WHO’S IN CHARGE

It took Pookie Akarasereepoowapon 10 years to find her way to owning her own place — the wonderful Eggs & Thai Café in Dedham Center. The Bangkok-born Marlborough resident moved to the United States in 2008 and spent her first year working in the kitchen of her aunt’s restaurant in Nashua. But Akarasereepoowapon didn’t want to cook — she wanted to serve people and run a restaurant’s front of house. To do that, she realized she had to learn to speak English well and spent the next three years back in the kitchen while studying the language. It took her another five years of working as a server at Framingham’s Pho Dakao to save the money to buy Eggs & Thai from its previous owner. Since opening in July 2018, word of mouth has drawn guests for lunch and dinner. “Business is good,” said its smiling owner.

THE LOCALE

Dedham Square continues to surprise as vibrant new businesses, cafes, and restaurants move into old spaces, enlivening the small city center. Eggs & Thai is on the fringe of the busy square — a mere block up High Street — in a half-subterranean space down a small side alley. The pristine little restaurant is a 37-seat space with peach-colored walls, marble tabletops, and various homey decorations: a lit candle, a fireplace hung on one wall, white lattice work behind a rattan table, flowers, colorful curtains, wall sconces.

ON THE MENU

Eggs & Thai Cafe’s wonderful basil half duck.

There’s something so gently insistent about the flavors of Thai food. They’re complex, yet not heavy, with various echoes of coconut, chili, holy basil, lemongrass, lime leaf, the ginger-like galangal, and the umami base notes that a bit of fish sauce lends. Eggs & Thai’s menu is large, with many variations on themes listed among the different appetizers, soups, salads, rice plates, stir-fries, noodles, and curries.

If you get lost, ask Akarasereepoowapon what to have: She’s the warm heart and soul of this unassuming restaurant. There’s so much good to eat here. Take the shrimp mango avocado curry ($19), and you should! It’s a fragrant light curry filled with large shrimp and hunks of perfectly ripe, slightly cooked avocado and mango that are exciting to eat in a hot dish.

The shrimp won ton soup ($6) is a rich broth with its chilies, sweetness, and lime hitting you all at once. Another soup, the chicken noodle ($13), has an overly mild broth but the fresh Chinese broccoli, cilantro, and scallions in it are good and it’s fun to eat Thai-style with a spoon in one hand and a fork for the noodles in the other.

The Thai broccoli ($8), made with Chinese broccoli, is a fine dish — the chard-like leaves and sweet stalks of this wonderful vegetable handled beautifully and rendered tender and meaty. The fresh rolls ($9) are light, springy rice paper roll-ups stuffed with perky baby lettuces, carrots, basil, shrimp (or tofu), and vermicelli: I would choose them over the somewhat tough chicken satay ($9). Not so the tender basil half duck ($23). This dish is served on a white platter with two fantastically crispy legs over moist meat served atop a stir fry of fresh vegetables.

The wide rice noodles in the drunken noodles ($11/$14) satisfy with every mouthful of this eggy, broccoli, onion, pepper, and carrot stir-fry and the pad Thai ($11/$14) is just as good. Be sure to consult with Akarasereepoowapon about how spicy you want your dishes: This wonderful kitchen runs hot!

A3 in Kingston

IN THE KITCHEN

If you live in the suburbs, you might not have a family-style eatery nearby that’s consistently good enough to frequent often like people do in many cities, especially European ones. But Boston’s suburban dining scene gets better every year, and Kingston took a step in that direction with the opening in 2017 of chef-owner John Cataldi’s A3. Named after the stretch of motorway in Southern Italy where Cataldi’s great-grandparents were born, A3 is the chef’s shot at reliving his childhood in the late ’60s.

“I grew up in my father’s first restaurant, Nanina’s in Fields Corner in Dorchester, eating with the whole family — my sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins all together,” said Cataldi. The chef, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, makes all A3’s pizza dough, bread, bacon, sausage, pasta, and dressings just as he’s been doing since 2004 at his first restaurant, Solstice, right next door. Whereas Solstice is more of a fine dining spot with an elaborately creative American menu, A3 is casual, but the same attention to detail is there on the plate at both restaurants.

“We’re not trying to be Northern Italian,” said Cataldi. “We’re more of a family place that makes Italian-American food: simple dishes done right with a little bit more care than most places are willing to do.”

THE LOCALE

Cataldi sure found himself a great spot for A3. It’s adjacent to Solstice in downtown Kingston, although the buildings couldn’t be more different. Solstice is set back off the road in Kingston’s beautiful old train station, and A3 is a white, single-story building right on the street. Its only signage is the digits A and 3 etched on its windows. If you don’t see it, just turn in at the sign for Solstice, which shares the same driveway entrance.

The 38-seat space is a very pretty, bright, pleasing room with windows on two sides, wooden floors and tables, white tin ceiling squares, crisp white subway tiles, and yellow pendant lighting. There are high-top tables and countertop seating along the front window and overlooking the pizza ovens and kitchen. Center stage is a big 16-seat island with chairs on all four sides — perfect for a girls’ soccer team having pizza on a recent Thursday night.

ON THE MENU

A3 bills itself as a “pizza pasta parm” place, but there are also several types of crostini, meatballs, fried mozzarella, real salads with good protein add-ons, and a big antipasto plate. The margherita pizza ($19.50) has a terrific thin crust, and I love that Cataldi makes the big pie with both fresh and aged mozzarella. Order it perhaps with a side of his great meatballs ($10), which have a comforting, light texture. They’re served three to a plate topped with a dollop of whipped ricotta and served with a slice of toasted cheese bread. A3’s Caesar salad ($10.75) is a reminder of why this simple dish is a classic. The dressing is light (Cataldi also bottles it for sale), the croutons are made from homemade bread, and it’s dusted with fluffy, freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You can really bite into the strozzaprete pasta in the carbonara ($18), its creamy sauce made with house-made bacon and a sprinkling of bread crumbs. The shrimp scampi has a mild creamy sauce that’s topped with four perfectly cooked extra large shrimp. One of the things that makes A3 so good is a professionalism that gives the kitchen a consistency you can count on. That’s key.

From the Parrot’s new rooftop patio — at low tide. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe,.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Chef Brian Houlihan has really topped himself this time. On July 4, the restaurateur slung a banner from the former Red Parrot in Hull unveiling his newest restaurant’s new name, The Parrot, and opening its doors. Never mind that three of the enormous restaurant’s reconfigured dining areas were still under construction: The expansive ground floor beach bar dining room was ready and Houlihan was in the kitchen.

Since moving to Boston from Ireland at 18, in 1993, and working in several of the city’s kitchens, including the Four Seasons, the Scituate resident has opened four successful restaurants, starting in 2003 with Bia Bistro in Cohasset. Next, came the Tinker’s Son in Norwell, the Galley Kitchen & Bar in Scituate, and Trident Galley & Raw Bar in Hingham. The long-running Red Parrot, an oceanfront behemoth sprawling over the equivalent of a city block, had gone downhill over the years and Houlihan’s wonderful transformation of it is thrilling.

Asked why he would take on such an enormous venue, Houlihan joked. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s an icon? It was my civic duty?”

Pan roasted salmon. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

THE LOCALE

The new restaurant is so completely changed it’s disorienting to people who knew the old place. The beautifully spacious beach bar dining room, with its simple white walls, tin ceiling, and wood floors is an airy space completely open to the sea: The restaurant’s front wall is glass and folds out of the way, accordion-style.

Meanwhile, around back is an entirely different environment: an Irish tavern in dark gentlemanly colors with its own back door. Up a half-flight — Houlihan calls it the mezzanine — is a dining room with large windows. Go up one more flight and you’re on the rooftop patio with its amazing views. Inside, construction is still underway on a dining room that should be open by Thanksgiving. All together, The Parrot will seat 400. Houlihan may develop two menus for different areas, and is likely to shutter the beach bar in the winter and open the pub and the third-floor dining room.

First floor beach bar at the new Parrot at Nantasket Beach. Photo for Boston Globe by Joan Wilder

ON THE MENU

The Parrot’s starting summer menu smartly mixes $6-$8 burgers, tacos, sliders and other beachy fare with a nicely chosen handful each of raw bar selections, starters, salads, and entrees that top out at $48 for a 28-ounce rib eye for two. On five or six summer visits, we ate up everything: the carefree summer atmosphere of the inside-outside beach bar as well as lots of terrific plates. Among my favorites is the yellow fin tuna poke ($14), a gorgeous, velvety smooth plate of diced tuna in a ginger, garlic, soy, hoisin, lime marinade. The batter-fried Scituate haddock ($20), a.k.a. fish n’ chips, is a gorgeous filet of haddock in a batter crispy enough to let you hold it, and light enough to break apart at the touch of your teeth. The house clam chowder ($6) is a very satisfying cup thick with plenty of tender clams. All the tacos are good: the fried haddock ($8) with its pico de gallo and sriracha aioli, my favorite. The smash burger ($8) delivers a hamburger experience and the pulled pork slider ($6) is better with its smoky meat and bright slaw. Houlihan reminds me most of Houlihan in two entrees. The rustic pan-roasted salmon ($26) is enriched with bits of very crispy skin and served with fingerling potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts over an outstanding light seafood sauce. I loved it. Equally great is the grilled swordfish ($28). The large filet is topped with a small pile of lightly pickled, sweet cucumbers and carrots and served over some sensational chimichurri sauce. All we needed was more!

Il Massimo’s frito misto, a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus, and smelts. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

It’s uplifting that the newest restaurant at Dedham’s Legacy Place is an Italian family-run spot, not a chain. Il Massimo is owned by Esther and Joseph DeQuattro, a husband-and-wife team from Providence. The couple have been in the business since opening their first restaurant, Pane e Vino, on Federal Hill in Providence in 2002. Fourteen years later, in 2016, they launched Il Massimo in the same neighborhood. Last year, Legacy Place approached the couple about opening another Il Massimo in Dedham, and they decided to go for it: “It’s only 35 minutes without traffic,” said Esther (don’t smile, Boston). On any given day, the DeQuattros will be at one or another of their three places. Executive chef Joseph, who learned to cook from his Italian grandmother and mother in Providence, oversees kitchen operations, and Esther the front of house. Running the Dedham kitchen on a day-to-day basis is chef Edgar Morales, who left his job as the chef of Il Massimo Providence to open Legacy Place.

THE LOCALE

Il Massimo at Legacy Place. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

When the DeQuattros acquired the space that Met Bar & Grill vacated last summer, they took it down to the studs and spent five months renovating. The result is a spacious 200-seat restaurant with tall ceilings, chandeliers, a large glass wine wall, modern fireplaces, and several different seating environments. There are tables in dimly lit areas, wooden high tops, an elevated row of round booths along one wall, a curtained private room for 40. An L-shaped bar extends into a grouping of tables street-side in a light-filled area with white walls that opens to an enclosed, trellised patio. Depending on where you’re sitting, Il Massimo is good for a private relaxed meal, a bite after J. Crew (but before Anthropologie), drinks after work, or a private party. It has a high-energy, capable, corporate feel, but because it’s in a shopping and entertainment center, guests have carte blanche to come as they are: in sweats during a day of shopping, dressed up to do the town, or anything in between.

ON THE MENU

Il Massimo is open all day and the lunch, brunch, and dinner menus are large with lots of good choices. The restaurant also offers a prix fixe three-course lunch with many choices for $20, which is hard to beat. I’m crazy about the polpo appetizer ($14 lunch/$15 dinner): It’s a cold plate of poached octopus, sliced as thinly as prosciutto, served with raw fennel, oranges, and micro-greens. The luscious fritto misto ($16 lunch/$18 dinner) antipasto is a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus (that eat like scallops), and tiny little headless smelts. The Caesar salad ($10 lunch/$12 dinner) delivers its classic goodness (and is a large plate even when ordered as part of the prix fixe lunch). Fettuccine alla Bolognese ($16 lunch/$23 dinner) has never been my favorite dish, but our friend liked his. The eggplant Parmesan ($12 lunch) has thin delicate slices of eggplant, but never mind that — order the ravioli ripieni di burrata ($16 lunch/$20 dinner)! The large ravioli ooze soft burrata cheese and are covered with a buttery stew of grape tomatoes, toasted garlic, and herbs. The branzino is an equally enticing ($18 lunch/$26 dinner) dish. The whole grilled fish (sans head) is butterflied and served with soft beluga lentils and a pile of perfect cauliflowerettes toasted to a gorgeous medium brown. What a fab new restaurant!

Il Massimo, 400 Legacy Place, Dedham, 781-493-8113, dedham.massimori.com.

Lucky Finn Cafe on Scituate Harbor. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

From the day Mary Ellen Stoddard got the idea to buy the Lucky Finn Café to the day she sealed the deal was exactly three months. That was in June 2017 and since then, Stoddard has expanded to year-round service and added a few menu items, but otherwise hasn’t changed much at this beautiful café on Scituate Harbor.

In fact, the Norwell resident is about to open a second Lucky Finn at the brand new Merchants Row in Hanover. The second café will have more space for cooking and storage than the Scituate location, which is housed in the single downstairs room of a building constructed on stilts over the water. Lucky Finn is among the places with the best views on the South Shore, and maybe the only one where you can take a seat on the water for the price of a cup of coffee.

To pay homage to the original café, Stoddard is installing a large screen at the new Hanover outpost, where she’ll stream a live feed from the video camera she has on the Scituate café’s back deck.

“I think that will be really fun,” said Stoddard. “You can be having a hot drink in Norwell in the winter, and see what’s happening on the harbor.”

THE LOCALE

Housed in a gorgeous cedar shack perched above a small boat pier, the café’s location is outstanding. The interior is a shabby-chic mix of bleached white wood, distressed wood tables, rattan chairs, and big windows with expansive views of the harbor from every seat. Most summer days, the doors and windows are all open so instead of air conditioning, breezes and sea smells fill the place. Snag a stool on the rear deck and watch summer play out across the harbor.

ON THE MENU

I love coffeehouses that serve more than just baked goods, and Lucky Finn does. Of course, it wouldn’t be a café worth mentioning without good coffee, and Stoddard’s got that covered. We’ve had many of Lucky Finn’s espresso drinks and the flavor of the single-origin, mildly roasted beans, from Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. in Lee, Mass., isn’t too dark or too light, but just right. A selection of other drinks is nicely curated, with the freshly squeezed lemonade ($3.75) a standout. (Would that it were served in a glass for sipping by the sea, not plastic!)

The small all-day menu offers a variety of choices, especially for a spot that has no kitchen. There’s something tasty and nourishing for everybody, vegans and the gluten-averse included. Fresh pastries arrive daily from Pain D’Avignon in Hyannis, and there are savory sandwiches, salads, a couple soups, and more.

If you don’t want bread, the power bowl ($8.95) is a deconstructed breakfast sandwich with baked eggs, quinoa, cheddar, and ripe avocado over a bed of greens. Lobster rolls (market rate, $19.50 that day) are a good option for visiting guests who want a piece of New England, and the grilled cheese ($6.95) and the tuna melt ($8.95) both hit the spot.

Each bite of the humble veggie hummus wrap ($6.95) is a surprising burst of fresh goodness in a party of cukes, carrots, spinach, and red onion, but the wraps are small here. Same goes for the BLT and avocado wrap ($7.95) — it’s wonderful but even better if you choose sourdough, as is the very tasty cranberry walnut chicken salad sandwich ($7.95).

Whatever you order, every seat in the house is pure summer.

Lucky Finn Café, 206 Front St., Scituate. 781-378-2932, www.luckyfinncafe.com .

A single Wellfleet oyster at Salt. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Chef Johnny Sheehan has got himself his first restaurant on the Plymouth waterfront. Sheehan, who worked in Boston at Ken Oringer’s Clio and the remarkable but short-lived Liquid Art House, has partnered with co-owner Dan Casinelli and family to open Salt Raw Bar.

Casinelli, a Plymouth native, worked as a restaurant service consultant before opening Leena’s Kitchen across town in 2016. Meanwhile, the award-winning Sheehan, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Cambridge, loved Plymouth when cheffing at the town’s New World Tavern a few years back. Long acquainted, the two men reconnected at the 2018 Nantucket Food & Wine festival and a restaurant was born.

“I was very into working on something together because I know what Johnny’s capable of,” said Casinelli. The partners share a passion for serving guests fine food in the pleasurable environments that high hospitality can create. “We’re really excited to see more and more people sharing dishes and eating like a family.”

THE LOCALE

The owners gave the former Patrizia’s trattoria a facelift before opening in late 2018, but the 120-seat space didn’t need much. The pretty restaurant sprawls up a slight hillside from the street, set among the shops in the meandering Village Landing Marketplace. A beautiful front patio (peruse the outdoor sectional sofa for really comfy dining) overlooks the local scene and the harbor, and a covered side patio, up a little alleyway, offers shelter and extends the outdoor season. Inside, two dining rooms and two bars provide relaxed upscale seating.

ON THE MENU

Sheehan’s canvas is big and the menu he and Casinelli have created can only be called modern American cuisine — it’s full of flavors from all over the world. Sheehan deploys French sauces as easily as he does Asian influences while showcasing favorites featuring spices and preparations from regional America, Mexico, Italy, Peru, North Africa, and more. When developing the menu, the chef relied on good technique and fresh ingredients.

“I reached back to all the interesting flavors I love from across the globe,” said Sheehan.

Both lunch and dinner menus include creative raw fish dishes and a complement of small, large, and (at dinner) family-sized plates. Among the offerings are such diverse dishes as burgers and steak frites, salads, cheese dumplings, fried chicken marinated in Tikka Masala curry, lobster tagliatelle, seared salmon and halibut, and chateaubriand.

The service was just right on two recent visits and the kitchen sent out beautiful plates. Even a single Wellfleet oyster ($3) is given every respect: My friend’s arrived atop an earthenware bowl of ice with a slice of lemon and three sauces, including a deeply flavorful cherry mignonette. The fried cauliflower ($12) is a wonderful plate of tempura-like flowerets, seasoned with the Moroccan spice ras el hanout and scattered raisins and pistachios. The family-sized skillet of seafood fried rice ($34) is a gorgeous light summer dish studded with crab, shrimp, sausage, egg, peas, carrot, scallion, basil, and cilantro drizzled with a Peruvian spice aioli. The lobster roll ($19) is a big sandwich of lightly dressed lobster meat on that classic deliciousness that is a grilled brioche bun. On an overcast day, the Szechuan beef ramen ($17) hits the spot. This bowl of spicy broth is filled with wide slices of beef as velvety as pasta, shitake mushrooms, and noodles. I ate it with a porcelain spoon in one hand and a fork in the other. Yum.

Salt Raw Bar, 170 Water St., Plymouth, 774-283-4660, www.saltrawbarplymouth.com

Coconut shrimp

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Building a restaurant is never simple. After more than two years under construction, Mambo’s Kitchen & Bar at Nantasket Beach has finally opened. That’s a relief for owner-operator Anthony Ghosn, 33, who had hoped to open last summer.

“We had a lot of surprises during construction, down to the smallest thing,” said Ghosn, who has worked in restaurants and/or construction since graduating from Boston College.

Both he and co-owner Rabih Habchy grew up around family restaurants and have each owned various businesses over the last 10 years. Habchy still does (he owns a gas station), and Ghosn is at Mambo’s full time as its chef-owner-operator running the kitchen and overseeing everything else.

A view from Mambo’s rooftop deck

THE LOCALE

The partners snagged themselves a terrific spot at Nantasket Beach just across from the water. The property originally included a bit of undeveloped land and a derelict building on Nantasket Avenue, across from the Red Parrot.

After tearing down the building, the partners shoehorned an entirely new structure into the hillside as snugly as an oven fits into kitchen cabinets. The 40-seat main dining room and bar has a beachy-casual, yet solid, feel with its heavy wooden beams, stone floors, and wood ceiling.

Two large accordion windows span the front of the dining room and open completely so sitting inside is a lot like sitting outside. And for a better view of the ocean, there’s a great 60-seat rooftop patio. Or, there should be by the time you read this: The partners are waiting on a final inspection of the restaurant’s wheelchair lift. In winter, without the rooftop, the restaurant will shrink to a perfect size.

Mambo’s was worth the wait: It’s a great new year-round kitchen and bar as well as a new piece of restaurant real estate for the small seaside town of Hull.

ON THE MENU

On a nice day, it feels real good to sit at Mambo’s and grab a meal. It’s that kind of place. And, the kitchen obliges nicely, offering a dozen or so very good pizzas, creative sandwiches on homemade bread, a sampling of appetizers, big salads, burgers, and more.

The house-baked wraps Ghosn is making for Mambo’s sandwiches are reason enough to go there. They’re a wonderful cross between Syrian bread and pizza dough, but better. I’ve had them with several sandwiches in the past few weeks, and like them more each time, and the fillings, too.

I’d order all of these again: the Mediterranean hummus sandwich ($8); the Bluefin (tuna salad) sandwich ($8); the Greco grilled chicken sandwich ($9.50); and the grilled veggie monster with provolone cheese ($8).

The pizza list is long and they all come in two sizes. A sweet balsamic drizzle atop the Lighthouse pizza ($12/$17) is a delicious surprise; the old-fashioned cheese pizza ($8.50/$12.50) perfectly satisfying; and the Gunrock ($12/$17) the best of the three. It has long strips of sweet and hot peppers, tiny bites of sausage, and fluffy hunks of ricotta cheese.

The calamari ($11) is beautifully done: Served with a homemade remoulade, they’re light and go ever so nicely with the thick and delicious fries ($4) in the salty air. The coconut shrimp ($10) are very coconutty, but done in such a light batter, they find their way to your mouth and melt there. The garden salad ($7) I had one night was a very large bowl of a much-appreciated blend of fresh, crispy romaine, mesclun, and iceberg lettuces. Ordered with the good, grilled chicken add-on ($3), it’s a hit at $10.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Thank goodness for consistent neighborhood restaurants we can count on to have good food when we want a satisfying meal and don’t have time to shop, cook, or go out. I’m partial to family-run places and the Karavasilis family, who own and operate Cohasset’s Olympus Grille, gives families a great name.

Olympus serves the dishes Anastasia Karavasilis grew up eating with her mother and grandmother in Katerini, Greece, and her Boston-born sons, Steven and Jordan, take care of everything else. “We serve family recipes handed down generation to generation, through my mother and grandmother and her grandmother,” said Steven.

One or both brothers has always been at the restaurant when I’ve stopped in on occasion over the last five years to get my go-to faves: the avgolemono soup (it’s chicken and rice with lemon) and the butter beans. Since branching out lately, I’ve discovered how well Olympus does other dishes, too. The brothers always seem to be both efficient and relaxed when taking your order. They also do hospitable things like throw in some terrific tzatziki (they know you want it) and not mention it.

THE LOCALE

This is an everyday eatery: The lights don’t have dimmers. Two sidewalk tables, with red umbrellas, however, ratchet up the desirability factor big time, especially since the restaurant is set back well off the road. If you’re crazy about sitting outside, remember Olympus. The 22-seat spot is one storefront in the stretch of good-looking stores and second-floor residences that constitute Old Colony Square at Cohasset Station on Route 3A. It has eight indoor tables, including two set in nooks next to the front windows. A counter for ordering sits adjacent to a glass cabinet filled with cold sides, and a stainless kitchen extends to the rear where you can sometimes see Anastasia cooking.

ON THE MENU

The tourlou: a rustic baked dish of large hunks of eggplant, carrots, zucchini, onion, potatoes, and garlic in olive oil

Olympus does all the foods you’d expect: wraps, gyros, skewers, fried appetizers, salads, and a different daily entree assigned to each weekday (so if they have stuffed peppers, you know it’s Monday, etc.). The aforementioned meaty and mild butter beans ($4.69) are huge limas somehow baked to deliciousness. For a non-meat meal, they’re wonderful with another hot side, the tourlou ($4.69). It’s a rustic, baked dish of large hunks of eggplant, carrots, zucchini, onion, potatoes, and garlic in olive oil. Entrees are served with your choice of hot sides, all five of which are wonderful, and an iceberg Greek salad (feta, olives, grape tomatoes, red onion) with a dressing I don’t love, but there’s good olive oil and vinegar on the tables. (Iceberg gets a bad rap, but I like it because it holds up well and delivers some crispy rawness to your meal.) We enjoyed the grilled shrimp skewers with rice ($16.69) and ordered the roasted potatoes (quartered, peeled potatoes seasoned with a bit of lemon and olive oil) to go with the good grilled chicken skewers ($15.99). The Karavasilis’s (vegan) grape leaves ($4.59) are lovely bundles of tangy leaves enclosing creamy herbed rice. Friday’s special — the tender baked lamb ($18.59) — is served with home-style green beans in a light tomato sauce and Thursday’s moussaka ($14.99) is to die for: a square serving of the mouth-watering eggplant and ground beef casserole, with béchamel sauce, topped with whipped potatoes. Absolutely try it.

Olympus Grille, 132 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, Cohasset, 781-923-1917, www.olympusgrille.com .

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

The chicken & waffle Benedict includes locally sourced eggs, maple syrup, chives, buttermilk, cheese, and butter. (BRIAN SAMUELS)

IN THE KITCHEN

Evidently, there are 720 ways you can reorder six objects in a row. To my way of thinking, that’s about the same number of ways you can love what people do with food.

Chandra Gouldrup, chef-owner of The Farmer’s Daughter in Easton, inspires that love through her passion for local foods and layers and layers of flavor. Gouldrup, who won WGBH’s 2016 Culinary Stewardship Award, makes the labor-intensive and costly effort to do everything she can to further humane animal husbandry and a sustainable food chain. She buys as many of the restaurant’s foods as possible from area vendors, farmers, and makers.

(JOAN WILDER)

Growing up with a Sicilian mother and a father who’d been raised on a farm, Gouldrup found her way from the backyard garden into the kitchen early in life, and hasn’t strayed. It’s reassuring to see the chef at a place, and on one recent visit she popped out of the kitchen twice, delivering plates to guests.

THE LOCALE

The town of Easton seems to enjoy a low profile (few people I mentioned it to could place it, it’s near Brockton), but Gouldrup is changing that. The Farmer’s Daughter opened in 2013, drawing crowds for breakfast and lunch. In 2017, Gouldrup opened Towneship, for dinner, just up the street in a converted church. The restaurants anchor a main street that is both so quaint and so upscale it might be a Hollywood set.

Inside, The Farmer’s Daughter is country-chic made real by a couple thousand days of packed houses and dishes served. The 52-seat space has wooden floors and tables, a well-outfitted bar, large photos of scenes around town, banquets, and blackboards. On both my visits, there was a line, but people seemed happy to wait in rocking chairs on the sidewalk. And, joy of joys, outdoor tables give guests the option of eating al fresco when the weather is so nice you just can’t consider anything else.

ON THE MENU

Many of the breakfast dishes at The Farmer’s Daughter (breakfast and lunch are served all day) are unique brunch-like specialties. Take the chicken & waffle Benedict ($16.95) (and you should): This dish alone (in early May) had at least six foods Gauldrup sourced nearby: eggs from Raynham’s Feather Brook Farms; maple syrup from Hollis Hills Farm in Fitchburg; chives from Easton’s Langwater Farm; buttermilk from Kate’s Homemade Butter in Maine; cheese from Grafton Village Cheese in Vermont; and butter from Vermont’s Cabot. The result is luscious forkfuls of crispy, brined chicken sauced with spilled yoke and some savory waffle clinging to bits of sweet bacon jam and the rich wetness of hollandaise.

At the same meal, I also ordered a single (crazy good) banana pancake ($7.95), with caramelized bananas and pecans, real maple syrup, and cinnamon honey butter.

Lunch options include bowls, sandwiches, and various sides as good as mains. The Sandwich Formerly Known As “Smoked Steak + Cheese” ($16.95) was a big old thing — enough for two — and so was Tad’s chicken salad ($16.95), which was sided with the treasure of ripe fruit.

The lamb grilled cheese ($16.95) was wildly over-salted, but one of the sides that come with sandwiches — the chickpea and black rice salad — was resolutely delicious and joins several other vegan options on the large, creative menu. The breakfast burrito ($10.95) was a very satisfying workaday meal: a grilled burrito filled with scrambled eggs, cheddar, black beans, hunks of ripe avocado, chewy black quinoa, and sided with local baby greens. You might want to peruse the menus online before your visit: There’s so much beautiful food here.

The Farmer’s Daughter, 122 Main St., North Easton, 508-297-0287,

www.thefarmersdaughtereaston.com.

Passport Sips & Tapas

WHO’S IN CHARGE Passport Sips & Tapas is back. The popular restaurant in Weymouth Landing that shut its doors in 2017 due to construction on the block has reopened with new owners. Eric Orozco, who bartended at the old Passport before it closed, and his wife, Inga, bought the restaurant from its former owner. After undertaking a total renovation, the Orozcos, who live in Holbrook but come from Brooklyn, reopened in November 2018. The couple developed the menu with their chef, Jon Olson, who came to Passport from previous stints at several South Shore spots including Kingston’s lovely Solstice. Eric Orozco is still at the bar, making his great craft cocktails, only now it’s his. “We’re looking to bring a little NYC to the area,” said Inga.

THE LOCALE The 55-seat corner spot has floor-to-ceiling windows that open in the warmer weather, a pretty copper bar, and a laid-back, sophisticated design. A curved ceiling feature unifies the front bar side — with its high-top tables — and the main dining room. One great thing about the aforementioned construction (a 21-unit apartment building behind Passport on Front Street) is that its underground garage will have 16 parking spaces for Passport guests and is due to open soon. On two recent weekday evenings the place was busy. The ongoing redevelopment of the neighborhood includes the Landing 53 development, which has brought 172 apartments to the area.

Grilled salmon

ON THE MENU Passport is a good spot for when you want lots of little plates with enticing flavors to sample and share. There are also several large plates, too, for those who want their own. Originally, you only found tapas in Spanish restaurants but Americans have made them their own, and Passport, as the name implies, is dipping into a range of cuisines. The small menu has about 20 dishes as well as 10 charcuterie and cheese choices you can order singly, or as a plate. The gambas al ajillo ($8) is a tasty dish of many medium sautéed shrimp with a sweet wine garlic flavor. We ate them with plantanos ($5), delicious golden brown fried ovals of plantains sliced on the diagonal and served with an avocado dip (they don’t need). I love the street corn ($9). It comes shucked and nicely seasoned in a cast-iron skillet sprinkled with cotija cheese, cilantro, and a couple bright wedges of lime. The ravioli ($11) are three large mushroom ricotta pasta pockets, served with a mild white butter sauce scattered with mushrooms and a couple of fried sage leaves. The winter salad, priced at only $7, consists of lovely roasted beets with lots of other flavorful bites and textures: toasted hazelnut, candied fennel crumbs, goat cheese, arugula, dried apple. It’s nice with Passport’s hummus ($9), which comes sided with deep-fried pita squares. You don’t go to a tapas place to eat lower-cal, simple roasted, or steamed dishes, but two large plates can get you there. The good seafood ($24) paella is a skillet of mussels, shrimp, clams, octopus, and chorizo in a tomato broth atop a bed of rice. And, the grilled salmon ($22), glazed with honey and soy, is served with a block of jasmine rice, studded with black sesame seeds, and sautéed bok choy. Desserts are made in-house and the churros ($9) are still-warm, light cylinders of fried dough dusted with cinnamon and sugar and sided with real whipped cream (wonderful) and little pots of salted caramel and chocolate sauce. I love them.