Tanám is a tour de force! A worker owned trio of dynamic women run the only restaurant in Boston showcasing the food of the Philippines. An exploration of cuisine & cocktails from an infrequently encountered corner of the world, is nestled into Bow Market; a 1920’s former carport in Sommerville. Yet, the restaurant is so much more than a typical eatery.

Kyisha Davenport, Sāsha Coleman, and Ellie Tiglao formed a culinary collective “dedicated to sustainable sourcing, workplace fairness and the celebration of food as culture.” Educating diners about Filipinx and Black American cuisine, they serve what might be referred to as narrative cuisine. With the dishes, and verbally, they tell the story of the origin of the food, the marginalized people who harvested it, the various colonizers, and more recent people who misappropriated it. Politically aware and socially responsible, they admirably reclaim Tiki culture through successfully creating an Afro-Tiki experience.

Maestro Ellie Tiglao and culinary wizard Sāsha Coleman collaborate to introduce an array of food that is beyond tasty, with wonderful texture, succulence and beauty evocative of Southeast Asia or the South Pacific. Tropical flavors of coconut milk, pineapple, mango and papaya are married with pork, sticky rice, shrimp paste and fish sauce. Sweet and delicate baby milkfish, ubiquitous in the Philippines is marinated and pan fried. And, if particularly lucky, you may try peanutty kare-kare stew with oxtail and eggplant.

Covid has temporarily changed service style, which is usually organized around a single, long, white, communal table for ten. For $70 dollars, two nights a week features grand platters teaming with lobsters, and up to 19 dishes of all manner of delicacies meant to eat with your hands “Kamayan Style”. All set on on palm leaves.

Weekends feature “Storytelling Dinners”, and an even more involved extensive tasting menu for $90. And every night at 10pm, and all night on Thursdays, Tanám servs unparalleled cocktails and light but delicious fare.

The unique Tanám cocktail program is an experience unto itself. Like the chefs with their food, Kyisha Davenport is an extraordinaire storyteller; a sort or Bob Dylan who’s traded in a harmonica and acoustic guitar for a backbar & shaker.

Her inspiration being those marginalized by the Afro American experience, along with Spanish/Indian/Asian flavors that inform Philippian culture, and Tiki chic. ‘Resy’ appropriately describes a segment of Kyisha’s creations, stating that the infusions are… “part of a new cocktail guard symbolically reimagining tiki’s problematic past in the hopes of pushing it forward for the future.”.

Libations are woven like beautiful tapestries with ingredients like yam-infused genever, coconut wine, and roasted pineapple. And the restaurant respects those who want to experience her creations, but are not drinking, mixing thoughtful mocktails.

Davenport’s a 2019 inductee in the United States Bartender’s Guild and Bluecoat’s Sons & Daughters of Independence Leadership Program. Additionally, both Tiglao and Davenport are featured in “How to Smash Garlic and the Patriarchy,” a book celebrating women in the local food and beverage scene.

The women also collaborate with local artists & artisans in the spirit of community, and to bring guest together over food, in unique and engaging ways.

Coleman and Davenport are also creating an aromatic-driven menu, focused on the African – American Diaspora.

One of my favorite aspects of Tanám’s identity is the trio’s social conscience, which is laudable and undeniable. One example was evident in a modest fundraising campaign which featured the cocktail ‘Give Her Flowers’, a bright amalgam of vodka, peach, jackfruit, absinthe, and soda, created in honor of Rita Hester, a Black woman whose 1998 unsolved murder in Allston sparked the first annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, Tanám donated the drink’s proceeds to initiatives and organizations that directly benefit Black transgender women.

Even during Covid, you can experience the cuisine & libations, while also supporting such a community minded restaurant. Visit the website, and follow-on Instagram, to see the many ways these dynamic women are sharing their passion!



RECENT WELL-DESERVED AWARDS

*Concept of the Year – The Boston Globe
*Best Up-and-Coming Chef 2019 – Boston Magazine
*Best New Restaurant – James Beard Award Semifinalist
*Restaurant of the Year 2019 (Boston) – Eater