This Week in the XK: Tony Maws

Dining Services at Northeastern has made a huge push this year to promote sustainability throughout all of our operations across campus. One of the major aspects of this program is our commitment to purchasing locally produced products when they are available in season. Dubbed the "locavore" movement, this shift towards consuming local ingredients has helped to reduce the environmental impact - and cost - of food transportation. One local chef who has embraced the locavore attitude, and who will be at Northeastern on Tuesday, February 7, is Chef Tony Maws from Cambridge's Craigie on Main.

Chef Maws' "no exceptions" use of local, seasonal, and organic or natural ingredients has led to his meteoric rise in the restaurant world. The winner of the 2011 James Beard Award for Best Chef, Northeast, Chef Maws is known for the "refined rusticity" of his menus that combine classic French flavors and techniques with the best of New England's ingredients.

"Menus" is an important word at Craigie on Main since there is not a set brunch, lunch, or dinner menu. Each day's list of dishes is created by the availability of ingredients; if a certain aspect of a meal is not available or not up to the restaurant's high standards, the dish will not be added to that day's menu. This menu fluidity gives Chef Maws the opportunity each day to use his innovative culinary techniques to create new ingredient combinations for the restaurant's next great dish. Menu items such as the "Grass-Fed Sirloin a la Poele" with braised oxtail pastrami, bok choy, baby carrots, and sauce vert are a great example of the creative compositions that Chef Maws and his team bring to their guests.

Chef Tony Maws will be putting his culinary talents on display at Northeastern's Xhibition Kitchen on Tuesday, February 7 at noon. This FREE event is open to the public and will feature a full cooking demonstration by Chef Maws as well as a taste of some of the local flavors available at Craigie on Main. Don't miss your opportunity to be up close with the chef and owner of the #2 restaurant on GQ Magazine's list of the "10 Best New U.S. Restaurants." We hope to see you there!

[Photos from craigieonmain.com]