Blue Ginger
583 Washington St.
Wellesley, MA 02482
781-283-5790
Since opening its doors in 1998, Blue Ginger has been impressing diners from Boston and beyond with its harmonious combination of East and West. Designed by Ming and Polly Tsai in conjunction with a Feng Shui Master, the restaurant features an open kitchen, warm cherry woodwork, Italian granite floors and a soothing water sculpture. Diners can enjoy the theater of the open kitchen or focus purely on the innovative and East-West cuisine, which has earned Blue Ginger high praise from the Boston Globe, Esquire, Boston Magazine and the James Beard Foundation, which named Tsai 2002’s Best Chef Northeast.
Stop and Sip the Rosé at Blue Ginger
Head for Blue Ginger on Monday, May 21st when the wines of Chateau D'Esclans take center stage.
Cooking Live
Join Ming Tsai as he gathers a gaggle of his chefly friends for an evening of - what else - cooking.
Knights Bridge at the Round Table
Sip through the wines of California when Blue Ginger hosts the Knights Bridge folks for a special wine dinner.
Jonathan Taylor
Chef at Blue Ginger
A native of Highland Falls, New York, Executive Chef Jonathan Taylor worked in kitchens across the country, learning varied cuisines and techniques before bringing that expertise to Blue Ginger. Taylor's interest in food and cooking started at an early age, watching Martin Yan, Justin Wilson and The Frugal Gourmet on public television. Taylor found a passion for regional and global cuisine through these culinary teachers.
Taylor's youth belies his fifteen years in the restaurant industry. Always willing to start at the lowest position in a kitchen and work his way up, he has held positions from dishwasher to roundsman to his current position as Chef Tsai's right-hand man. "I'm grateful that I've worked every possible job in a kitchen. It gives me an understanding of what each person on my team goes through -- I've been there. It also helps create a mutual respect for each other, which is so important in a kitchen if you want it to work well."
Taylor's travels took him to Atlanta, where he worked his way up from prep cook to tournant at Brasserie Le Coze, a Maguy Le Coze-Eric Ripert restaurant, the same team behind Le Bernardin. Taylor's experience also includes stints at the Atlanta Fish Market, which regularly reached one thousand covers on weekends, and Brasserie Jo, Jean Joho's popular French bistro. Taylor's knowledge of French cuisine and technique, his ability to work in a fast-paced, high-volume environment, and his interest in American regional and International cuisine seemed the perfect match for Blue Ginger, an East/West bistro.
Chef Taylor joined the Blue Ginger team in 1999, rising quickly through the ranks to the Executive Chef position under Chef Tsai. At Blue Ginger, Taylor oversees every aspect of the kitchen, from managing a staff of twenty to creating new dishes for the menu, which is always seasonal, to traveling with Chef Tsai to special events.
With Chef Tsai and his team of sous chefs, he strives to always keep in mind the philosophy of Blue Ginger, blending East and West techniques and ingredients with respect and creativity.
During his time at Blue Ginger, Chef Taylor has cooked at events across the country - from the James Beard Awards to the Sundance Film Festival to Iron Chef America (Ming Tsai's team won, by the way). But, most nights you can find Taylor behind the line of the open kitchen, calmly but quickly preparing dishes and surveying the crowd.
Chef Taylor lives in Stoughton with his wife, Paula, who is General Manager of Blue Ginger.
- Aïoli
- 1. noun A blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) in the parlance of the Provence region of southern France. Around here, we'd call it a garlic mayonnaise.
- Ancho chile
- 1. noun The reddish brown, dried version of a poblano chile. Generally mild but can pack a punch.
- Carpaccio
- 1. noun Wafer-thin slices of raw beef served cold; named after the Renaissance Venetian painter.
- Charcuterie
- 1. noun The French term for delicatessen-style items.
- Chorizo
- 1. noun Crumbly, spiced pork sausage.
- Confit
- 1. noun Meat (usually goose, duck or pork) that is slowly cooked in its own fat and preserved with the fat packed around it as a seal.
- Coulis
- 1. noun A thick puree or sauce.
- Couscous
- 1. noun Granular semolina popular in North Africa.
- Emulsion
- 1. noun The mixture of two liquids that cannot normally combine smoothly (e.g., oil and water). Mayonnaise and hollandaise are two familiar emulsions.
- Foie gras
- 1. noun Expensive, silk-textured goose or duck liver that has been enlarged by a process you don't want to read about if you're going to eat this dish.
- Ganache
- 1. noun A rich mixture of chocolate and crème fraîche frequently used as a filling for cakes.
- Jicama
- 1. noun Used in Latin American cooking, jicama is a member of the potato family. The bulbous, brown root has a thin brown skin and crunchy and sweet white flesh.
- Lemongrass
- 1. noun A lemon-scented herb used liberally in Thai and Cambodian cooking.
- Mascarpone
- 1. noun Ultra-rich, soft cheese known best for its role in tiramisu.
- Panko
- 1. noun Coarse breadcrumbs used in Japanese cooking.
- Panna cotta
- 1. noun Egg-less Italian custard.
- Pilaf
- 1. noun A seasoned rice or other grain dish in which the rice is sautéed before the liquid and other ingredients are added.
- Quinoa
- 1. noun These small, round, pale-brown grains look similar to millet and have a mild taste and a firm texture. Quinoa is considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids.
- Rémoulade
- 1. noun A cold mayonnaise sauce flavored with mustard, gherkins, capers, anchovies and herbs.
- Rillettes
- 1. noun Meat, usually pork, slowly cooked in seasoned fat and made into a smooth paste, then packed and sealed with a thin layer of fat. Served cold.
- Risotto
- 1. noun Italian dish made from rice cooked by intermittently adding small amounts of stock or broth. Other ingredients are added as required.
- Shank
- 1. noun The front leg of beef, pork, veal or lamb. Often a very tough cut of meat, the shank requires slow-cooking methods like braising.
- Shiitake
- 1. noun Bold and meaty, these are called "black mushrooms" on Chinese menus.
- Shumai
- 1. noun Filled Chinese dumplings that look like tiny, just-opening flower buds.
- Tamarind
- 1. noun A bittersweet spice made by drying and pressing the pulp from the fruit of the tamarind tree native to Asia and northern Africa.
- Tartare
- 1. noun Ground or finely chopped, seasoned raw meat (traditionally beef). May or may not come mounded, and with a raw egg.
- Terrine
- 1. noun An earthenware container, or the dish cooked therein.
- Torchon
- 1. noun Method of cooking foie gras by which it is placed in a towel (torchon in French) and poached.
- Wonton
- 1. noun A small dumplings made by filling thin sheets of dough with a mixture finely chopped meat, seafood or vegetables.
- Yuzu
- 1. noun A tangy citrus fruit with flavorful rind.
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