SJ’s chef-owner Sarah Wade is also behind the nearby Stillwater and Sloane’s in Allston.Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
The backstory: Wade, originally from Oklahoma, came to Boston to head the kitchen at Lulu’s Allston. After winning Food Network’s “Chopped Gold Medal Games” in 2018, she opened her own restaurant, Stillwater, downtown. Next up was Sloane’s in Allston, and then, this winter, came SJ’s.
Prawn toast, edged with white and black sesame seeds, is one of the sassy snacks on the menu.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
What to eat: Sassy snacks that draw from around the world: Prawn toast, the sesame and scallion-kissed shrimp filling sandwiched in crisp bread and edged with black and white sesame seeds; savory macarons filled with pork rillettes. A very nice salad: beets and oranges over labneh with pomegranate, pumpkin seed brittle, and cocoa salt that lends an intriguing whisper of flavor (add chicken or salmon if you like). Pasta dishes from squash-celeriac agnolotti to cacio e pepe with uni. Lunch brings a selection of sandwiches, brunch adds the likes of Turkish-style eggs and pear French toast, and entrees include steak frites and confit rabbit leg with bean ragout. The burger — on toasted brioche with raclette, pickles, and Dijonnaise, served with tallow fries — is always available. For dessert, there’s a rich five-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, salted caramel sauce, and spiced pecans.
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SJ’s cacio e pepe folds uni into the mix.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
What to drink: Classic cocktails or house inventions like the Skyeline (gin, yuzu liqueur, Crème de Violette, and maraschino) and the Burnt Palm (coconut mezcal, coconut cream, pineapple, lime, and bitters). There are also nonalcoholic cocktails, as well as wine and beer.
For dessert, there’s a rich five-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, salted caramel sauce, and spiced pecans. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
The takeaway: Get a sense of SJ’s priorities from where it claims ownership on the menu: SJ’s salade (greens with dinner roll croutons and gin-olive vinaigrette), Our Burger, SJ’s martini, SJ’s Manhattan. These are pretty solid priorities at the end of the day for a neighborly bistro with a convenient downtown location. SJ’s tagline is “Good food, done well.” Boston used to have more places like this in the Before Remote Work era; we can’t take the continued presence of these comfortable berths for granted.
745 Atlantic Ave., Leather District, Boston, 617-982-6833, www.sjsboston.com. Small plates $10-$19, sandwiches $18-$24, larger plates $24-$55, desserts $13, cocktails $16-$18.
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devrafirst.
Dining and Cooking