Canteen

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Canteen Review

Blink, and you'll miss this place. Chef-owner Dennis Leary has transformed a narrow coffee shop into a popular spot where locals and visiting gourmands rub elbows. The intimate dining room has just 20 seats (seven at a counter and a quartet of booths). But that's all Leary, with a modest open kitchen and a single assistant, can handle. The inspired dinner menu, which changes often, offers only four first courses, four mains, and three or four desserts. A typical meal might start with chestnut soup and rabbit confit, followed by a gratin of chanterelles and tomatoes, or pork tenderloin with braised cranberry beans and fig-olive jus, and then a stellar vanilla soufflé. Because this is a one-man band, a three-course prix-fixe menu is in force, and there are two set times to dine: 6 pm and 8 pm nightly.