Steamed (20 page)
Authors: Jessica Conant-Park,Susan Conant
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Boston (Mass.), #Cooks, #Women Graduate Students
“Owen! What in God’s name are you wearing?” Adrianna yelled.
“What? You don’t love it?” He grinned devilishly. He’d gone all out for our big night by dressing in a deep orange polyester suit and brown cowboy boots.
“Apologize to Chloe for this ghastly ensemble. I told you to wear something
normal
. And preferably something made in this decade.”
normal
. And preferably something made in this decade.”
It could have been the margaritas talking, but I had to laugh. As foolish as the outfit was, Owen managed to pull it off. Besides, as atypical as the suit was of Magellan’s clientele, everyone always liked Owen. He was charming and funny and loyal—and could put up with Adrianna’s headstrong, not to say occasionally obnoxious, personality.
“Owen, I think you look dashing,” I insisted. “And I won’t lose either of you tonight in your bright colors.”
Adrianna shrieked, “Oh, Jesus. I’m not sitting next to you, Owen. We’ll totally clash!”
“So, Chloe,” Owen said, cutting off another car, “are you nervous?”
“Actually, no. I don’t know why,” I answered. Butterflies on amphetamines were flying around in my stomach, but mostly I felt happy at the prospect of seeing Josh again.
We reached the South End in record time, thanks to Owen’s terrifying driving skills, and parked with the valet outside Magellan. “And I don’t want to see any marks on this baby when I get back.” Owen winked at the attendant. Ade rolled her eyes, glancing at the wreck Owen called a car.
Suddenly nervous, I said, “Ade, you go in first.”
“Don’t be a loser.”
“What if he’s wearing one of those silly tall white hats? I’ll be so embarrassed for him,” I said, panicking.
“Only dorks wear those, and Josh doesn’t sound like a dork.” She pushed me through the door.
The restaurant was so full that we had to squeeze through a crowd to get to the hostess, who was apologetically explaining to a couple that there would be an hour-and-a-half wait for a table.
“Hi,” I said to the hostess. “I’m Chloe, and I think Josh made a reservation for the three of us?”
“Oh, sure. He said you’d be coming in tonight. Nice to meet you all. I’m Margaret. Just follow me back here. Josh has set you up by the kitchen.”
Déjà vu: I again followed a hostess through a restaurant for a date.
Magellan was so high toned that I tried not to giggle as Ade in her hot pink dress and Owen in his orange suit followed behind me. We walked past a square bar area and past tables of customers in the center of the room to get to the open kitchen. There was another dining area ahead of us, but the kitchen was clearly the heart of this restaurant. Although Essence had been attractive, with its own open kitchen, I now saw that Magellan was the original and Essence a copy.
“Oh, look at that rack of lamb,” I heard Owen say. For once, my own eyes weren’t on all the food around me but were scanning the kitchen for my chef.
Once again, I had an eerie reminder of my visit to Essence: we were seated at a counter that ran the length of the kitchen. But this was a spacious counter covered with rustic-looking stone. As we took our seats in plush bar-height chairs, I felt sure that other customers of Magellan and Essence had noticed the similarities between the restaurants. Who could have missed them?
“Wait, Chloe, you have to sit in the middle. Owen and I cannot be next to each other in these outfits,” Adrianna insisted.
“You two are weird,” I said but agreed that it would be best for other diners if they didn’t have to witness the pairing of my fashion-extremist friends. Maybe my green outfit would tone them down?
Once settled, I looked up to see Josh off to my left furiously chopping onions. How cute was he? He looked so serious and focused and lovable. He suddenly whipped around to the grill behind him and flipped a piece of meat. I could tell, even from a distance, that it was perfectly seared.
“That’s Josh, I bet, right?” Ade asked.
I nodded.
“How did he know that was done? He wasn’t even looking.”
Owen, Ade, and I continued staring at Josh while he worked. We watched in awe as he sharpened a chef ’s knife on a steel with a bright blue plastic handle. The sharpening steel reminded me of something a fencer would use, probably because of the swift, smooth way Josh dragged the knife blade across the top and then under the bottom of the metal rod. I was able to watch in comfort only because he held the knife with the blade facing away from him. When satisfied with his knife, Josh reached under the counter and pulled up a bunch of leeks that he speedily sliced and tossed with the onions into the hot skillet behind him. The sweet aroma brought a smile to my face.
Ade nudged me. “If slicing onions makes you smile like that, who knows what could happen later.”
I rolled my eyes. “But seriously, isn’t he cute?” I couldn’t stop staring at Josh, who was a Josh I hadn’t seen before, Josh at work.
“He’s adorable,” she agreed.
After shaking the pan of onions and leeks, Josh finally looked over and caught my eye. “Hi, beautiful!” He leaned across the chef ’s counter to give me a little kiss. “I’ve been waiting all week to do that.”
He called me beautiful! And kissed me!
I introduced Adrianna and Owen and was happy to see that Josh appeared not to notice Ade’s supermodel looks.
A dark-haired young man appeared by Josh’s side. “You want me to pull out the sea bass?” he asked.
“Hey, Brian. Yeah,” Josh said. “Brian, this is Chloe, Adrianna, and Owen. Here for dinner tonight as my guests, so we have to impress them. My future happiness depends on what we cook for them tonight,” he said with mock seriousness.
“Oh, so this is Chloe?” Brian poked Josh’s side with his fingers. “Let me tell you something. I’ve never seen Josh burn anything until this week. But so far, he’s burned a salmon and two steaks, and I’m betting you’re the reason.”
I was pleased to note that Josh blushed as he playfully shoved Brian away. “That’s enough of that. Just go get the sea bass. We’ve got a three top that’s all ordered the special.”
At a guess, a “three top” meant a table of three people. Before I could ask my chef what tops had to do with anything—top hats? tops of people’s heads?—he turned back to us and said, “Okay, kids, you ready to eat? I thought I’d start you off with my spring rolls. And then I’ve got soft shell crabs for the ladies and a duck for you, Owen. Sound good?”
Owen clapped his hands together eagerly. “Bring it on, baby! We’re ready!”
Josh looked at me and smiled, holding my gaze for a moment.
“Josh! The leeks!” Brian yelled.
Josh spun around, saw the burning mess in the pan, and threw his hands up. Brian laughed, “One cute girl and look what happens.”
Josh started chopping fresh leeks just as Madeline approached our group. “Hello, again, Chloe,” she said. “I’m so glad to see you. You made quite an impression on Josh.” She smiled conspiratorially. “I guess the ride home worked out well, huh?”
“It did, it did,” I agreed, unable to stop grinning. I introduced Ade and Owen. “And this is Madeline Rock. She owns Magellan.”
We all chatted for a few moments before Madeline offered us drinks from the bar. Adrianna asked for wine, and Madeline said she knew exactly the right bottle for us, on the house, no less.
“Excuse me, folks.“ A young waitress dressed in all black spoke from behind us.“The chef asked me to bring these out to you.”
She placed the plates of spring rolls in front of us. These spring rolls bore so little resemblance to any I’d ever seen before that they seemed to demand a different and far more grand name. The rolls were about five inches across and had been sliced in half at an angle and placed artistically on the brilliantly white plate. Brightly colored shredded vegetables were wrapped tightly in the golden brown wrapper, and two sauces had been poured on either side of the roll.
“Whoa, these look awesome,” Owen said.
We started eating, and I started smiling again. Truly, they were fabulous. The vegetables were crisp and flavorful. And the sauces?
“Oh my God,” Adrianna murmured with her mouth full. “Unbelievable.”
Josh shouted over to us from the grill. “Happy?”
We all nodded enthusiastically. “Dude,” Owen started, chewing a huge bite, “
what
is in these?”
what
is in these?”
“I’m glad you like it. Um, let’s see . . . onions, zucchini, squash, cabbage, peppers, carrots, roasted garlic, cumin, and coriander. And the sauces are a sesame-mango sauce and a port wine syrup,” he said proudly.
Josh looked to me, and I could tell he wanted to know what I thought. But I didn’t need to say anything: he saw my happy expression and nodded. “All right, all right,” he said softly.
We polished off every bit of our spring rolls and ordered another bottle of wine while we quietly discussed what a catch Josh was. The meal only continued to get better when our waitress brought our entrées. Josh had done a lavender-glazed duck for Owen with, our waitress told us, a sweet soy sauce and aromatic spices, jasmine rice, and Chinese long beans. Adrianna and I were presented with soft shell crabs fried in cornmeal on a vegetable “hash” made with finely diced onions, red peppers, carrots, potatoes, and fresh thyme, all served in an orange-scented fish fumé with truffled pea tendrils.
“Man, if you don’t marry him, I might,” Owen said as he admired his duck.
I smiled. “Hey, back off. Besides, I think you’re taken already.”
“He certainly is,” Adrianna said. “But I wouldn’t mind if you could cook like this, Owen.” Owen was famous for his ability to make noodles and sauce à la Lipton and not much else. He and Ade ate out all the time. They knew good food but couldn’t cook it.
The three of us worked our way through the delicious plates Josh had prepared for us, and Owen even asked for a bite of the crab dish. “I never thought I’d see the day when you ate seafood,” Adrianna said in disbelief as Owen plunged a fork into a juicy bite.
“Me neither,” Owen agreed. “But I can’t help myself, that looks so good.” He practically moaned as he bit into the crab.
“Guess I know how to get you in the mood now,” Adrianna teased her boyfriend. “We’re coming here every night, I think.”
The restaurant was still full when we’d finished our meals, and Josh had been busy cooking and plating food. Besides Josh and Brian, two other people were in the kitchen helping prep ingredients and dunking more spring rolls into a deep fryer. Things had just started to calm down by the time our plates were cleared when suddenly we heard a loud bang from the back of the kitchen.
“I dropped the tray of guinea fowl!” Brian growled. “What’s wrong with me!”
“Brian, take it easy,” Josh called back. He headed toward the scene of the mess.
He returned a moment later, looked at me, and shrugged. “I love Brian, but he’s so clumsy,” he said with real affection. “Let’s hope no one orders the guinea fowl tonight.”
“Could he get fired for that?” I asked Josh, knowing what high hopes he had for his protégé.
“He could probably set the whole kitchen on fire and Maddie wouldn’t let him go. She knows a few lost birds here and there aren’t worth getting rid of him. Oh, hey, Maddie,” Josh called as the owner crossed into the kitchen. “Our boy just dumped the guinea fowl on the floor. You’d better go check on him. He feels pretty bad about it.”
“Oh, that Brian,” she shook her head. “I’m going to sign him up for ballet lessons and try to teach him some grace.”
While Josh chatted with Ade and Owen, I watched Madeline head to the back of the kitchen. I saw her bend down and talk to Brian, and had the impression that she was trying to calm down the upset sous chef. She tousled his hair before standing up and calling another worker for a mop.
I elbowed Adrianna, and she looked up in time to see Brian looking desperately after Madeline. Poor Brian. I knew how much Josh wanted him to do well and wondered whether the clumsy sous chef understood that Josh was eager to have him succeed.
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