As the first of six restaurants grown by the alchemic partnership of Mark McDonough and Jeff Cala, the little dining spot on Duncan Street instantly lived up to its name when it opened back in 2004.
A small but singular sensation, Alchemy seemed more salon than restaurant.
"Jeff and I have a ying-yang relationship," says McDonough. "He's a Mozart in the kitchen, I'm an organizer."
Now, in a re-organization of Alchemy, McDonough focused on two key elements: A new and innovative range of tapas, and a new and innovative chef.
The tapas, he says, keeps things affordable. And, he adds, it encourages diners to exchange dishes, tastes, textures and talk.
"It's all about sharing," he says. "When people connect, that's a success."
This, McDonough believes, was the highly original spirit of the original Alchemy. And, after a three-week lock-down "retreat," the newly re-opened Alchemy seems not only freshly renovated, but revived.
Apart from retaining perennial favorites, recently installed head chef Ed Robinson was given "carte blanche" to create his own Alchemy.
Robinson's alchemy has its roots in Europe. To him, travel was essential to training, and, echoing many culinary stars — Alice Waters, most influentially — he was "transformed" by Provence.
"I had no idea food could taste like that," says Robinson, of France's famously edible southeastern region. "It was a revelation."
"Regional, artisanal, organic" was always Alchemy's mantra, and together with sous-chef Brendan Pelley, Robinson has created a kitchen which could be a cousin to Chez Panisse, the West Coast mothership of Water's world of elegantly earthly eating. Following Water's credo, the two have also developed relationships with local farmers.
One of those farmers, says Pelley, is the boss himself — McDonough.
McDonough, in turn, credits gardener Lara Lepionka with making his "front-yard farm" flourish.
"How Lara fertilizes soil or tends crops," says McDonough, "is as important an ingredient to how our food tastes as anything we do." What doesn't go into the food, becomes compost to grow more food, and that, says McDonough, "lowers overheads," keeping virtually everything on the menu under a "bistro-casual" $20.
Don't let the "casual" mislead you.
"Tapas" is a deceptively simple way of describing what Robinson creates. The charcuterie's chicken terrine, for instance, is a complicated composition in itself, involving a day-long series of reductions.
Far from feeling limited by working within the tapas concept, the young chefs are liberated by how it lets them take classic dishes from around the world and re-interpret them into a locally based farm cuisine. There are no rules; anything goes. And that, on the current menu, might mean classically pulled duck confit, asparagus with poached egg in truffle oil and shaved Grana Padano, or clams steamed in dark beer.
It's all very mouth-watering stuff. And the word of mouth on it must be something. On one recent evening, customers were lining up for tables at 5 p.m. And it wasn't, says McDonough, for early bird specials.
With virtually everything priced at under $20, that's one thing Alchemy doesn't offer.
Joann Mackenzie can be reached at 978-283-7000 x3447, or jomackenzie@gloucestertimes.com.
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