Eight beers on tap ($6–$7) and 16 in bottles and cans ($3–$11, large-format $10–$20) focus heavily on small New England brewers. Wines ($8–$18 fortified, $9–$16 by the glass, $32–$125 by the bottle), by contrast, are exclusively European. The 2011 Ameztoi Txakolina ($42), a bracing Basque white with a gently crackling after-fermentation, and the 2010 Frédéric Mabileau "Petit Grains" ($44), an organic pure cabernet franc from Loire with beautiful minerality, are representative bargains. The airy, lively 90-seat dining room evokes the interior of an old barn as redone by Martha Stewart, with dusky-blue paint and textiles, reclaimed wood everywhere, vintage flourishes like an antique stove, and Mason jars as chandelier globes. Service is uniformly relaxed, knowledgeable, and attentive. Locals may raise their eyebrows at the prices — Inman Square doesn't see many $30 entrees — but Puritan & Company ought to fill its considerable seating with diners ready for Gilson's entertaining, delicious spin on Olde Yankee cooking, a place where "farm to table" isn't just a shopworn cliché.
>> @MCSLIMJB
PURITAN & COMPANY | 1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge | 617.615.6195 or puritancambridge.com
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