Michele Green opened her color-dipped bistro — Bosley on Brady — in early May. Within two weeks, the head chef had been replaced and the menu nipped and tucked to reflect the sudden turnover in the
But this was all good. The initial head chef wasn’t working out. At the same time, a chef Green knew from her years working for the Leipold Restaurant Corporation in Racine was suddenly free to take on a new gig. The world turns in the dining biz, sometimes abruptly.
Hiring Peter Carew, fresh from a pastry chef position at Gilbert’s in Lake Geneva, was prudent. Besides his MATC culinary school training, Carew has close to two decades of professional cooking experience. Before I knew of the new hiring, I’d had two meals at Bosley (Green’s maiden name) and was puzzled by their contrast — the second far surpassing the first. By the time I’d had a third experience and got the news about Carew, I knew we were looking at a much better restaurant. Green, too, is a restaurant veteran. Before her eight-year stint in Racine, the Baltimore native made her home in Florida, again running restaurants. Her career has lasted 27 years. Bosley is her first “checkbook restaurant” — the first she’s owned. Jeff Green, her husband, business partner and “biggest cheerleader for the kitchen,” is a Milwaukeean, hence their eventual relocation here.
The dining room — repainted red and gold (from the dark gray that enveloped Konohana, the defunct Japanese restaurant) and hung with vivid artwork — exudes an inviting warmth, partly owing to the staff (Green is often in the bistro greeting customers, and the manager, at my meals, visited every table, making frequent walk-throughs). Where the Konohana sushi chefs cut sashimi is now a banquette, glammed up with funky pillows. Little votives flicker on the white-topped tables. (Candles also flicker on a handful of al fresco tables, placed between cheerful flower boxes.)
Bosley’s menu fits on one page and includes a modest homage to Key West (Florida Keys grouper, $24; a passion salad with mango, $9) and a slew of fresh tastes: free-range chicken ($17), pan-roasted scallops ($18) and salmon ($18), pan-seared veal chops ($29), gnocchi with blue cheese and sautéed fish ($16), to name a few. The kitchen also runs a nightly special, like sablefish. Carew’s most recent work at Gilbert’s exposed him to organic products, another track Bosley may weave in. By my last visit, he’d started raising the caliber with an amuse bouche (a starter nibble) and sweet concluding bite; ours was a chewy macaroon.
The menu was in revision at this writing; early appetizers like beef carpaccio had taken to the road, making room for pan-roasted crabcake ($12), sashimi of the day (priced daily) and other additions. Of the apps that remain, a good knife-and-fork eat is the spicy chicken quesadilla — warm, chewy, sweet (pineapple salsa), with melted havarti oozing from its sides ($7). (My quibble: The chicken was mellow, not the promised spicy.)
With Carew, everything about the food is better — the flavors, the textures, the presentation. The Key West grouper was like a different dish the second time I ordered it (I wanted to see its prep by two different chefs). In round two, the substantial filet was served on a thicker, moister, ever-so-crisp-on-the-edges potato pancake and married with some sweetness and beauty — mango salsa and a nest of micro-greens.
While the 16-ounce rib eye was not the best ever (more marbled than I’d have liked), it was juicy, with nice charcoal grill flavor. The sweet cooked carrots were marvelous — like dessert carrots — and a satisfying trade for the tepid garlic mashed potatoes ($28). The best of Carew’s additions is his free-range chicken, a breast/thigh glowing under golden, crisped skin. The underlying wild mushroom risotto was a bed of al dente creaminess. Better than the too-firm -Brussels sprouts balancing on the risotto were the sides I ordered separately: grilled asparagus with creamy, smooth feta ($5) and sautéed spinach with loads of garlic ($4).
A coastal Florida influence isn’t complete without key lime pie. They’ve got it here — a dense, intense filling on a firm graham cracker crust ($6). It’s sweet and tart, a little like the everyday battle of running a restaurant. Green has tasted both over the years, I’m sure, and hopefully for many more to come.
Bosley on Brady
815 E. Brady St.
727-7975
Hours: Mon-Thurs 5-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 4-11 p.m.
Prices: small plates $6-$12; cold plates $7-$9; main plates $16-$29; desserts $6. Service: conscientious, valiant effort to know the menu and keep the courses decently paced
Dress: casual but not sloppy
Credit cards: M V A D
Nonsmoking dining room
Handicap access: yes
Reservations: accepted
