Braintree Business of the Week: Sintra Restaurant

Americans have always been big fans of food and the country has benefited from encouraging a cultural melting pot. Here on the South Shore, the dedicated lover of cuisine can find almost anything that their palate desires. 

Freedom of choice is part of the American Dream and at on Washington Street, chef Brian Jenkins is producing dishes that have a familiar feel but with a European influence. 

This week, Patch sat down with Brian to talk clams, real paella, and the lure of the Mediterranean.

Where are you from?

I’m from Plymouth. When we opened the restaurant nine years ago, I was living in Weymouth but we are now back in Plymouth… it’s a bit of a commute!

Why did you decide to open Sintra in Braintree? 

As I say, I was living in Weymouth at the time and was looking at local spaces. This one was available and I saw that there were some successful businesses in the area, there were hair salons, etc. that is always good for clientele. It was one of those things; the real-estate agent brought me here and one thing led to another…

Did you have to do a lot of work to the property?

We originally had a rear entrance with the hostess at the back. There was a kitchen and we could seat 40. For five years, that’s how we were. Then we expanded to include the bar and then two years ago we added a final piece. We have expanded the original space twice.

How would you describe the cuisine at Sintra?

It’s influenced by the Mediterranean. Sintra is a city in Portugal where my wife honeymooned and so we’ve got a little Portuguese and Spanish on the menu. I now like to call it creative American with Mediterranean influences because the bottom line is that it is good old classic American favorites… with a twist. For example, in our clams’ casino, we use a homemade chorizo crumb instead of bacon and we put that on the top. It is the idea of the casino but giving it that twist. We still have a great New York sirloin that is very American because on a Saturday, that is what the guys like to eat. We have expanded the scope of the menu to have more favorite things for our customers.

During the week when we have more business groups coming through, people are more experimental but on the weekend they want safe and they want comfort. They want to know that it will be hot and the same every time. That is our mantra… keep it consistent. 

Comfort food is very popular in culinary circles. Why do you think that is?

I guess that I look at it from a business point of view. If you want to succeed with all the competition that there is, which are (let’s face it) mainly chain restaurants, you have to do that food well first. Once you have established yourself and you have a good reputation, you can look at doing some other things that might appeal to a more niche market. If you’re smart, you’ve got to do things that are home runs every time. For that you have to stick with what works. 

Did you always want to be a chef? 

I think so. I’ve been in this business for over 20 years and I started as a dishwasher. It’s what I’ve always known and I do love to still do things in the kitchen but I like to be visible at the front of the house as well. I like being a restaurateur, I don’t do as much of the prep work as I used to when it was just me up until 5 p.m. but it’s still exciting. It’s been 9 years and I still feel like it’s new…it’s scary and a roller coaster! We have a consistent, established business but it has been an evolving process.

Do you use locally-sourced produce?

We try to do that. It is a big thing these days, especially when you come into spring and the change of season. It’s a good time to work some of that stuff into the menu. We have Duxbury oysters, people bring in local cheeses and local produce. With the way that the economy has gone in the last few years, it has been a good time for people to invest in themselves and what they love to do. You meet people who were in the business world and they went back to doing something that they love… making cheese or some farming, something that was always a passion.

What makes Braintree special for your business?

It’s the best of both worlds. You have the small town community feel with local regulars that come here. We have families from that come through and bring us new people every year so that is a great resource. You also have a lot of commercial business here…I wish I could tell you that I had that in mind when I opened here but I didn’t! That was a happy surprise.

Braintree is conveniently placed next to the highway, which helps, especially when it comes to locally situated corporations. We can have a bus pull up and 20 guys that are travelling from all over the world for a company can come in, have some drinks, eat and then take off. It’s been huge... If you open a Dunkin' Donuts brand in California, you train in Braintree and you have to go through their university to learn how to do things. We’ve developed relationships with these people and we are now at the stage where we can accommodate larger parties.

How has the business changed since you opened?

It’s changed a lot. We started out with my wife as the hostess and me in the kitchen. Everyone had to sit at their table, it was beer and wine only with a more specialized menu keeping the Portuguese/Spanish theme. At one point, our wine list was 100 percent Portuguese and Spanish wine… that company rep loved me! We did that for a year and we got a good response because we were different. But we had to become more customer friendly and we tried to nail all the different questions that we got. We used to get asked if we had a bar, now we do. Do we have a full liquor license? Yes, we’ve had one for two years. Can you accommodate a small private party? We couldn’t at the start, now we can. That’s a long way of saying that we worked on narrowing down the things that we used to say No to.

We needed to expand and maybe we weren’t ready but we jumped on it…i t was luck but it was what the customer wanted and it told me that we needed it. It happened and now we are at the point where when customers ask us questions, there isn’t really anything that we have to say no to… finally.

What advice would you give to anybody looking to start a business in Braintree? 

The key to the success of Sintra has been finding balance. You have to be really good at something and you have to give people a reason to come. In some ways, you have to be all things to all people, you can’t paint yourself into a corner and say this is the only thing that I do and if you don’t like it…

You have to try to listen to your customers and take into consideration what the area needs. I felt that there were so many choices for someone to come to Braintree with kids or the amount of sports bars but there weren’t many choices for the “couple” that had babies and wanted to have a date night with a nice bottle of wine and their own company. Then at the weekend, people can come in and have pizza with their friends… it’s all about offering the right options for the area.

What is the tagline for Sintra?

(Smiles) Creative American Classics… with a Mediterranean Influence.