SP: Unfussy with a great neighborhood feel. I moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan, 12 years ago to help Rene Becker open Hi-Rise [Bread Company] and have been there ever since. I like good, unfussy food. Asta will be like being invited to someone's home for a really good home-cooked meal. But Alex can also be adventurous. He'll get a chance to push the boundaries in the five- and eight-course dinners.
Alex, you are just weeks away from opening your first restaurant. Any kinks?
AC: No kinks. But stressful. Every decision has to be made right this second. I've had times where I wanted to kill myself. I keep reminding myself that I'm a chef, not a professional restaurant builder.
>> LOUISA@LOUISAKASDON.COM
ASTA 47 MASS AVE, BOSTON :: ASTABOSTON.COM
Related:
Five Courses with: Israeli chef Gil Hovav, Coming attractions, Five Courses with: JD Kemp, founder and president of FoodEx, More
- Five Courses with: Israeli chef Gil Hovav
He had me at Marilyn Monroe.
- Coming attractions
Chef Will Gilson is standing amidst small piles of rubble with a grin on his face.
- Five Courses with: JD Kemp, founder and president of FoodEx
Meeting local foodie-entrepreneur JD Kemp, I thought of Frodo from The Lord of the Rings — he's got the same compact energy, arresting pale eyes, and slightly manic fix on a big vision.
- Tiffani Faison takes on Taste of Provincetown
Tiffani Faison and I both grew up in the same town in Sonoma County, California. While we just missed each other, she admits that the years of her youth were spent the same way as mine were: drinking in empty pastures and vineyards.
- Interview: Todd Gitlin looks at Occupy
Most aficionados of progressive politics probably knew that Todd Gitlin would write a book on Occupy even before he did.
- Bootstrap compost goes to business bootcamp
I'm standing in an alleyway behind American Provisions, a specialty grocery shop in Southie with a cheese display that's borderline pornographic, watching Andy Brooks shove his hands into a barrel of future compost.
- You're doing it wrong: Oysters edition
Island Creek Oysters president Shore "Bug" Gregory guesstimates he's shucked 30,000 bivalves during his six years with the company. And he's adding to that tally daily: fall is oyster prime time, so we caught up with Gregory at Kenmore's Island Creek Oyster Bar, where he's a co-owner, to get some pearls of wisdom.
- Eater's Digest » Brian Poe
You might know Brian Poe as the chef responsible for the yak fever that swept Boston with the June opening of his Beacon Hill joint, the Tip Tap Room. (Seriously. Yak sold out in three hours.)
- Errol Morris: The truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth
August 29, 1979. Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, a former Army Special Forces Captain, was convicted of the savage murders of his wife and two daughters as they slept in their house within Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
- The great turkey debate
"Brining" is the new vogue in turkey cooking.
- On the Cheap: Kigo Kitchen
When it comes to quality, Asian takeout joints are typically miles behind their traditional sit-down counterparts.
- Less

Topics:
Food Features
, Interviews, 5 Courses, food features, More
, Interviews, 5 Courses, food features, Asta, Less