A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I met my friend Melissa here for dinner one night at her suggestion. They have a downstairs dining area with an open kitchen, and a bar area upstairs with high top tables. They do not take reservations but they do call ahead seating. For a weekday night, this place was pretty crowded, and running on a 20 minute wait. Manny was our waiter, he was young and had an easy smile. I started the night off with a Tuscan lemonade ($9) which reminded me a little bit of “bug juice” I used to have at camp. Blech.

I get two half portions so I can taste a little of everything. 1/2 tagliettelle bolognese ($9). Thin house made noodles, rich sauce of beef and veal with shave parmigiano reggiano. The pasta was good but the sauce had a bit too much tomato flavor to it.

1/2 lobster ravioli ($12) Housemade pasta with fresh Maine lobster meat and hand dipped ricotta, cabreo lobster brodo, tear drop tomatoes and caramelized fennel. The lobster  filling inside was excellent as well as the sauce that it came in-quite filling even as a half portion.

Melissa ordered the 1/2 portion of angnolotti ($10) that was rich and flavorful. For dessert we split the creme brulee ($8) which I don’t normally go for, but it was her birthday so she got to choose. It was a vanilla bean creme brulee with chocolate hazelnut biscottis. Quite tasty.

There was a nice ambiance inside, the crowd was a mixed bag-upstairs at the bar area a guy with a ripped wife beater tank top and combat boots while downstairs a preppy family of 5 in khakis and button down shirts. I think that its a great place to get together if you have a large group of friends meeting, the food is good enough and the space allows for you to sit and chat. This was a middle of the pack restaurant for me.

Tuscan Kitchen

67 Main Street

Salem NH 03079

www.tuscan-kitchen.com

Tags: restaurant