Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 38 NOVEMBER 2018 Nick Panagos grew up in restaurants. He started out washing dishes at his dad's restaurants around Providence, Rhode Island, spent some time cooking in Greece, and then attended Le Cordon Bleu Boston, whose famous alums include Julia Childs. His first job CHEF CHAT Executive chef Nick Panagos takes Northshore behind the scenes at L'Andana. Interview by Jeanne O'Brien Coffey L'Andana also has beehives on the roof. How is that going? We just did a honey harvest on Sunday. I think our Rooftop Honey Gelato is one of the best items on our menu. Our pastry chef [Suzanne Giaquinto] makes a honeycomb from honey baked with sugar and baking soda…it's like kind of like crispy honey on the bottom of the plate. en she makes a fresh honey gelato, which is insane, and tops it with a honey tuile garnish. It's really cool—honey three ways. What is the most complicated dish on the menu, in terms of execution? Probably our hamachi crudo, served with pomegranate gremolata. We get fresh pome- granates and take out the seeds, then toss them with parsley, shallot, lime juice, and lime zest. en we take Granny Smith apples and we cut them into brunoise—a perfect dice of very small squares—marinate that in lime juice and lime zest. We get whole sides of hamachi, and slice it super-thin fresh, then top with the gremolata, the apple, and very, very thinly sliced jalapeno. I try to change the ha- machi every season, so we do corn and tomato in the summer, and I figured for the fall we can do apple and pomegranates. What dishes on the menu can never change? I was basically told that I have creative free- dom over pretty much everything except for the hand-cut tuna tartare; you will probably never see that change. Also the Caesar salad—I don't think there's any reason to change it. e dressing is awesome. Also, the wood-grilled swordfish has been on the menu since day one, with wood-roasted peppers, onions, and tomatoes, like a pepperonata. at's one of the owner's favorite dishes. What is your favorite dish at L'Andana? Our Cornish game hen is probably one of my favorites. When people see chicken on a res- taurant menu, they think it's just chicken, but ours is special. We get these really nice Cornish game hens and we debone them. And then we marinate them in olive oil, onions, pars- ley, lemon, and we grill them skin side down on our wood grill so it gets this really crispy, smoky flavor. We serve them over a warm spin- PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG LEVY out of culinary school was at acclaimed chef Jamie Mammano's Sorellina in Boston. Last year, his journey, which included stops at Alden and Harlow and Cinquecento, brought him full circle—helming the kitchen at Mam- mano's L'Andana in Burlington as it enters its second decade. Northshore chatted with the chef about perfect steak, anksgiving dinner service, and his favorite dish. NS: What is your favorite part of working at L'Andana? NP: Our garden. It runs the length of the building on the side and into the parking lot—this year is the biggest it's ever been. ere are not many restaurants where you can just walk outside the door and pick gar- nishes and herbs…cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes and mint and four kinds of basil…. It's awesome. Executive chef Nick Panagos turns out BONS award-winning dishes at L'Andana in Burlington. / F A C E S + P L A C E S /