A very hip New Yorker I know recently found himself in Canton with a few hours to kill between appointments. As he approached the Can Company, he saw three reasons to stop: food, pool tables and books.
Kiss Cafe and Book Market are the newest incarnations of what used to be Donna's restaurant and Bibelot bookstore. Both have a ways to go in fully replacing their predecessors, but better that they fill the cavernous spaces than offices or something else equally dull.
The cafe's owner, Victor Ganderson, wants his place to be anything but boring. He started with a catchy name, which is both a pool term (one ball "kisses," or touches off, another ball on the table) and an acronym for "keep it simple, stupid." Next, he brought in five pool tables - not your typical restaurant appendage. In July, he hopes to have a liquor license and to add tapas to the menu. Right now, he's working on wiring the place for high-speed Internet access and bringing in live music.
Food-wise, there's potential. The pale-yellow cream sauce coating the scallops and shrimp in the lemon-curry seafood salad was a perfectly balanced blend of citrus and spice. Diced spring onions sprinkled on top added contrast to the entree. For the chicken-and-roasted-eggplant soup - a special - we needed a fork to handle the mound of chicken (all white meat, thank goodness). We also made good use of the spoon to get every last drop of pungent broth.
A grilled turkey burger spread with chunky cranberry mayonnaise was an excellent alternative to beef and came with a very fresh small field-green salad.
Among our desserts, we loved the unusually gingery tiramisu that Kiss gets from an outside vendor; chocolate ladyfingers soaked in rum were another nice twist on the classic dessert. A dense, moist cheesecake topped with a glistening swirl of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries was also a crowd-pleaser.
On the negative side, an impressive-looking and large wedge of vegetable quiche included a handful only of peas and carrots. A Belgian waffle with apple-smoked bacon was properly prepared but not especially tasty. Two of the five layers of a gorgeous chocolate cake were dry as bones, while the remaining three were properly moist and fudgy. (Moral here is never order the last slice of anything in a dessert case.)
Kiss gets high marks for polite, enthusiastic service and for its sleek industrial atmosphere. Hanging out is encouraged, either at the bar, in the restaurant or at one of the tables set up outside.
There are a number of books stacked on a mantel for anyone unable to find anything among the heaps of tomes haphazardly arrayed in Book Market. And, of course, there are the pool tables. They're in the loft above the bar.
As my New York friend said, "I could be fine here for a while."
Kiss Cafe
Where: 2400 Boston St.
Open: For breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
Prices: Appetizers $3.50 to $4.95; entrees $5.95 to $8.50
Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V
Call: 410-327-9889
Food: ** 1/2
Service: ***
Atmosphere: ***