Inside the Dishes: Chickadee, a New England & Mediterranean Restaurant | Eater Boston

"Tucked inside the Innovation and Design Building at 21 Drydock Ave in the Seaport, I found Chickadee — one of Boston’s strongest culinary debuts of 2018 — where seasonal New England ingredients blend with Mediterranean influences and a touch of Portugal, reflecting chef and co-owner John daSilva’s upbringing. DaSilva, Eater Boston’s 2018 Chef of the Year, emphasizes local product and technique: the smoked sea trout dip (a year‑round snack that can feature bluefish, trout, or scallops) is cured and smoked in-house, finished with pickled mustard seeds, grated horseradish, an aerated butter sauce, dill and chives, and served with fried flaxseed rye chips from Bread Obsession dusted in a house salt-and-vinegar powder — a dish that often becomes the showstopper once it’s on the table. Vegetables include a standout crispy hen-of-the-woods with potato‑almond skordalia (traditional potato, garlic, almond, lemon, and salt, here enriched with heavy cream and charged in an iSi) and nigella seed, illustrating the restaurant’s approach of making a local ingredient the star while using Mediterranean flavors as the backdrop. The pasta section is a highlight: radiatore di grano arso is made using dehydrated and burned vegetable scraps for char, paired with in-house smoked and braised barbecue rabbit from Feather Brook Farm, roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers, Wood’s Boiled Cider to evoke a New England vincotto, and finished with ricotta salata and basil; campanelle in brodo draws on Portuguese sopa de couve with in-house linguica, lacinato kale, beans, potato, tomato and pork broth, finished with Parmigiano. Mains such as Maine sea scallops are seared and served over honeynut squash puree with a vadouvan cream (reduced cider, caramelized shallots, fish stock, cream, and butter), leeks, Granny Smith apple, pumpkin seed pesto and fried rosemary — a literal "New England meets Normandy meets Morocco." The menu changes seasonally, Chickadee is open for lunch Monday–Saturday with a different lunch menu (dips and pitas, though the campanelle currently appears at lunch), and for a first visit I recommend sharing one item from each category — a snack, a vegetable, a pasta, and a main — plus a dessert or two." - Rachel Leah Blumenthal