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Just as Audubon shot birds to immortalize them in paintings, a reviewer publicizing a place such as Channel Café risks killing part of what makes it extraordinary. This Fort Point enclave is that rarest of rara avises in Boston's dining scene: an undiscovered restaurant of great quality. ... This easygoing establishment has an atmosphere that can't be faked—one that arises from the combination of creativity, charisma, eclecticism and good taste.
-AOL CityGuide-Boston
As you walk down the stairs into the Channel Café, one of the first things you notice is a room filled with paintings, sculptures, and other works of art. The spacious room where the cafe is located has artwork too, and it almost feels like you are in someone's loft rather than a restaurant. The owner and operator of the Channel Café is one of many artists in the Fort Point Channel district, a neighborhood which is a very old, well-established artist colony.
Even if the food were so-so at the Channel Café, coming here would still be a terrific experience. The food, however, is anything but so-so; from the hearty, homemade soups to the delicious hummus to the juicy burgers, the Channel Café has something for everyone.
-Hidden Boston
The veggie burger ($7.50) at the Fort Point Channel Café is less a burger than a mysterious food item that tastes really good. Owner Ana Crowley wanted to serve a unique meatless burger, she says, so the kitchen grinds garbanzo beans and mixes them with whole beans, chopped veggies, and fresh herbs, seasons the mixture with a bit of curry, then spreads it on a sheet pan and bakes it. The so-called burger is wrapped in puffy bread, dressed with raita, and served with a side salad. Crowley says some customers take multiple orders home to store in the freezer; others, she says, can't understand why the burger is neither round, brown, nor served on a bun.
-The Boston Globe
The owner is now Ana Crowley, an artist and sculptor whose work (linked to the Web site of the restaurant) is a lot spikier than the tone of the café. The chef ... picks the very cool, cutting-edge music.
For entrées, I loved the balsamic-glazed pork tenderloin ($15). I mean, we are feeling a little bohemian here, which used to mean that you ignore conventional wisdom and go for what is really good. The pork loin is cut on the bias to make two vertical towers, but with not a lot of glaze, a nice side of garlicky green beans, and whipped mashed potatoes with plenty of butter. This dish is as much diner as bistro, just better than either.
-Boston Phoenix
This café on the ground floor of a refurbished 19th-century warehouse serves three meals daily, bringing Fort Point neighborhood residents and artists together in an inviting, unpretentiously hip space. Owner Ana Crowley, a painter and ceramist, expanded weekday hours into dinner in April, with such offerings as sauteed half-chicken and garlicky sauteed spinach. A meal in this artsy atrium, surrounded on two sides by galleries and on a third with a sea wall of granite boulders, is inspiring. And in November, local artist Jeff Smith installed a new bar fashioned out of reclaimed wood. It rolls on four giant casters. 300 Summer Street, South Boston, 617-426-0695
- Boston Globe Magazine
The Impressionists had Café Guerbois. Hemingway had Les Deux Magots. And Gauguin pretty much had his own island. So why shouldn't the artists of Fort Point Channel have a cushy spot to drum up inspiration (i.e. drink) at?
Now that the Channel Café is open, they can. ... with tables full of neighborhood painters taking breaks over simple but creative dishes like chicken in saffron-sherry jus and salmon with caper aioli, marinated beets, and spiced lentils. Owner/artist Ana Crowley sees to it that dinner price tags stay close to $10.
Because she knows that the term starving artist should never be taken too literally.
-Daily Candy Boston
Just as Audubon shot birds to immortalize them in paintings, a reviewer publicizing a place such as Channel Café risks killing part of what makes it extraordinary. This Fort Point enclave is that rarest of rara avises in Boston's dining scene: an undiscovered restaurant of great quality. ... This easygoing establishment has an atmosphere that can't be faked—one that arises from the combination of creativity, charisma, eclecticism and good taste.
-AOL CityGuide-BostonAs you walk down the stairs into the Channel Café, one of the first things you notice is a room filled with paintings, sculptures, and other works of art. The spacious room where the cafe is located has artwork too, and it almost feels like you are in someone's loft rather than a restaurant. The owner and operator of the Channel Café is one of many artists in the Fort Point Channel district, a neighborhood which is a very old, well-established artist colony.
Even if the food were so-so at the Channel Café, coming here would still be a terrific experience. The food, however, is anything but so-so; from the hearty, homemade soups to the delicious hummus to the juicy burgers, the Channel Café has something for everyone.
-Hidden BostonThe veggie burger ($7.50) at the Fort Point Channel Café is less a burger than a mysterious food item that tastes really good. Owner Ana Crowley wanted to serve a unique meatless burger, she says, so the kitchen grinds garbanzo beans and mixes them with whole beans, chopped veggies, and fresh herbs, seasons the mixture with a bit of curry, then spreads it on a sheet pan and bakes it. The so-called burger is wrapped in puffy bread, dressed with raita, and served with a side salad. Crowley says some customers take multiple orders home to store in the freezer; others, she says, can't understand why the burger is neither round, brown, nor served on a bun.
-The Boston GlobeThe owner is now Ana Crowley, an artist and sculptor whose work (linked to the Web site of the restaurant) is a lot spikier than the tone of the café. The chef ... picks the very cool, cutting-edge music.
For entrées, I loved the balsamic-glazed pork tenderloin ($15). I mean, we are feeling a little bohemian here, which used to mean that you ignore conventional wisdom and go for what is really good. The pork loin is cut on the bias to make two vertical towers, but with not a lot of glaze, a nice side of garlicky green beans, and whipped mashed potatoes with plenty of butter. This dish is as much diner as bistro, just better than either.
-Boston PhoenixThis café on the ground floor of a refurbished 19th-century warehouse serves three meals daily, bringing Fort Point neighborhood residents and artists together in an inviting, unpretentiously hip space. Owner Ana Crowley, a painter and ceramist, expanded weekday hours into dinner in April, with such offerings as sauteed half-chicken and garlicky sauteed spinach. A meal in this artsy atrium, surrounded on two sides by galleries and on a third with a sea wall of granite boulders, is inspiring. And in November, local artist Jeff Smith installed a new bar fashioned out of reclaimed wood. It rolls on four giant casters. 300 Summer Street, South Boston, 617-426-0695
- Boston Globe MagazineThe Impressionists had Café Guerbois. Hemingway had Les Deux Magots. And Gauguin pretty much had his own island. So why shouldn't the artists of Fort Point Channel have a cushy spot to drum up inspiration (i.e. drink) at?
Now that the Channel Café is open, they can. ... with tables full of neighborhood painters taking breaks over simple but creative dishes like chicken in saffron-sherry jus and salmon with caper aioli, marinated beets, and spiced lentils. Owner/artist Ana Crowley sees to it that dinner price tags stay close to $10.
Because she knows that the term starving artist should never be taken too literally.
-Daily Candy Boston