Cambridge’s popular Giulia has new sibling seafood spot down the street
Where to Moëca, the seafood sister restaurant to the wildly popular Italian spot, Giulia, both between Porter and Harvard squares, within blocks of each other.
Why Husband-wife owners Michael Pagliarini and Pamela Ralston, who met as gradeschool neighbors in a little town in northeast Pennsylvania called Wyoming, turned Giulia, famous for handmade pasta, into one of the most coveted reservations in the area. What could they do with seafood?
The back story Giulia opened in 2012. Four years later, the duo rolled out Benedetto in the Charles Hotel (the former Rialto space); they lost their lease during the pandemic. Pagliarini and Ralston then opened Moëca in late August with the aim of cooking the freshest fish available from anywhere in the world and changing the menu often. “Small boats, small plates,” reads the website. The last establishment in the Shepard Street space was Luce, and before that Shepard (fabulous with Susie Regis in the kitchen), and way back, for almost 20 years, Chez Henri (oh, I miss those Cubanos!).
What to eat Moëca’s menu is nothing like any other fish restaurant you’ve been in. The ever-changing, very modern dishes are divided into raw items, small plates, and large plates. Raw might include black bass with husk cherries and cucumbers or oysters with tomato granita; smalls might be delicata squash with Thai vinaigrette or Wellfleet clams with pozole verde. Large plates offer meat, or meaty items such as N.Y striped bass chop with tamarind. One night, black cod in aged beef broth with matsutake mushrooms was a light dish with great depth of flavor. Smoked scallop taramasalata with salty chips was a beautiful take on the Greek specialty. A delicious tomato toast with whipped scallop roe arrived on a thick slice of pullman. Small plates were very small; the large plate was not large. Huckleberry gelato panino arrived on its side in a little basket, but first to the table came a steak knife with which to cut it. So this sandwich turned into a bit of a mess by the time we divvied it up. A hazelnut financier, which is a tiny cake baked in a tartlet tin, came dusted with crunchy caramelized nibbles and cheddar.
What to drink The wine list isn’t as focused as the food. A Gold Vibrations cocktail with rum, ginger, and dry Curacao was delicious on an unseasonably warm night and a glass of Ettore Germano “Rosanna” sparkling rosé was a fine sip before the food arrived.
The takeaway The name Moëca is Venetian dialect for a soft-shell crab that is resourceful, explains Pagliarini, which all restaurateurs must be right now. In the new place, tables are nicely spaced with beautiful tableware and glasses, warm, dark woods, a long banquette on one side of the room, booths on the other, an open kitchen at one end. You feel well taken care of.