Maude & the Bear merits a road trip to the Shenandoah Valley

His latest establishment, which began life as a Montgomery Ward home kit a century ago, took longer to name and sounds like a password to a family WiFi account. The newcomer, introduced in April and also in Staunton, borrows the middle name of Boden’s daughter, Lila, and the nickname for his son, Lucian, which features in a term of endearment for their mother. Co-owner Leslie Boden answers to “Mama Bear.”

Throw in the couple’s fascination with Aesop’s fables and you get Maude & the Bear, a brand that applies to the intimate, light-filled restaurant as well as three upscale guest suites.

Catch all that? You should. Staunton makes a memorable road trip for Washingtonians, and Maude & the Bear joins the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse and hiking that takes in forests and waterfalls as compelling reasons to spend time in the area.

Bucking the trend of a lot of chefs who follow high-end acts with casual spots, Boden did the opposite. Maude & the Bear frees him from the restrictions, including a tiny kitchen, of before.

There are multiple ways to explore the restaurant. Eager to welcome the hometown crowd, the chef offers a small bar menu served in the tiny lounge along with a four-course list priced at $90. Hoping to attract food lovers from in and around Washington, Boden created a seven-course script for $140 and a more exclusive kitchen table experience (for two to six) for $250.

A companion and I opted for four courses on a visit in August and were delighted when two glasses of sparking wine landed on the table. “Happy anniversary?” our server toasted us. We were surprised by the gesture until I remembered that I filled out a form noting a special occasion when I booked Maude & the Bear. (Lots of restaurants ask, but not all deliver, when customers are invited to share their reason for coming out.)

One reason I go low when other diners go high on tasting menus is because I know most chefs pad the meals with little extras. Sure enough, dinner commenced with an amuse-bouche gathering a trio of welcomes. Summer was toasted with a punch of watermelon and chiles, steak tartare got name-checked in a dab of diced raw beef sealed in a nasturtium leaf, and a doll-size tart revealed layers of buttermilk ricotta, haricot verts and glinting roe.

The setting places wood tables on carpeted tile floors and displays mostly local art for sale on the walls, possibly raising the price for a night out. Boden, 46, says the original building parts arrived 100 years ago by train and the buyers of the home kit were given 24 hours to unload them. “At least that’s what I heard,” he says. “It makes a good story.”

The chef’s food tends to focus on good ingredients left to speak for themselves. Bluefin tuna and fresh peaches, anyone? Boden demonstrates the affinity the fish and the fruit have for one another in a first course, featuring fish he ages on-site for up to a week “for the same reason you dry-age beef,” says the chef. The process, an old one that’s newly fashionable, intensifies the flavor and texture of the tuna. Roasted Iberico pork floods the mouth with the bold flavor of the richly marbled meat. Bright fried butter beans add color and texture to a plate that is also green with crisp charred okra that even okra haters may fall for. What looks like a dollop of hummus turns out to be pureed butter beans, subtly seasoned with lemon and garlic. Trailing the collar meat is a side dish of heirloom tomatoes tossed with basil and a sour corn vinaigrette, its tang from fermented corn, that makes you wish summer lasted forever.

The lesser course is a celebration of summer, too: scrolls of squash and halved sungold tomatoes rising from a pale yellow base of pureed squash and brown butter. The styling gets an A. I like everything about the plate but the whipped spread, which is blandly slick.

Cornbread goes for $12, a price that takes into account heirloom, stone-milled cornmeal from Farm & Sparrow in North Carolina and sorghum butter that doesn’t last long once it hits the hot-from-the-wood-oven pleasure. Any dinner can be augmented with a special. Sea urchin from Santa Barbara was offered my visit. The shell of the delicacy was used as a bowl for the expected ocean-flavored uni plus a delicious congee made with Carolina gold rice and pickled shiitakes.

A warm nectarine, robed in muscadine caramel, came with chanterelle ice cream. “It’s a little woodsy,” a server says as she introduced the cool scoop next to the fruit, its gloss courtesy of squeezed grapes native to the southeastern United States. A lovely crumble of hazelnuts and fig leaf supported the conclusion. As in a lot of fancy restaurants, little pâte de fruits brought the meal to a close.

Next trip, I’m inclined to go during the week and order a Thursday-only hamburger. The $22 sandwich, whose patty varies from week to week, is another way for Boden to attract neighbors. (Wagyu and pork with pimento cheese have both had turns between buns.) The kitchen makes fewer than 10 a night; the drill is first come, first down the hatch.

This is all a big tease, by the way. Boden changes half his menu every week. “It keeps me motivated,” the chef says, sounding like a certain chef on, wouldn’t you know, “The Bear.” Since the pandemic, Boden says awards no longer interest him and he’s prioritizing “a semblance of life” — well, that and “happy butts in seats.” Still, the meal I’ve just shared suggests good things to come for future diners, myself included.

Maude & the Bear

1106 N. Augusta St., Staunton, Va. 540-688-1660. maudeandthebear.com. Open for dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday with two seatings between 5 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Sunday brunch 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The kitchen table, for two to six diners, is seated between 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Prices: Four courses $90, seven courses $140, kitchen table tasting menu $250, three-course brunch $55. Sound check: 76 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: A ramp on the side of the restaurant makes entry easy for wheelchair users; one restroom is ADA-compliant.