Details on Steel & Rye, Chris Parsons' Forthcoming Milton Restaurant

Image courtesy of Steel & Rye

We all mourned the closing of Parsons Table in Winchester last fall, and now, nearly exactly a year later, Chris Parsons is finally ready to announce his next move: Steel & Rye, a 145-seat restaurant in Milton that’s coming by mid-October (as for that downtown Catch location we promised last September? We have a feeling that won’t be arriving for a very long time.)

According to Parsons, the new concept is inspired by the history of the Milton space, which housed the country’s first grist mill back in the 1600s. As for the food?  “It will have influences from multiple American cultures, but be based on strong sensible combinations,” the chef says. 

While Catch was all about seafood and Parsons Table was all about straight-from-the-farm ingredients, Steel & Rye will be a bit of an amalgam of the two: a “shells” section of the menu will offer all things shellfish (like a dish of seared scallops with short rib ravioli, celery root, soy beans, and yellow curry), while all the food will have a local, regional focus. Other sections of the menu include “snacks” (salt cod croquettes, Swiss Tête de Moine—or Monk’s Head—cheese with accompaniments) and “from the grist mill” (gnocchi, pastas, polentas, and other grain-based plates). Also expect more sizable apps like sausage-stuffed roast quail.

Booze-wise, the cocktail list is still in the works, but Parsons promises an emphasis on brown spirits, hence the “Rye” in “Steel & Rye.” The “steel” component comes from the original architecture of the space, which is loaded with exposed steel beams. As we learn more, we’ll keep you in the loop.

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