Phantom Gourmet: Moody's Delicatessen In Waltham
WALTHAM (CBS) -- Moody Street in Waltham has always been a hot spot for great restaurants, but it's never seen heat like this.
"Sautéing spätzle in a 900-degree, wood-fired oven, now that's cooking," says Chef Joshua Smith. "Now that's cooking."
In just a few short years, Chef Smith has created a delicious culinary empire. It began with Moody's Delicatessen, where he ages, cures, and cooks dozens of hand crafted meats, and piles them high in deliciously unforgettable sandwiches.
"It's a carnivore's paradise," he says.
When the space next door to the deli became available, Smith took it over and opened a speakeasy-style spot he simply calls "The Backroom."
"There's no name," he says. "There's no entrance. There's no store front. There's no awning. There's no nothing. It's very untraditional."
But in spite of all that, if you can find your way into this mysterious spot, you'll experience one of the best meals of your life--with house-made charcuterie, hand-made pastas, inventive flatbreads, oven-roasted mussels, slow-smoked meats, and a carefully curated wine list.
"What we strive to do is have a place where you can come and explore different charcuterie, different wines, different steak, different meats, different textures, and just have fun," Smith says.
And you'll experience it all in a gorgeous 30-seat dining room filled with hand-blown lights, concrete tables, custom steel beams, limestone reclaimed from French Abbeys, and a hand-made, copper-domed, wood-burning oven that blazes all night long.
"Whenever you do anything with this oven, whether you're near it, looking at it, or using it, it's just awesome," Smith says. "Absolutely awesome."
And the only thing that burns hotter than the oven is Smith's passion for great food.
"I can't fake it, I can't make it up," he says. "I didn't buy it. It's just like, I wake up every day and I am just fired up. I just love life. You only get one shot at it, it's not a dress rehearsal, right? This is our shot, this is our time. So I give it everything I have."
Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.
