It's a pickleball world. We just eat in it.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
There is something weird about eating while watching people play
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What isn't weird, what makes perfect sense, is this indoor adult playground, come to save the ailing American mall. We can go online and order pickleball paddles, pickleball outfits, diamond-crusted pickleball charm necklaces, and Pickleball Santa ornaments from Neiman Marcus Dot Com, the physical store of which previously occupied the Bosse space. But we cannot order places to gather. On a Friday afternoon in the middle of a snowy New England winter, the
The Bosse Burger — served with fries and topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and special sauce on a sesame seed bun — is a sports lounge specialty.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Every hospitality trend report from the last few years says the same thing: When people go out to eat, they aren't just looking for a meal, they're looking for an experience. And half the reason to play sports as an adult is socializing over drinks and snacks afterward. It makes sense to bring food and games together. (Also in the Natick Mall, Dave & Buster's, Level99, and Puttshack do the same.)
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Bosse features four culinary concepts from Chris Coombs, chef of well-known area restaurants including Deuxave and Boston Chops, and cofounder of this complex with entrepreneur DJ Bosse. There's Bosse Enoteca, an Italian restaurant featuring pasta, pizza, and more. Bosse Cafe brings French pastries, coffee, smoothies, and bowls. The sports lounge offers 'Dinks & Dunks' (this terminology for 'bar snacks' makes sense if you play pickleball), burgers, and more. And if you'd like to enjoy avocado toast or sliders without interrupting the game, there's courtside service for that.
Players Michael and Sandy Staiti, left, share a toast with Bill and Eileen Balicki between games at the Bosse pickleball complex. The "eatertainment" venue offers courtside dining and drinks alongside its 21 pickleball courts in the former Neiman Marcus space in the Natick Mall.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
I show up at the Natick Mall mid-morning to hit up the Bosse Cafe. The pastry case is filled with an impressive selection: sweet and savory croissants, kouign amann and cookies, lemon blueberry muffins and Danish pastries embedded with fruit. I order a Lean Green smoothie with kale, spinach, apple, and banana. I'm going to need some nutrients to get me through a day at the mall. I take a seat at one of the tables, occupied by people meeting for coffee and taking shopping breaks.
After my smoothie, I wander through the Bosse complex. I resist napping in one of the cushy red netted chairs beside a wall that defines pickledom: [pik-uhl-duhm], noun. 'Where play comes in all forms, not just in a 44x20ft rectangle with a net,' it reads in part. 'Where paddles are held, fists bump, elbows rub and glasses clink. Where scores are kept but no one ever really loses.' That's the gestalt here. I contemplate buying a $25 day pass, even though I brought no one to play with and also don't know how. I could use the gym, and take advantage of the hammam and cold plunge. This would be an excuse to purchase one of the tres adorable towels Bosse sells, embroidered with 'apres pickleball' in green script.
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Bosse Cafe serves an impressive array of French pastries, including sweet and savory croissants and fruit-topped Danish pastries.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Instead I order lunch and attend a Zoom meeting. Work distracts me from the Dream Meal Prep bowl I've ordered: brown rice with shredded chicken, roasted sweet potato, charred broccoli, and a spicy vinaigrette. A little distraction might not be the worst thing, as this bowl isn't Bosse's best event. Both rice and chicken are mysteriously crunchy, although the heat from the vinaigrette is nice. I covet the chicken salad sandwich someone at a nearby table is eating, until she glares at me. Time for a postprandial mall walk. I'm a mall walker now, I guess.
Some 18,679,300 steps later, I am deeply bored of teenage drama and retail therapy. I miss fresh air and sunshine, although I imagine the sun has set by now. It's a good thing my friend has arrived to join me for dinner at Bosse Enoteca, the crown jewel of the dining concepts here.
Margherita, pepperoni, and white mushroom pizzas at Bosse Enoteca.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Some of the diners are in workout wear and toting bags of pickleball gear. But most are in their civvies. This is a Bosse restaurant for the rest of us, mallgoers and local residents alike. In the hands of executive chef Alex Lishchynsky and team, the menu could be that of any stylish Italian restaurant, free of pickleball innuendo and filled with ingredients like yuzu, Calabrian chile, and n'duja. 'Nestled inside the vibrant Bosse complex, Bosse Enoteca is a celebration of rustic Italian cuisine reimagined with a modern New England flair,' it reads.
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We start with tuna tartare, in a citrusy pool strewn with precisely cut cucumbers, crowned with herb salad and caper aioli. It's fresh and bright. A burrata salad comes with roasted beets and cress, sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts, seeds, and spices, the earthiness and crunch offsetting the creamy cheese. Pasta is a specialty here, and we order thick, toothsome strands of pappardelle in wild boar ragu, sprinkled with mint and shaved pecorino.
Cod with fettuccine, clams, kale, and leek and spinach soubise at Bosse Enoteca.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
It's overkill to order pizza, but pizza we must. It's really good, charred on the bottom and edges, the crust striking a balance between chewy and airy. Ours is topped with pepperoni, drizzled in honey, for that sweet-salty contrast. For dessert, baked Alaska is a solid effort, with amaretto cake wrapped around strawberry, vanilla, and pistachio gelati like a giant dessert sushi roll, its meringue exterior prettily ridged and torched. It's so cold from the icebox, though, we can barely taste the gelato. And The Bosse, a tequila cocktail with pineapple and lime Campari, mostly tastes like slightly bitter juice. Pickle world problems!
For a restaurant inside a pickleball complex inside the Natick Mall, Bosse Enoteca hits a dink in the kitchen. That's a pickleball pun. If you know, you know, and I definitely do not know. But I'll still be back to try the squash agnolotti or gnocchi with short rib, maybe the cod with fettuccine vongole or a steak, and most definitely the spicy lobster pizza with vodka sauce.
Bosse, Natick Mall, 310 Speen St., Natick, 617-609-1800,
.
Bosse Cafe:
7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Pastries and breakfast items $3-$13, sandwiches and bowls $11-$15, smoothies $10-$11.
Bosse Enoteca:
lunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, dinner Sun-Thu 4-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 4-11 p.m. Appetizers $14-$23, entrees $22-$69, pizza $19-$39, desserts $15, cocktails $15.
Bosse Sports Lounge:
Sun-Thu 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Appetizers $9-$17, pizza $19-$23, entrees $17-$36, desserts $9-$12.
Courtside service:
11 a.m.-midnight daily. Appetizers $9-$17, sandwiches $14-$21, pizza $19-$28.
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Patrons socialize at the bar overlooking pickleball courts at the Bosse Sports Lounge in the Natick Mall.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
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