Beat the Blues With Beer and Chocolate

Getting out and about is the best way we know to fight the mid-winter blues, and some great events are coming up that are worth leaving the house for. First up is a craft beer celebration at Salem’s Vic’s Boathouse at Victoria Station. It’s on Thursday, January 25 from 6:30 to 8:30. For $20, you can sip craft creations from some of the best Massachusetts breweries, sample food from a buffet of classic New England fare, and listen to music put on by Open Mic host Nick Consone. The featured brews include Cambridge Brewing Co. Audacity, Wandering Star Berkshire Hills 01201 Saison, Cisco Brewery Blonde Lady, Fishermans Ale, Cody Brewing Honey Ginger Ale, Mayflower IPA, Notch Cerne Pivo, Pretty Things Baby Tree, and Berkshire Brewing Steel Rail Extra Pail Ale.

Next up is ice cream for breakfast from 8:00am to 12:00pm on Saturday February 4, at Cherry Farm Creamery in Danvers. Half of the proceeds will go to support the HAWC organization. Cherry Farm will open early for the occasion and serve a special “breakfast menu” that includes waffle sundaes, Pop-Tart sundaes, Coffee & Donuts ice cream (coffee ice cream with chocolate-glazed donuts mixed in), Maple Bacon ice cream (maple-flavored ice cream with bits of bacon) and Banana Grape-Nut ice cream. There will be assorted cereals for toppings, as well as banana crunch bars and warm maple syrup and blueberry toppings. Details are on Cherry Farm’s Facebook page under events or call the store at (978) 774-0519.

Last, but not least, is Salem’s 10th Annual Chocolate & Wine Tasting on Friday, February 10 from 6:30 to 8:30 at Hamilton Hall. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance from the Salem Chamber of Commerce. This event sold out last year, so don’t wait to buy tickets if you’d like to go.

Participating restaurants include 62 Restaurant and Wine Bar, Adriatic Restaurant & Bar, Ben & Jerry’s, Busa Wine and Spirits, Green Land Café, Gulu-Gulu Café, Sweet Adeline’s, Victoria Station, and Ye Olde Pepper Co. The event kicks of the Salem So Sweet Festival, which includes ice sculptures on February 11 and 12 and special Valentine’s Day shopping deals February 10 to 14.

Pleasing a Crowd at Gloucester’s Latitude 43

We had a diverse group last weekend, with some craving sushi and others leaning toward fried food. Luckily, we thought of Gloucester’s Latitude 43, which perfectly filled the bill. Overall, we had a terrific meal with a welcoming atmosphere, attentive service, and the freshest of seafood.

There were a couple of missteps, including the mussels appetizer ($12), which we found quite bland. Go for the calamari instead; we had them Asian style and quickly finished the generous, crispy portion ($9). The bacon clam chowder was also outstanding: thick and smoky with a perfect amount of clams ($6). With our appetizers we sampled one of the bar’s specialties, an apple old fashioned that was tart and refreshing ($9).

The restaurant’s sushi menu features a huge selection of specialty rolls, and several of us chose these over an entrée. The dragon roll, with shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, and fresh water eel, was an unbeatable combination of textures ($15), and the titanic roll was also well received (spicy tuna, salmon, yellow tail, albacore tuna, escolar, and shishito peppers, $16). The Lat 43 roll was good but didn’t hit the heights of the others (tempura tuna, wasabi goat cheese, avocado, enoki mushrooms, tobiko, and mango wrapped with daikon radish, $18). We also sampled the maguru nigiri (tuna), which was meltingly tender and delicious ($7).

The fish and chips entrée was perfectly cooked and seasoned, with crisp, salty fries and a sweetened tartar sauce that was addictive ($18). The corn and lobster tortelloni was not as successful. The lobster was succulent and plentiful, but the pasta was slightly undercooked, and the filling had an unpleasant mealy texture ($21).

It’s hard to go wrong with a flourless chocolate cake, and this one did not disappoint, with vanilla ice cream, a caramel crunch, and plenty of oozy chocolate to go around ($6).

Whether you’re craving fried food, sushi, a warm bowl of chowder, or just need to please a crowd, Latitude 43 is a great choice.

Latitude 43
25 Rogers St, Gloucester
(978) 281-0223
http://latfortythree.com

Hidden Gem: White Dove Serves Up Affordable, Delicious Middle Eastern Fare

A convenience store in Salem that serves a range of fresh Middle Eastern food? It sounded strange, but so many people raved about it, we were more than intrigued. Located a half-block from the main Salem State campus, the White Dove appears to be an ordinary corner store, but the food we sampled was far from the typical deli fare.

We ordered the chicken kabob, falafel, shawarma, and kafta kabob sandwiches. Each came rolled in extremely fresh, soft pita and would easily feed two people. The falafel was tender and flavorful; the chicken was fine but not outstanding. The shawarma (thin slices of marinated beef cooked on a rotisserie) was marvelous, with a lemony tahini sauce. The kafta was equally good: small charred meatballs of beef and lamb highly flavored with herbs, spices, and onion.

We bookended our sandwiches with some baba ghanoush and a piece of baklava. Both were fresher than we’ve had elsewhere and made with care. The baba ghanoush was a creamy smoky revelation. We don’t have individual prices for the items (and they’re not on the website), but our entire meal cost $32 and constituted enough food for eight people—although you’d probably want to add one more piece of baklava to avoid any dessert disputes.

White Dove
59 Loring Ave, Salem
(978) 744-3143
www.salemmadining.com/restaurants/menus/whitedove.html

North Shore Holiday Happenings

There are a slew of culinary-related holiday events in the next few weeks, so let’s dive right in.

First up is the Holiday Local Market from 11:00 to 5:00 on Saturday. It’s in Boston but includes North Shore vendors Lark Fine Foods, Chococoa, and Blue Egg Baking Company. Go here for more information and to RSVP.

On Tuesday the 13th at 5:00, Victoria’s Station is hosting the 18th annual Salem Children’s Charity event. All proceeds from the event (which includes food, celebrities, auctions, and surprise guests) go to the less fortunate school children of Salem. $15 cover charge per person.

Rockport’s Christmas Pageant is taking place on Saturday the 17th, and the Emerson Inn is offering a three-course prime rib dinner from 5:00 to close for $33. They are donating 10% of the sales from this event to the Rockport Christmas Tree Committee. The are also offering a five-course New Year’s Eve dinner for $75 per person with selections like rack of lamb and shrimp florentine.

Also on the 17th, you can make your own gingerbread house at Smolak Farms in North Andover. The event is from 10:00 to 12:00 and costs $40. Call (978) 682-6332 to reserve a spot.

The Hawthorne Hotel is holding a number of holiday events, including a Teddy Bear Tea on the 17th, Brunch with Santa on the 11th and the 18th, as well as Christmas Eve dinner and a Christmas Day buffet brunch. Some friends of ours celebrated Thanksgiving at the hotel and raved about it. Check their events page for details.

Finally, the folks at Enzo in Newburyport are offering a traditional feast of the seven fishes on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th. The menu includes house-smoked bluefish pate, lasagna with anchovy (a traditional Piemontese Christmas Eve pasta), broiled clams and mussels, and much more for $50 per person. Enzo is also planning a New Year’s Eve dinner where diners can select from one of four offerings for each course. Personally, we’re interested in the duck conserva raviolo with egg yolk, duck sugo, and crisp leeks and the crema fritta with chocolate sauce and gianduja gelato. The cost is $65 per person, and wine pairings will be available.

One final note—we’d like to congratulate Lynn’s Blue Ox for being named one of the top 100 American fare restaurants in the US by OpenTable. Fantastic news!

I Pazzi: We Wanted to Love You, But We Just Couldn’t

A series of service missteps and kitchen issues added up to a very disappointing meal last weekend at I Pazzi in Danvers. We had heard good things about their authentic Italian food, but we had serious issues with flavor, among other things.

The menu looked very interesting, with traditional Italian fare mixed with the somewhat more exotic, including pasta with pheasant or wild boar meat sauce. We ordered a bottle of chianti, and our bread plates were filled with an artistic blend of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes.

But as we waited for our appetizers, which took more than 30 minutes to appear, we also waited for bread to dip into the oil. After we reminded the waitress, she brought warm rolls in the style of scali bread. A nice touch, although not appreciated by those in our party who dislike sesame seeds. Our appetizers were just okay, a very small timballo of eggplant that needed more flavor or at least texture ($8), and clams and mussels with a nice sauce for dipping the bread ($10).

With the exception of the osso buco ($29), which was tender and had good flavor, there were issues with all of our dishes. The beef filet was tender and cooked properly, but the peppercorn/cognac sauce was bland ($30), as was the garganelli with pheasant ($25). The salmon filet was wildly oversalted on top, although the rest of the filet was tender and quite good ($22). The thin slice of polenta underneath the salmon had no flavor at all. The asparagus on several plates, along a side dish of spinach, was delicious.

The menu description of the filet did not mentioned any accompaniments, so we asked and were told it came with asparagus and potatoes. But when the plate arrived, there were no potatoes; they were also missing from the veal shank plate, and no explanation was given. When we asked, we were told they had run out of potatoes, with no offer of a substitution. A couple of minutes later, the waitress returned and offered us polenta or pasta as a substitute, so we said we would try one of each. Neither had any flavor, so we were again disappointed.

With so many options for great Italian food on the North Shore, we’re a bit puzzled as to why the dining room was packed full (although, granted, it was a Saturday night); we certainly won’t be returning any time soon.

I Pazzi
50 Maple St, Danvers
(978) 777-1955
www.ipazzirestaurant.com

Dish Tidbits: Two Restaurant Weeks, Three Halloween Parties, and a Slew of Tastings

There are so many food-related events going on in the next few weeks it’s enough to make our heads spin (sorry, couldn’t resist).

For starters, Sunday marks the start of Cape Ann Restaurant Week, and it only runs until Thursday, so start planning your night out now. Three-course dinners for $25.11 are available at numerous restaurants—the list is here.

There are several events of note next weekend, starting with Shubie’s Fall Food and Wine Festival on Saturday. This free event runs from 1:00 to 5:00 and includes tastings of more than 50 wines and 15 cheeses, plus discounts on featured products. Jasper Hill Farms will be on hand with their cheese, along with many other cheese makers and vintners. A list of the wines being offered is here.

Also on Saturday, this time from 12:00 to 5:00, is a tasting of American blended wines known as meritage. It’s at Wine ConneXtion in North Andover, and more information is available here.

There are too many Halloween events for us to list them all, but we’ll mention a few that crossed our desks this week. The Bridget Bishop Costume Ball is taking place at Salem’s new 43 Church from 8:00 to midnight. There will be music by DJ Emilita, tasty treats, ghoulish cocktails, and prizes for most creative and outrageous costumes ($75 per person). Hawthorne Hotel’s annual costume ball is also Saturday night. Tickets are $90 per person, and information is here. Up in Gloucester at Lat43, a $5 cover will get you into the second annual Nightmare Circus with music by DJ Vito and prizes for best, sexiest, and scariest costume.

If you’re sufficiently recovered from Saturday night to venture out on Sunday, the fourth annual North Shore Bazaar is being held from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Community Covenant Church in Peabody. More than 25 vendors will be offering organic, fair trade, or locally sourced gifts and services, including Touchstone Honey, Mercury Brewing, Galbraith Gourmet Catering, Fellows Farm, and Vegan Girl Next Door. More information is here.

The beginning of November is also shaping up nicely in terms of events. Mark your calendars for a tasting of the industry’s highest rated wines (90 points and above) at Wine ConneXtion on November 12 from 12:00 to 5:00 and for Salem Restaurant Week, which runs from November 6 to 10 and November 13 to 15. The list of restaurants with click-throughs to their menus is here.

In Which We Learn to Pair Wine With Local Cheese

Wine and cheese are two of life’s essentials, as far as we are concerned. Together, they make us very happy—but is pairing them as simple as all that? Well, yes and no, we learned last week at a terrific class taught by Bill Shube of Marblehead’s gourmet grocer Shubie’s.

The one-hour class was $25 and included six cheeses and four wines, plus a wealth of information. It was held in the store’s upstairs demonstration kitchen/classroom, which is bright and comfortable.

We began by tasting each of the wines, a petit mouton muscadet (Louis Metaireau, France, $13), a lambrusco (Vecchia Modena, Italy, $18), a cotes du rhone (Domaine Gris des Bauries, France, $14.99) and a cabernet sauvignon (Route Stock, California, $24). Bill talked about the qualities of each wine, the region it was from, and how one might think about pairings.

For example, the muscadet is from France’s northern region where they make a lot of goat cheese. Its crisp acidity makes it a great partner for food. Similarly, the bubbles in the lambrusco help clean your palate, making it a good partner, especially for cheeses you are unsure about pairing.

We then tasted each of the cheeses, which are all from New England. The Bonne Bouche from Vermont Butter & Cheese (goat, Vermont) paired brilliantly with the muscadet, with the cheese somehow making the wine taste fuller.

Tiny Hannahbells from Shy Brothers Farms (cow, Mass.) are barely aged and very tangy. A bit difficult to pair, they require either a full bodied red wine or a sweet wine. The Landaff from Jasper Hill Cellars (cow, NH) is similar to a Welsh cheddar and paired well with both the muscadet and the cotes du rhone.

Blythedale Farms Vermont Brie (cow, Vermont) was delicious and incredible creamy. It was also a bit hard to pair but went well with the lambrusco. The Olga from Seal Cove Farms, (cow and goat, Maine) was very nutty and a bit crumbly (would be great on a salad). Its great flavor would be overpowered by a strong wine and went nicely with the cotes du rhone. The last cheese was the wonderfully earthy Black Ledge Blue from Cato Corner (cow, Conn.), which needed the strong flavors of the cabernet for a good match.

What we enjoyed most about the class was its accessibility. Rather than a know-all teacher telling his pupils what to drink and eat, Bill helped us understand why some pairings work well and how we might determine some happy matches on our own, which we’re definitely looking forward to doing.

Shubie’s
16 Atlantic Ave, Marblehead
(781) 631-0149
www.shubies.com

Lunch in Lynn: A Visit to Rincon Macorisano

Continuing our occasional series on lunch in Lynn, we headed for Rincon Macorisano in the heart of downtown last week. The food is billed as Carribean, more specifically, the Dominican Republic. Thirsty, we perused the menu while sipping on a cold mango shake, a bit sweet but quite delicious.

Judging from the lack of seated patrons, it seems Rincon’s lunch business is mainly takeout. The décor is very casual, with a baseball theme, and it seems that family dinners are the restaurant’s main business.

We ordered a cubano sandwich ($5.50) and Dominican specialty, pork mofongo (6.50). Mofongo consists of fried green plaintains mashed with seasonings and olive oil and mixed with some type of meat. It was served with a slightly spicy tomato-based sauce. We had never encountered mofongo before and definitely enjoyed it. Great flavor, interesting texture and an enormous portion. We took about three-quarters of it home. The cubano was a disappointment, though. It was a lightly pressed sandwich of pork, ham, and cheese, but it completely lacked flavor and did not include the pickles we’re used to in a cuban sandwich.

With all the wonderful options available for Latin food in Lynn (for example, we really enjoyed our visit to Casa Antigua), we’re not sure we see a reason to return to Rincon.

350 Washington St, Lynn
(781) 592-5823
www.rinconmacorisanorestaurant.com

Salem’s 43 Church Opens in Grand Style

The crowd was clearly having fun at 43 Church's Grand Opening last week.

One of Salem’s venerable restaurants has undergone a makeover, turning The Lyceum into 43 Church, a steakhouse and wine bar. Long-time owner George Harrington retired in June, and the new establishment is owned by George Harrington, Jr. and his wife, Mary.

Owners George and Mary chatting with TV Diner's Billy Costa.

The couple believed the historic space was a good fit for a creative steakhouse with, as George put it, “no attitude.” Richard Lambiase, who worked at the Back Bay Restaurant Group’s Abe & Louie’s, is the general manager. Executive chef Lee Fannon and sous chef Thomas Garfield, who worked together at Swampscott’s Red Rock Bistro, round out the team.

The menu includes classic appetizers like crab cake, french onion soup, and shrimp cocktail; entrees like tuna steak, free-range chicken with mashed potatoes, and salmon with lemon-caper sauce; and sides such as beer-battered onion rings, baked mac and cheese, and roasted asparagus with bearnaise. Steaks range from New York sirloin and filet mignon to ribeye and porterhouse, with a veal chop and t-bone lamb chop as non-beef options. Prices range from $23 to $43 for entrees, and Mary said she envisions many diners sharing an entree and sampling several side dishes.

The prime rib sliders were the hit of the night.

We were invited to an opening night event where we sampled gigantic shrimp from the raw bar, tender crab cake appetizers, and truly delicious prime rib sliced thin and served on sliders. We’re saving up our calories for a return visit and a proper review.

43 Church
43 Church St, Salem
(978) 745-7665
www.43church.com

Are We Crazy to Try Sushi on Route 1?

Fuji Sushi, located in a small strip mall on Route 1, does not look impressive from the outside. But we had heard good things, and their website proclaims they serve the best sushi on the North Shore, so we headed in to see for ourselves.

Ironically, it was the sushi that disappointed. There is a large selection of cooked and special maki rolls, and we sampled two that were quite good. The money brain roll featured spicy tuna and avocado and was deep fried ($8.25); the mango salsa shrimp roll was a great, fresh-tasting combination, with wafer thin slices of mango curved around the outside ($9.95). But the two traditional items we ordered from the sushi bar were very poor quality. The tuna sushi (two pieces for $5.25) was almost inedible, with large veins of sinew running though it, and the eel avocado roll was far too mushy ($5.25).

We fared better with our entrees. The vegetable don (rice bowl) was piping hot and full of wonderful flavors. At $10.95, it is also a terrific value. The shrimp yakisoba was also very good, with plentiful shrimp and smoky noodles ($11.95). We also sampled the house salad with delicious ginger dressing ($2.95) and the steamed shumai, which were small and not very flavorful ($4.25),

If you are looking for inexpensive Japanese food and prefer “crazy” maki rolls over traditional sushi, you can do well at Fuji. Other sushi lovers will want to look elsewhere.

Fuji Sushi
136 Newbury Street, Peabody
(978) 535-1182
www.myfujisushi.com