Photo by Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe
IN THE KITCHEN
The kitchen at Four Square Restaurant and Bar is a workman’s space: stainless, solid, and perfectly equipped for turning out the everyday food a neighborhood runs on. Tucked in the rear of the long, narrow pub, the kitchen is co-owner/chef Marko Piro Fani’s realm, and you can see him cooking through a half-open wall. Purposefully absent is the chef’s partner, co-owner and state Senator Robert Hedlund, who is vocal about his inability to cook. No matter, Fani’s got the kitchen humming, and while it may not be as pretty as the artsy logos on the spigots of the 16 craft beers on tap, you’ll be glad it’s there after an ale or two.
THE LOCALE
Don’t let your GPS confuse you: Although Four Square is in the heart of Weymouth Landing, it’s in Braintree — a few steps from the town line. The owners renovated the former Helen’s bar, which opened in the 1930s, retaining the building’s Old World feel while upgrading its workability. The pleasing, 60-seat space has a tin ceiling, brick walls, dark, polished wood, blackboards for specials, and large front windows with screens that open in nice weather. Four Square has a casual, well-cared-for feel — and warm, responsive servers — making it a welcoming, sheltering place to grab a bite.
ON THE MENU
A fresh salad in a sea of high-calorie food can be a comfort for some. Four Square offers several with protein add-ons, making this self-proclaimed comfort food pub versatile enough to satisfy most tastes: One of you can have mac & cheese ($11) (which, according to our nice waiter, is good and so heavy you need a bed afterward), and the other can have a house salad ($6). Mine was fresh with romaine, arugula, cucumber, and grape tomatoes. Dressings are fine, and there’s oil and red wine vinegar if you want to go more basic. Topped with chicken ($4), steak tips ($5), or turkey tips ($6), you’ve got a nourishing, protein-rich meal.
Four Square’s classic American burgers ($9) deliver big time. They’re large, and the kitchen knows how to cook them to order. The buns are soft and grilled; lettuce, tomato, and onions are plentiful; and the thick, tasty French fries pull of their old irresistible trick. Variations on the theme include the X-Tudo ($11), topped with a fried egg, bacon, and crispy onions. Steak tips ($13 lunch/$15 dinner) were most memorable because they were sided with curly kale, sautéed with chopped garlic, and a tasty mound of rustic mashed potatoes. A Caesar salad ($7) was fresh and bright one afternoon — but the salmon ($6) add-on was dry and sad.
The menu is basically the same from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., with some portion sizes bigger and prices higher after 5 p.m. A handful of attractively low-cost sides — such as risotto ($3), mashed potatoes ($3), garlic spinach ($3) — are a comforting addition to the pub’s ambitious entrees, salads, pizzas, and sandwiches, as is the soup of the day ($3). There are also several less costly lunch specials. First among them is a very — extremely — respectable 16-inch cheese pizza for only $5! (“They’re real,” said our waiter. “They throw the dough up in the air in the kitchen.”) Then, too, Happy Hour comes early in the Braintree section of Weymouth Landing, with the appetizers half-price from 3 to 6 p.m., weekdays. Order a couple of those — say the crunchy/creamy arancini ($9/$4.50) or the potato-based Irish nachos ($8/$4) — and a pizza — and you could put the place out of business and walk away happy.
Four Square Restaurant & Bar, 16 Commercial St., Braintree, 781-848-4448,www.foursquarebar.com.
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