Chris Schlesinger

The Path

Training at Northeastern University and The Culinary Institute of America gave Chris Schlesinger a formal base before he moved into restaurant kitchens and ownership. His first chef role at Sakonnet Golf Club in Rhode Island established the practical side of the work, where technique and pace had to hold together service after service. He then became chef and restaurateur at East Coast Grill in Inman Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1986–2012), a long run that anchored his standing in Cambridge and defined much of his public identity. At East Coast Grill, the dining room matched the food: energetic, open, and built for the kind of cooking that starts conversations. Schlesinger’s approach there stayed close to the foods that shaped him—barbecue, spice, and live fire—but extended them into a broader restaurant language. Alongside that work, he took on co-owner roles at Jake and Earl's Dixie BBQ in Cambridge and Waltham, Massachusetts (from 1989) and The Blue Room in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1990–2011), adding different formats to a practice grounded in the same core instincts. He later added co-owner at The Automatic in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2016–2020) to that portfolio, then continued at Back Eddy, where he has been co-owner since 1999. The through line across those rooms is consistency of method rather than repetition of format: fire, seasoning, and a clear preference for food that arrives with intent.

The Work Today

The current style still tracks back to Virginia: bright, internationally inspired, wood-fired cooking built from barbecue, spicy food, and live fire. The work leans on immediacy and force of flavor, with smoke and seasoning doing the heavy lifting. What gives it range is not a decorative vocabulary but a broader application of the same principles, so the food reads as direct and energetic without losing structure. Fire remains the base technique, not the flourish.

Signature

Chris's signature dishes include Inner Beauty.

In Their Words “I wanted to keep all of the old parts of the East Coast Grill -- the friendliness and casual nature -- but make the space larger.” “I just felt like I wanted to get back to the kitchen and cooking.”