Curious was how I felt as I descended into the Beacon Hill basement that houses Grotto. I have previously visited this establishment once a number of years ago, so I was aware of its petite size and tasty cuisine. However, I had recently attended my first Big Night feast at La Morra and so I wondered how Grotto's would compare.
Right away, we were offered our choice of the red or white wines of the day. For $70, your meal included all the wine you could wish. However, being the lightweight that I am, I opted for the $50 (post-tax!) wineless option.
A pleasant selection of appetizers were displayed on a table along the wall - Caprese salad, goat cheese crostini, cured meats. It was a nice variety, and tasty to boot! Self-serve, I began with a small portion of each, and enjoyed them along with the lovely bread I found once we settled ourselves at our choice of seats at one of the two long communal tables. It was a savory sort of bread with a pleasantly crisp and salty crust.
I recognized the chef owner, despite his distinct lack of kitchen wear, when he greeted us and suggested that we treat this meal more like a marathon than a sprint. This was then followed by the quick eye catching presentation of the unsliced timpano and a whole roasted pig.
The servers brought out these huge white bowls, which initially caused some trepidation... but no, it turned out they were not overly-whelmingly filled with chicken consomme with carrots and extruded ziti rather than handrolled. Unfortunately, I did not care for this course as the stock was not very fowl flavored despite being strong flavored, the carrots retained a raw taste and texture, and the ziti was on the undercooked side of al dente.
Next were the risottos, served individually from serving platters - shortrib and wild mushroom, seafood (with whole shrimp and lobster chunks, unlike the movie's version with no visible bits), pesto (creamy green). My personal preference were seafood, followed closely by the shortrib, then finally the pesto.
Plates of timpano were served in these huge slices that I declined to finish in order to save room for the remaining courses. The version here was pretty basic, with the pastry shell being filled with tube pasta mixed with a ground meat sauce.
A platter of well-prepared, tasty vegetables were set out one platter per four diners - asparagus, a variety of mushrooms, brussel sprouts, mashed potato, spinach. Then the servers wandered around serving a variety of meats from their full platters: beef tenderloin prepared medium (tender!), prosciutto wrapped duck breast stuffed with apple, salmon, scallop with mushroom, chicken parmesan (thick and tender), and finally the missing pork! Most of the proteins were tender and tasty, but unfortunately, the intended star (in my opinion, the pig) was covered with a rather tough and chewy skin.
Dessert was simple yet tasty and the perfect end to a full and very good meal - whipped cream with berries.
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