Ted and I have been to L'Osteria a couple of times before, recommended to us on a summer's day sitting at a bar by the harbor in Boston. We started to chat with the couple next to us, who highly recommended this North End restaurant located on Salem St, the "road less traveled" compared to Hanover St which is wildly popular with tourists and known for hot spots such as Strega, Mike's Pastry, and our late night favorite Cafe Pompeii. We went with another couple last night before a Celtics game. Luckily, I discovered that they took reservations via their own website, we hadn't known this the last two times and were content to wait among the crowd. I wasnt sure we even needed the reservation for a Wed night at 6pm, but sure enough after we got seated, the place filled up quickly, looked like everyone else had the same idea. This is a "no frills" North End restaurant, very noisy, an accordian player roams the room, tight seating, and the closest restroom is downstairs. I was having some minor anxiety and anticipation as I havent had any wine in nearly three months, and wasnt sure how I would handle my first glass. I got the house Merlot which was truly delicious and balanced, plummy, as a merlot should be. Striving to make this the "best year of Elaine"...i skipped an appetizer, we all did, and just stuck with our entrees. I considered the linguine with shrimps and scallops or calamari in a light marinara sauce. But then the waiter read the specials..."Seafood Risotto...shrimp, scallops and Calamari" I was done for. I am a huge fan of risotto, love the creamy texture of the rice. Rissotto can go eiher way...can be extremely cheesy or more broth based, but either way incorporates butter for sure. Awaiting my punishment, I decided I wouldn't obsess and beat myself up which would only take the pleasure away from my dining experience. When the dish arrived, I was pleased to find out it was more the broth variety, white wine, garlic, and with a light tomatoe sauce mixed in. The seafood was super fresh and tasty....portion plenty big everyone got a taste and Ted finished my scraps. Ted got a simple buttered tortellini, which was "simply" wonderful. My friends went for two house specials, the veal braciole which was in an unbelievable creamy tomatoe vodka sauce, and the chicken pescatore again in a delicious tomatoe sauce served with shrimp, both came with sides of pasta. We graduated to a bottle of red wine from Napa Valley, dry and fullbodied, and enjoyed a delicious meal together. At that point, we gave into the experience and decided to each order a cannoli, house made, fresh ricotta, served just as is, no sauce, no chips, no nuts, just the shell and super creamy ricotta...it was worth me declaring I would give up my traditional weekend dessert for. So, Ted just needs to enforce that with me because I know I may get weak and try to sneak another one in ;) All I can say is, WOW for a Wednesday night dinner!
Not to knock the wonderful restaurants on Hanover St, but I think the restaurants on Salem Street are geared more to the locals and less to the tourists. The prices are a good $5-$10 less an entree. The bottle of wine we ordered was $36 and was fantastic, whereas we may have been persuaded to buy a $50 of wine elsewhere. I was surprised and pleased to find out another restaurant we like on Salem Street, called La Galleria 33, is also owned by the L'Osteria crew. We chatted up some customers seating behind us at dinner who also gave La Galleria their full endorsement, though they love to go to L'Osteria and are frequent customers. Safe to say, wont be the last time we will go there. Check it out next time you are looking for an authentic, no frills, North End experience.
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