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The Basics: La Verdad restaurant information

La Verdad

1 Landsdowne Street
Boston, MA 02215
617-421-9595

La Verdad restaurant information
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The brainchild of James Beard-award winning chef and restaurateur Ken Oringer and foie gras guru Michael Ginor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, La Verdad has been serving a steady stream of Fenway Faithful and Lansdowne Street diners since it opened in 2006.

With a menu of authentic Mexican fare - lighter and cleaner than most Bostonians have come to expect - the restaurant features a spacious, dimly-lit dining room that's comfortable for small parties but can also accommodate game day crowds heading to nearby Fenway Park. Its intentionally-kitschy décor offers entertaining diversions - like an entire wall dedicated to Mexican wrestling.

The umbrella-covered sidewalk patio is an ideal perch for a people-watching, a pre-game bite to eat and a cocktail made with any of the countless premium tequilas they've got behind the bar.

News and Events at La Verdad restaurant

The Dining Docket
November 14th - November 20th
As usual, there's no shortage of delectable events this week. See what's on the ...

Phantom Gourmet Food Festival
Get to Lansdowne Street for the most gluttonous party of the year - the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival is scheduled for ...

Taco Tuesdays at La Verdad
In-season or off-season, next time you find yourself over by Fenway on a Tuesday night, stop by La Verdad for ...

Ken Oringer

Chef at La Verdad

Chef Ken Oringer at La Verdad

New Jersey native Ken Oringer's career began inauspiciously; washing dishes in a local restaurant as a teen. He caught the kitchen bug, however, and went on to study restaurant management at Bryant College in Rhode Island and then received a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, where he was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his classmates.

After graduation, Oringer's first position was at David Burke's River Café in New York, followed by a pastry chef position at Providence's legendary Al Forno, and sous cheffing under Jean Georges Vongerichten at the Marquis de Lafayette in Boston. Next, he briefly operated Terra Trattoria in Greenwich, Connecticut, which won three stars from The NY Times.

In 1992, Oringer moved to San Francisco and became chef de cuisine at Silks in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. There, his distinctive, Asian-accented style and flair with cutting-edge ingredients began to get noticed. Conde' Nast Traveler magazine listed Silks as "one of the top 20 restaurants in America." Raves followed in Gourmet.

In 1995, Oringer returned Boston, and won praise for his work at Tosca in suburban Hingham.  Within a year, the restaurant was dubbed "Best on the South Shore," and Ken was profiled on CNN. In 1997, he and a partner opened Clio in Boston's Eliot Hotel, with a contemporary French/American menu that married skilled technique with an artful, Asian-inspired approach.

The restaurant's phenomenal success catapulted Oringer's reputation into the stratosphere, and the accolades never stopped. Clio has been a Gourmet magazine Top Table, and has been lauded in most national magazines and daily metropolitan newspapers. Oringer has also appeared on several Food Network shows, as guest, cook and winning contestant. After nominations in 1998 and 1999, he won The James Beard Foundation's Best Chef - Northeast Award in 2001.

Intellectually restless and an enthusiastic traveler, Oringer eventually sought new outlets for his culinary curiosity. In 2002, he opened Uni, an intimate sashimi bar in Back Bay. In 2005, he opened Toro, a Barcelona-inspired tapas bar in Boston's trendy South End.  In 2007, he opened La Verdad, an authentic Mexican concept located adjacent to Fenway Park, and lent his name and knowledge to KO Prime, a modern steakhouse in Kimpton's Nine Zero Hotel on Beacon Hill.

Diversification aside, Ken is known to be a hands-on kind of chef who can often be found manning the stove at Clio, procuring farm-raised beef for KO Prime at local farms, mixing margaritas at La Verdad, or creating surprises for the patrons at Uni.

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Dictionary
 
Achiote
1. noun The rust-colored, smoky-flavored seed of the annatto tree.
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.
Chayote
1. noun An old Aztec favorite - gourd-like fruit with pale green skin and bland white flesh that can be eaten cooked or raw.
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.
Fundido
1. noun Spanish for "melted."
Guajillo
1. noun A shiny red, very hot chile.
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.
Masa
1. noun Corn tortilla dough.
Pepitas
1. noun Edible pumpkin seeds.
Quesadilla
1. noun A flour tortilla filled, folded and then either toasted or fried. The filling usually consists of cheese, salsa, meat and refried beans.
Queso
1. noun Spanish for cheese.
Tomatillo
1. noun A diminutive green relative of the tomato.