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[Dining Out]

Caliterra
California, Italian-style
BY ROBERT NADEAU

dining out
Caliterra
(617) 348-1234
89 Broad Street (Wyndham Hotel), Boston
Open daily, 6:30 a.m.–11 p.m.
AE, DC, Di, MC, Vi
Full bar
Valet parking
Sidewalk-level access

The idea is Cal-Ital, which might mean either the Northern Italian ethnic food of California, the Italian wine varieties grown in California, or Italian food in a more, like, laid-back style. Someone wandering over from the North End might think, " This food isn’t very Italian-looking, and it sure costs a lot. " Probably the simplest summary I can give is that it’s Italian-style cooking based on local produce. At its best, the resources of the Wyndham Hotel give Caliterra the ability to turn out some very exciting dishes. On more familiar items, you can save money at similarly styled North End restaurants, such as Lucca or Mamma Maria.

Certainly the basket of bread — soft, oily focaccia with olives and peppers baked on — isn’t amazing. But the quality of the olive oil served for dipping is amazing. The foie gras of Sonoma duck appetizer ($15) is not what we’d think of as Italian (though foie gras may have been invented in Italy), but the first bite stops all thought. The subtle richness of super-fatted duck liver will do that. When thought resumes, we can give the kitchen credit for grilling a handsome slice and presenting it on toast with cranberry or cabbage relish — something reddish or purple to provide a little contrast. Santa Barbara shrimp cigars ($11) sound more Californian than Cal-Ital, but when they arrive, they look and taste Asian. The shrimp are unusually tasty and wrapped in a bubbly, shrimp-chip-like material, with a perfect and decorative trimming of sweet-sour tamarind. Artichoke-mushroom salad ($8) was our most " Cal-Ital " appetizer, and a very good blend of crunch and richness, with good wild mushrooms and artichoke hearts in a context almost as lively as coleslaw.

Clam chowder ($8) is pure cheffery, and almost pure cream. Three littleneck clams are a wonderful garnish, each baked open just enough to keep a fresh taste of the sea, almost like raw clams. The earthy, skin-on fingerling potatoes in the chowder make a clever contrast. The broth could taste more like clams, or even more like the leeks, but pure cream isn’t a bad flavor at all. If you’re going to deconstruct a stew like chowder — and that’s what chefs do to peasant dishes — then making each ingredient superb is a pretty good safety net.

Chef Damiano de Nicolo does a very good job with the now-familiar mix of duck breast and confit ($25). The fresh breast is an entire quarter with wing and comes to the table quite crisp and meaty. The cured meat underneath is off the bone (drumstick and thigh) and aromatized with Chinese five-spice powder, the cinnamon-anise scent of many Chinese duck dishes. Roast lamb loin appears in glorious slices with a barley pilaf, ultra-thin green beans, and a masterful use of French-fried onion strings so thin that they actually taste like onion. I know that the fried-onions-and-lamb combination isn’t French or Italian, and it may not even be Cal-Ital. It’s just good.

I was less entranced with a crusted halibut ($24) that seemed almost " blackened " and had lost some of its juicy lightness in the process. Too much pepper in the crust, perhaps. I did like the underlying mix of chunky vegetables in a thyme-zucchini broth that tasted strongly of thyme. But that brings up another problem: this kitchen rides a few ideas through several platters. The thyme also inflected the shredded vegetables under a special of pork chops crusted with pumpkin seeds. The cranberry chutney on the foie gras appetizer also appeared on the pork-chop special and on the roast lamb loin. This isn’t an issue if you eat your own food and ignore everyone else’s, but critics aren’t the only restaurant-goers who like to taste from every plate on the table. The pork chops are otherwise tasty and generous, but not so crispy as the " crusted " designation would suggest.

The wine list is Californian and Italian, if not Cal-Ital. We had a wonderful glass of Ravenswood 1999 " Vintners Blend " zinfandel ($7.75 glass/$26 bottle), a spicy, solid, old-school zin. I not only enjoyed the 1998 Beringer " Founders’ Estate " merlot ($8.25/$26), I felt vindicated for having recommended it to you last month, for $2 less per glass, at the Equinox Grill. It’s a fruity merlot with real character, and very good with food, even when marked up.

Desserts are a hotel chef’s showpiece, and Caliterra doesn’t disappoint. The best is a chocolate-hazelnut frozen zabaglione ($7). You might figure that frozen zabaglione (custard sauce) would be rich ice cream, but this is a dream of chocolate-wrapped hazelnut, rolled in chocolate crunch to resemble a large truffle; each bite tastes like a perfected ice-cream sundae. The chocolate gelato comes close to that and rescues the rest of the chocolate-pannetone bread pudding ($7), which is bread soaked in custard rather than bread pudding. Vanilla gelato is only an equal star, with an apple-berry crisp ($8) that is mostly excellent pastry, though the apples and berries are lively enough. " Caliterra brûlée " ($7) is a classic crème brûlée, no Cal-Ital twists, and perhaps not as silky-smooth as some.

The room is quite beautiful: the duplex lobby of the old Batterymarch Building has been turned into a series of open rooms with terrazzo floors and bare beams. The quasi-mission chandeliers, open kitchen, and sheer space do evoke California — good design in a renovated office building on a crowded corner of downtown Boston. How they tucked more than 360 rooms above is a mystery I will leave for the hotel critics, but it’s a great location, far enough away from Quincy Market to be quiet at night, yet right in the heart of the Financial District.

Service was generally very good, with a waiter and an assistant who actually got the right plates in front of four diners without asking twice. (The plates are distinctive, by the way, from the green-glass service plates to the appetizer platters in four shapes: round, oval, triangular, and square.) But due to language-barrier problems, we did lose our leftovers, from which frugal writers make lunches for days thereafter. This will not trouble hotel guests, but Bostonians who want to take advantage of the romance and quality of hotel dining often consider doggy bags one of the most identifiable features of Italian cuisine.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com

Issue Date: November 22 - 29, 2001

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