This September, Kendall Square will become home to one of the most innovative new restaurants in the city. Restaurant superstars Chef Patrick Campbell (Eastern Standard, No. 9 Park), expert Mixologist Todd Maul (Clio) and General Manager Tom Mastricola (Commonwealth) are teaming up with the Cambridge-based WikiFoods think tank, led by Harvard Professor David Edwards, to change the way the world thinks about food and sustainability.
According to Todd Maul, former beverage director at Clio, Cafe ArtScience’s mission is to change how people look at food. “We’re trying to bring something very fun, cool and accessible to people in the realm of food and science,” Maul said. “It’s also rethinking how we look at drinks. Our bar will be driven by innovation.”
But not to worry – it won’t be gimmicky, Maul assured. “We’re shooting for a seamless concept where diners come into the restaurant and become a part of the exchange of innovative ideas.”
The restaurant, which will also include a 23-seat bar, will have a “no boundaries” philosophy – fusing ideas between the kitchen, bar and dining room. The restaurant’s menu is still in the planning phases.
Cafe ArtScience will even include a small auditorium reserved for lectures and pop-up events, where folks can gather to discuss innovation in food. “For example, say we want to discuss tomatoes,” Maul explains, “how can we look at this one food as many different ways as possible – as a food, as a drink, as a smell, etcetera?”
The well-known Boston bartending aficionado also claims that Edwards’s think tank is truly giving the team “innovation seeds.”
For those unfamiliar with the Harvard professor, the Boston Globe reported last year that Edwards “may be the most entrepreneurial member of the Harvard faculty.” He is already well known for his venture Le Laboratoire, described as “a contemporary art and design center in central Paris, where artists and designers experiment at frontiers of science.”
Edwards is also well known for his WikiFood products, where he has reinvented “packaging by developing plastic-free and edible food and beverage packaging solutions inspired by the way nature packages fruits and vegetables,” as described on his website. Recently, the Cambridge-based WikiFoods, Inc. also partnered with Stonyfield to launch Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Pearls, a one-of-a-kind froyo dessert now sold at Boston-area Whole Foods Markets.
Edwards’s influence, coupled with Chef Campbell’s traditional French-style cooking and Maul’s creativity, means that Cafe ArtScience could change the restaurant landscape in Boston.
Maul tells us that the restaurant is aiming for a September 22 lunch opening. By September 29, they hope to be open for dinner. The restaurant is also planning on a grand opening exhibit on October 30.
In the meantime, Cafe ArtScience will be partnering with other restaurants to give Bostonians a taste of what’s to come through pop-up dinners, coming this August. On Monday, August 4, Cafe ArtScience will be popping up at Hungry Mother. Although it’s sold out, the restaurant will be holding a few other pop-up dinners in the future, including one at Tavern Road, according to Maul. It’s sure to be an unconventional dining and learning experience for attendees.
But change won’t stop once the restaurant’s brick-and-mortar opens.
“The restaurant will be a moving target,” Maul added, “always trying to take things a little farther.”
Image of Todd Maul via Wayne Chinnock
