can’t get creative. It’s just about how much you want to work.
