Dinner like a catered event

Endive, which began catering operations in 2003, recently added restaurant service three nights a week. You’ll find this new neighborhood hangout, Endive Publik House, nestled in the Loring Heights area, just a stone’s throw from Atlantic Station in Midtown.

Endive has taken on the challenge of bridging the chasm between catering and restaurant dining, but it is still straddling the two worlds. Servers and bartenders are working to make the jump, and the reasonably priced menu reads like a greatest hits list from catering proposals, many of the dishes inspired by catering client favorites.

Items like the well-seared beef tenderloin with a carefully positioned nest of crisped sweet potato strips come highly styled, consistent with photogenic, event-worthy fare. It’s very good — by catering standards, where the food is but one aspect of a larger experience.