The new Sharon Hage?
Top chef Tiffany Derry revamps menu for Bowen's Cafe Expresso in Preston Center
Tiffany Derry dabbles in Italian at Bowen's Cafe Expresso.Photo by David Woo
Tiffany is in the building.Photo by Teresa Gubbins
Top Chef news alert: Bowen's Cafe Expresso, a faded little Italian spot in Preston Center, is looking to get its gleam back. The restaurant hired Top Chef contestant and Private Social departee Tiffany Derry to revamp the menu.
A spokeswoman for Derry confirmed that she had signed on with Bowen's Cafe Expresso for a short-term stint, saying, "This is exactly the kind of thing that Tiffany said she'd be doing."
"This is exactly the kind of thing that Tiffany said she'd be doing," said a spokeswoman for Derry.
Bowen's used to be Cafe Expresso until it was purchased a few years ago by former customer Valerie Plaster, who added the "Bowen's" to the name.
Derry has made a name as a seafood chef, but her Italian menu refresh for Bowen's has some appetizing items among its collection of starters, salads, pizza and secondi.
Her antipasti include a salumi plate with 'nduja, fried olives, Calabrian tripe and a cheese plate. Under "soups and salads," she's created a white bean soup with escarole; house salad; beet salad with goat cheese; seafood "salad" with octopus, calamari and shrimp; and eggplant involtini.
Pizza options include the classic Margherita; a "carne" with pepperoni, Jimmy's sausage and pancetta; a white pizza with garlic, anchovies and rapini; and a pizza with egg, potatoes, pancetta and onion. Yay for pizza with egg and potato. Pastas are four: spaghetti Bolognese, lasagna, baked gnudi, and taglierini with cheese.
The list of entrees is short and sweet: veal piccata, Cornish hen with polenta, roasted branzino with lentils, and an 8-ounce New York strip steak with butternut squash.
