By
Tejal Rao and Heather Sperling
Since 1997 when Chef Ken Oringer opened Clio,
he has been reshaping Boston’s culinary
landscape with his creative, international culinary
outlook. But even before he took Boston by storm,
Oringer knew he wanted to be the boss. He began
his career with a degree in restaurant management
from Bryant College and went on to study at The
Culinary Institute of America. Oringer’s
insatiable appetite for culinary and business
knowledge has taken him across the world and into
a range of stellar chefs’ kitchens from
Jean-Georges Vongerichten to David Burke. Inspiration
has come to Oringer from every possible resource:
from the pages of Jacques Pepin’s cookbooks
to the years he spent traveling and tasting the
restaurants and markets of Spain and Southeast
Asia. His menus reflect this global passion; they
feature modern techniques as well as exotic ingredients,
which Oringer always manages to translate for
American diners. No dish is without a story, and
no trace of Oringer’s signature ingredients
like eucalyptus leaves, Moroccan argon oil, sea
urchin or Grain of Paradise is without a thoughtful
and delicious pairing. |
|
At Clio, Oringer serves barnacles,
a frightening and often inaccessible ingredient to uninitiated
American diners, on a stunning hot lava rock. The result
reflects Oringer’s unique style: an ultra-sensual
dish that gracefully straddles both the exotic and the
familiar. After adding a Japanese sashimi bar, Uni,
to Clio, and recently opening Toro,
a tapas bar in the South End, Oringer has challenged
himself and his fellow Bostonians to embrace global
culinary trends and techniques. Armed with his favorite
tools, a juicer, a blender, and a Thermomix, and a strong
team of cooks in each of his three restaurants, Oringer
is giving food lovers an initiation into the intimidating
world of gastronomic experimentation.
|
