New chefs at Maven keep the party going

When Maven opened in 2011, it was a pioneer in successfully linking cocktails and food.

It’s weathered the competition well and has largely stayed on point with its menu, cocktails and dining room, where plants seem to grow out of the concrete wall above the bar, and communal tables cut from fallen redwood trees line up in the dining room. There’s more seating around the bar and on the mezzanine, where a row of diners looks down on the action below. Throughout, a lounge-like atmosphere prevails.

Jay Bordeleau, the brains behind the operation, spread out to open Cadence in 2016, which closed after six months; his adjoining Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio, which offers live jazz nightly, is still in business.

A few months ago, longtime chef-partner Isaac Miller left day-to-day operations at Maven and was replaced by Jeremy Browand and Freddy Pacheco.

I’m always happy to go to Maven, which feels like a party, and with its new kitchen duo, it continues to give off good vibes. They have refocused the menu a bit, offering more large plates. Formerly all the dishes were matched with cocktails; now the food stands alone and just five dishes are suggested with specific cocktails.

Still, the food offers some unexpected combinations. The blistered romano beans ($10), cooked to the justtender stage, are coated in Dijon vinaigrette and slices of fried garlic. Then there’s herb-infused shrimp ($16) with shishito peppers on corn puree, with irregularly shaped tomato crackers tucked in between. Each item was properly cooked, but it was hard to find a thread that brought them all together. (Many of these dishes still pair nicely with the well-made cocktails.)

The main courses are also substantial: an excellent seared halibut topped with tapenade and placed over a cool gazpacho with chunks of creamy-cooked eggplant and cool cubes of tomatoes; and cavatelli ($21) napped in a tomato cream with pureed parsley, chunks of summer squash and Parmesan cheese.

And for dessert, the blueberry crumble ($9) seems to be filled with about a pint of fruit. It made for a pleasant ending to a very good dinner.