853 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-497-5511
Nestled in a weirdly shaped, funky old Cambridge building in between Kendall and Central Squares, Craigie on Main is a small restaurant with a big reputation. Chef-owner Tony Maws combines his love of the Parisian bistrots modernes and his unyielding passion for the best local, seasonal and organic ingredients for a dining experience that is meticulous yet unpretentious. The menu changes daily to feature only the best of the best. Maws' 'head-to-toe' philosophy and composting program mean nothing is wasted at Craigie on Main.
The dining room, which overlooks a sparkling open kitchen, is filled with warm colors, pleasant aromas and the hum of contented guests. The adjacent bar, which boasts its own menu of home-made recipes, features an all-star roster of offerings from organic wineries and artisanal distilleries.
Just like Baba Hannah Used to Make
Spend Passover this year with the Craigie on Main family and see what Tony Maws can do with this traditional ...
The Triumphant Return of Cochon 555
There is no such thing as too much pork - in that spirit, the Liberty Hotel is once again hosting Cochon ...
Restaurant Week Reprieve
Boston Restaurant Week starts on Sunday - if you're not a fan of the two week long prix fixe extravaganza ...

Since he was a teenager, Chef Tony Maws has always worked in restaurants - sixteen in all - working his way through every restaurant job. His real culinary training, though, was earned at what he refers to as the "long and winding road cooking school."
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Michigan, Maws embarked on an eight-year journey which included stints under local chefs Ken Oringer at Clio and Steve Johnson at The Blue Room as well as not-so-local chefs Bernard Constantin at Larivoire in Lyon, France; Roland Passot at La Folie and Wolfgang Puck at Postrio in San Francisco; and Mark Miller at the Coyote Café in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Maws is particularly grateful to Chef Chris Schlesinger, for giving him his first big break: a chance to chop vegetables in at the East Coast Grill.
Maws opened Craigie Street Bistrot in 2002 with the goal of combining the philosophy and style of the Parisian bistrot moderne culinary movement with local and organic ingredients from New England. He had a hunch this might be a type of restaurant that his Cambridge neighbors might enjoy, but otherwise his ambitions were modest. Before long his unique approach to cuisine began to earn him widespread national acclaim, including being named as one of America's top ten new chefs by Food & Wine and Boston's best up-and-coming chef by Boston Magazine. He has also been featured in Travel & Leisure, Gourmet, The Boston Globe and numerous others. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show and Fox News, and has cooked at culinary events in locations as diverse as Singapore and Aspen, Colorado.
This national recognition has not changed Maws' hands-on approach at his little Cambridge bistro. Far from being a typical "Executive Chef," he works practically every night on the line. Additionally, he is one of the few chefs who is also his own wine director.
A Newton native, Maws, his wife Karolyn and their dog, Abby, now live in Cambridge. His interests include the Red Sox, reading cookbooks for pleasure (he has a collection of more than two hundreds), skiing, REM (both the band, and the sleep stage), eating Chinese food, and traveling - particularly to France.
