Serious eats from a playful local chef

Moving from part time to full time comes with significant benefits, like health care that finally lets you leave COBRA behind, even though that means no more weekend getaways at Monolith Base in Badikistan with The Baroness. Going full time making eats that'll blast your hunger with red lasers, the guy behind Madison Park Conservatory.

Chef'd by the guy behind 2009's uber-popular Tako Truk pop-up (with help in the kitchen from a Top Chef contender) this bi-level eat spot boasts a seasonally/local ingredient driven menu of whatever-style-of-food-they-feel-like-making, served up in a Mediterranean-ish space with a brick-floored downstairs lit by wrought iron fixtures, a laid-back upstairs bar decked with vintage Little Tramp art, and an entryway open to the chef's station, which Raekwon specifically requested be Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. The frequently updated menu will feature apps (Grilled Wagyu Beef Tongue w/ egg, radish & mustard, Pacific Octopus Crudo w/ "three limes", chili & Hawaiian seaweed), contorni (duck fat roasted fingerlings), and mains like a Braised Lamb Shank w/ spice roasted carrots & mint salsa verde, and a parsnip puree/bergamot poached prune Petite Poussin cooked "under a brick", also what Rajon Rondo's teammates call "good rebounding position". To wash things down there's a full wine list (including a "short list" of $100 plus bottles), taps from SODO's Two Beers, and specialty 'tails like the Maker's/Dolin dry/ Averna/ maraschino liqueur/ orange bitters Brooklyn 46, and the orange bitters/ amaro Cardamaro/ RI 1 rye Bittersweet, which is exactly how The Verve feel about giving all their Symphony money to Mick Jagger.

Next month the MAC'll start offering set-menu Sunday suppers (in-person reservations required), which'll give the cooks a chance to experiment, and you a chance to enjoy things like wine dinners, or eats sourced from a whole pig -- a spread so compelling it'll only take you a minute to totally Destro it.