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Imported from Jamaica Plain - Ten Tables Provincetown brings the farm-to-table concept and fun, casual atmosphere to a hidden gem of a spot on Bradford Street
In 2002, Krista Kranyak opened Ten Tables in Jamaica Plain. She was the only waitress in her small restaurant, but word spread quickly of the European ground-to-plate concept she brought to the diverse Boston neighborhood, and seven years later, she expanded to a second location in Cambridge and a homey bar across the street from the original.
Having vacationed in Provincetown for the last twenty years, she soon realized the funky village at the tip of the Cape was the perfect location for a fourth establishment. Last year, she started searching for available properties. She looked at the old Chester location, but it was soon leased by her friend, the owner of Della Cucina. She eventually stumbled upon the former Luva restaurant space and immediately fell in love. It was very central, but wasn’t on highly trafficked Commercial Street. People would have to make an effort to find it, just like they do with her other restaurants.
The energetic thirtysomething put her other places in her managers’ hands and retreated to Land’s End nearly full-time to do some major renovations. She laid the wood floors herself, creating a downstairs dining room set around a hearty brick fireplace and an upstairs lounge and bar. It boasts a little more than ten tables, but she proudly dubbed it Ten Tables Provincetown. They painted the walls a warm ochre and brought in sturdy black chairs to contrast with the white linen tablecloths and the mocha paper mats they lay on top of them. She captured iconic spots of the Cape in black and white photography and hung the work on every wall to make the most personal statement she could. They opened April 1.
She says it took some getting used to the slow pace of April and May (she was open seven days a week), but eventually it started picking up. The sophisticated Provincetown diners either knew of Ten Tables from Boston or eventually got the homey, comfort food concept she was pushing. It’s a simple menu with only five entrées — a handmade pasta, two seafood dishes, a red meat and a white meat. When we were there in June, the pasta was ricotta cavatelli “Cacio E Pepe,” wild greens from Six-Pence Farm in Truro, and grana padano. One of the seafood dishes was shrimp and Anson Mills grits with a soft-poached egg, chorizo ragout and fine herbs (some of which are supplied from a garden right by the patio). It was excellently balanced in texture (grits vs. shrimp) and taste (spicy chorizo vs. fresh shrimp meat). There is an assortment of interesting appetizers. On that particular night there was a cucumber gazpacho, fried green tomatoes, and braised pork cheeks in a truffle jus. And the highlight of the bistro-style dessert menu — as is at Kranyak’s other spots — is a scrumptious chocolate terrine.
Kranyak brought Alex Saenz across the bay to head up the kitchen. The rest of the staff is a mix of Boston folk and locals. Kranyak herself is spending most of her time in Provincetown, but occasionally flies from P’Town to Logan (“It’s faster than the ferry or driving all the way around,” she says) to tend to her other restaurants. Bartender Domingo Barreres (you’ll recognize him with the leopard spotted hair!) has designed a flashy cocktail menu that could stand toe-to-toe with any on the Cape for creativity. The wine list boasts its own labeled cuvée and the beer selection includes a special brew made in the Berkshires just for the TT group.
Kranyak says in her first few weeks, one diner likened Ten Tables to the nearby Martin House. “I was thrilled to have been compared to them,” says Kranyak, hoping to win over the Provincetown crowd in the restaurant’s inaugural season, which lasts until Nov. 1.
