Lunch at EVOO is awesome! It’s top quality local ingredients prepared creatively at a reasonable price. One of the many things that sets us apart from other restaurants is that damn near everything is made here in the restaurant. Many restaurants would claim the same thing, don’t believe them. An example of what we do is if we are running a ham sandwich- We bought the whole pig cured the hams for up to two weeks. Smoked them in our smoker for 12 hours. Made the bread. Made the mustard. Got pickling cucumbers from a local farm during the height of the season, pickled them to serve through out the year. If you ordered fries with your sandwich we cut the fries (depending on the season if we used local potatoes), soaked them overnight, blanched them ahead of time, fried them to order, tossed them with salt, pepper and depending on the time of the year with either locally grown savory of thyme. With all that would be our own tangy ketchup. If that is not a labor of love (and a freaking awesome sandwich) I don’t know what is.

Our lunch sous chef Mark and his staff do a great job at consistently preparing these great ingredients in a timely manner. We have put a lot of effort into making sure our customers are able have lunch without stressing about time.

Hali Morrison our longtime cook and blogger has left (a while ago, I am just slow to pick up where she left off). She started the blog while attending Endicott College as a writing major. I plan on keeping it going and helping you stay informed with the happenings of EVOO.

Recently we received half of a cow from Barry Gross of Round the Bend farm in South Dartmouth, MA. Becky, our name for the cow not Barry’s, has been kind enough to offer us with many delicious items. Including braised cow filled fried baked potato, beef empanadas, oxtail springrolls, pickled tongue, kielbasa (pictured) and of course steaks.On Friday we will be receiving a mangalitsa pig from Pete & Jen’s Backyard Birds in Concord MA. Mangalitsas are known for their beautiful fat. This will be our third one, so I can attest to that. The fat is amazing, thick, silky smooth and sweet. We will use the pig (to be named later) for many things; chops, lomo, chorizo, braised belly, pig’s skin risotto, rillettes and lardo are just a few of the items we plan on producing.

If you haven’t figured it out yet it is Peter the chef and co-owner now writing the blog. I will most likely write many short posts, when a new dish or ingredient is available. I will try to keep you posted on upcoming events etc. If you have comments please don’t hesitate to post them.

This week is the saddest week I can remember at EVOO since I started working there a year and a half ago. Donnie, our lunchtime sous-chef, is leaving.

Donnie was one of the first people I met at EVOO, and I was absolutely terrified of him. He is incredibly meticulous in everything he does, and tried to make everyone around him pay attention to details. As this was my first kitchen job, this meant that Donnie was constantly showing me how to do things differently and better, which intimidated me. At the end of the night, a stovetop was not considered clean if he could find one tiny bit of black somewhere it didn’t belong. Although these were all things that scared me at first, I’m now happy that he showed me everything he did, as it has made me far better at my job. Looking back at the beginning I actually find it funny that of all people I was afraid of Donnie- although he points out things he sees being done wrong, it’s never “you’re doing that wrong” and always “why don’t you try it this way instead. It’s better if you do it this way, do you understand why?”. If something isn’t understood at first he makes sure that he does all he can to make you fully comprehend the reasons for doing things a certain way.

After 5 years of working at EVOO, and despite much kicking and screaming from those of us he’s leaving behind, Donnie is moving home to Pittsburgh with his family. As sad as we all are to see him go, he has made the fantastic decision that he wants to be a teacher- a decision that no one can really argue with. Of all the people I’ve ever worked with, Donnie is the best instructor I’ve ever crossed paths with (come to think of it, he’s probably a better instructor that the majority of teachers and professors I’ve had as well). When I asked him why he wants to teach instead of cook, Donnie shrugged his shoulders, said “because I want to save the world”, and laughed. It makes it harder to be upset about him being gone from our lives knowing that he’s going to be making a difference in kids’ lives, and that he’ll be able to concentrate more on his family.

EVOO will certainly not be the same without him, but we all wish him the best in the future. I suppose it will be like the dawning of a new era, and it will be interesting to see the way things unfold.

As many of you know, this week is officially “restaurant week”, which started last weekend. Aside from slightly shortening the menu and reducing price, we don’t change much for the occasion. Portion sizes are still the same and we are still serving the same fantastic quality food. The shortening of the menu is a necessary step for us to take to be better prepared for the rush of the weeks- The less complicated things are the easier it is for us to make sure we are completely ready for service, and the fewer dishes there are to worry about the easier it is for us to put out food in a timely fashion.

Last Tuesday night was the first night I worked during dinner service of restaurant week, and it went extremely well. The front of house staff was extremely well coordinated with the kitchen, and all of the reservations were evenly spread out so that although there were a lot of plates for us to make we were able to do them well and fast. Yesterday I worked during lunch, and was a bit caught off guard by the difference made by restaurant week. Once the orders started coming in they came in quickly and steadily for the entire afternoon, and because we were ready for it it all went smoothly.

I’ve been working all week, and there has not been a single point where we haven’t been caught up and things have been out of hand. On Sunday night I was working “Garde-Manger”, the cold station with salads and desserts. Toward the end of prep time I was starting to get worried about running out of apple crisps, and knowing that I didn’t have enough time to make filling and topping and get them in the oven, I told Pete. I’m pretty sure the last thing anyone wants to do during restaurant week is tell the head chef that we don’t have enough of something, and I was terrified that he would be mad at me for not getting them done (even though I’ve never seen him angry). As soon as I told him he just calmly asked a few of the cooks from Za to cut up apples, asked Anthony, one of the prep cooks, to finish up the filling, and got one of the dishwashers to quickly clean the giant mixer I needed to make the topping. Within 5 minutes I went from feeling panic and dread to feeling immense relief. It was a perfect demonstration of how if something is really desperately needed and a few people work together and power through it, it can get done well. It would have taken one person over an hour to get it all done, but we got through it in about 15 minutes, and had more than enough desserts for service. It was also another instance of me being grateful that I have such an awesome boss. He wasn’t even upset at me for a second for not having it done, just saw that I had none of the things I needed to make it, and saw how much else had been done, and found a way for us to finish it in time.

The team we have right now on the line is amazing- everyone has been stepping up through prep and service, getting an incredible amount of things done extremely well in a very short amount of time. It shows that for all of us it’s not just a job, and we’re not just working for a paycheck- we actually care about what we’re doing and who we’re doing it for. Everyone is tired, but I’ve noticed that morale is actually higher at the end of the night than at the beginning. There’s no better feeling than finishing service and realizing that we’ve done almost 200 covers flawlessly, or at least without panic and chaos.

As exhausting as it is, I think I’ll miss restaurant week when it’s over. It definitely gives you a rush of adrenaline and an insane feeling of accomplishment that’s usually reserved for Saturday nights. But alas, it’s nearing it’s end, so come and enjoy it while you can!

Charcuterie is one of the things we do at EVOO that I think is the most interesting and unique. The easiest way I can think of to describe exactly what it is is to relate it to deli-style specialty meats. This includes prosciutto, Tasso, guanciale, but also things like pates and rilletes. We make it all ourselves, which takes a lot of time and dedication but produces a superior end product.

On our list of charcuterie products, Tasso was the one that I was least familiar with (by which I mean I had absolutely no idea what it is), so I looked it up. If you were unsure of the meaning of a word, you would look it up in the dictionary. When you’re unsure of what a food item is, there is the Food Lover’s Companion. It knows everything and anything there is to know about all types of food, and that’s where I went for a definition of Tasso. The definition starts “Much to the disappointment of many, this Cajun specialty is generally hard to find outside Louisiana”. Well, much to the excitement of many, our head chef (Peter) loves Tasso enough to make it himself and make it available to all Tasso-lovers who come to EVOO. The definition continues to say that “Tasso is a lean chunk of cured pork (usually shoulder) or beef that’s been richly seasoned with ingredients such as red pepper, garlic… and any of several other herbs or spices…”. It is a unique and delicious offering which we are proud to serve.

When I first started at EVOO I was most excited to try the guanciale. I knew I loved prosciutto, and I knew that the cheek is supposed to be one of the most delicious parts of an animal and thus was thrilled at the idea of cured cheek in the style of prosciutto. My expectations were met and exceeded, and the guanciale is phenomenal.
When I buy prosciutto at the grocery store it’s hard for me not to just eat the entire package in one sitting. The prosciutto we make at EVOO is beyond comparison, and it makes the grocery store variety seem almost undesirable to me. One of my favorite things about all of the charcuterie is the plating of it- it seems like it would be simple enough, it’s just sliced meat on a plate. Maybe it’s the quality of it that makes it look so good, but I think that the charcuterie plates are some of the most beautiful plates we put out.

This is a photo of our prosciutto that we were serving in the spring, with a salad of zucchini, fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, and red onion. A perfect summer snack, I really can’t think of anything I’d rather eat. Except maybe the guanciale, of course. The color is amazing, and it doesn’t need any additional ingredients or “pizazz” to make it look a jaw-dropping level of delicious.

Also on our bar menu is a pig belly puree. Once again, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first tasted it. My family on my mother’s side is French-Canadian, and one of my favorite foods growing up was my meme’s meat pie. When I had my first bite of the pig belly puree I was catapulted into memories of my great grandmother stirring her giant pot of stewing pork for meat pies, and the familiar taste was as warm and welcoming as her kitchen. We serve it warm on pieces of grilled bread, and even if you didn’t grow up with a French-Canadian great grandmother’s meat pies, I’m certain that the taste will warm your soul as it does mine.

Aside from charcuterie, we also have a great selection of cheeses on our bar menu. My two favorites are the Bijou and the Humble Pie. Bijou is French for “Jewel”, and rightly so this cheese comes in small wheels about the size of a glass bottle cap. The cheese is a goat’s cheese from Vermont, and despite my lactose-intolerance I find them hard to resist.
The Humble Pie is also made in Vermont, and is a blend of sheep’s and cow’s milk. It is similar to Brie in taste and texture, and it is the personal favorite of our sous-chef Michelle (she’ll have it for dinner every now and then, it’s just that good).

Needless to say, no one will ever go hungry sitting at the Bar at EVOO. In addition to the special bar menu, the regular menu is also available to customers at the bar. We got a new pig in last week (Pete named him Leon) and will hopefully have a wealth of new additions the the charcuterie menu (and the regular menu) as a result. I will continue to update as this happens, so stay hungry!

It seems as though all my recent posts are centered around holidays, and the most recent one to pass by was Valentine’s day. We served a special menu created just for the event, and the restaurant was fully booked. Most of the day before was spent preparing, and Randy was working until almost 4 in the morning (only to return to work at 10). Although it was insanely busy, the evening was a lot of fun. The shortened menu made it easier for us to make sure tables weren’t left waiting for too long for their food, and all in all it went smoothly.

More recently EVOO was finally covered in a thin blanket of snow- apparently New England weather dictates that once we all start expecting Spring, we can finally have the snow we’d been missing all winter. Although unwelcome by some, I think that snow can be the perfect excuse to sit inside of a cozy restaurant and enjoy a leisurely meal with good company. A bit of leftover decadence from Valentine’s Day, we are still serving a delicious lobster-parsnip bisque garnished with leeks, hedgehog mushrooms, tarragon butter, and of course, chunks of succulent lobster meat.

Working the corner station on the line, I have been responsible for preparing the fried clam dish, which has been incredibly exciting for me, as they are plated on a base of potato salad, which is one of my favorite things in the entire universe. The flour mix they are fried in is different than we usually use- we add a mixture of spices (most prominently Old Bay) that liven the flavor of the clam, and which are balanced out by the cooling effect of the potato salad.

As far as other new starters, we’re also bringing back the empanada- this time the filling, designed by both Sous-Chefs Randy and Michelle is a mixture of rabbit meat and prunes, and it is served with a mustard cream and a salad of celery root, pea greens, and toasted almonds.

We also have a new mussel dish courtesy of our head chef Pete. The mussels are steamed with potatoes and onions in a green curry sauce that (to me anyway) smells a little bit like Tom Kha Gai, my favorite Thai soup.

All week I have been dreaming about having enough time to make enchiladas at home, and then on Saturday I came into work to find that the chicken dish had been changed, and is now served with an enchilada of caramelized onions and goat cheese. It is also served with discs of twice-fried sweet potato and a salad of pickled jalapenos, cilantro, and toasted pumpkin seeds. The dish is pulled together by a delicious red chili gravy that also adds a beautiful color to the plate.

The new vegetarian dish coming off of my station is a sweet potato tamale, which is served on a bed of cumin-scented toasted rice and black bean. The tamale is stuffed (overflowed) with a ragout of roasted peppers, onions, olives, raisins, and pine nuts, and topped with a salad of fresh cilantro, feta, pickled jalapenos, fennel, and red onion.

Lamb is back on the menu in 2 places- as a chop/loin combination, and as a meat sauce.The first dish is a grilled lamb chop with a roasted loin, served with a potato croquette, roasted carrots, and a salad of baby spinach and pickled cauliflower. The dish is topped with a minty chimichurri and a natural Jus.
The other lamb dish is a polenta “lasagna” with lamb Bolognese (another of my favorite sauces), stracciatella cheese, and a salad of fennel, orange, arugula, and a hazelnut crunch.

The new beef dish is a piece of grilled sirloin with braised beef and a potato gratin- I feel like I’m saying this a lot, but the potato gratin is one of my favorite things on the menu. Maybe I just really like the menu at the moment, but I can think of few things as great as a pile of layered cheese and potatoes baked to perfection and oozing flavor. The dish is then topped with an arugula salad with pickled oyster mushrooms, and is finished with a smoky hollandaise sauce.

Fish dishes have changed as well- We are now serving a seared Arctic char fillet with celery root puree, curried root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga… you get the idea) and a creamy apple salad. We also have a seared striped bass fillet served with a smoked pig stew with large white beans (lima beans) and mustard laced salad of wild carrots and greens.

That’s about as far as I’ll go into menu updates for now (the menu on the website will keep you up to date on daily changes.

We’re all gearing up for Restaurant Week at the end of the month, which will be an entire week of busy insanity, and we’re all looking forward to it. Warmer weather should be coming soon, but given the weather in the past few weeks, I wouldn’t count on it. Either way, the menu will change to reflect the weather and the changing produce, and i’m sure that greatness will come out of it.

I’m back! The holiday season was very busy for us, but now that things are settling down I’m hoping to find more time to keep the blog updated.

On Thanksgiving Pete closed the restaurant to the public and continued his annual tradition of serving a feast to friends and family of EVOO who have no family in the area or nowhere else to celebrate the holiday. Although I wasn’t present for the festivities, I love the idea of the celebration and think that it exemplifies the overall feeling of Thanksgiving.

We were also closed on Christmas and Christmas Eve, although on New Years we were certainly open, and very very busy. I spent New Years Eve with my best friends, and for a while I felt a little bit pathetic saying that (I was at work…) but then I realized that it’s pretty awesome that all of the cooks get along so well- I don’t think many people can say that about their work environment.

In the midst of all of the holiday chaos, we finally got ourselves a new sous-chef. Michelle was one of our line cooks, and had been putting in extra hours (and quite a bit of extra effort) for a while when Pete was out from surgery. She was recently officially given the title of sous-chef, and I couldn’t think of anyone better suited for the position. Her appointment has taken some pressure off of Randy, our other sous-chef, and we’re all hoping that he can get more sleep in the future. Despite his knee surgery, Pete is back nearly full time, and runs the line most nights of the week.

All in all, the line is functioning extremely well- everyone is back, working hard, getting along extremely well, and doing the best work we’re capable of. A few nights ago Michelle timed Pete when he was breaking down an entire lamb- he did the entire thing in under 10 minutes!

Menu changes can be found on our website, and I will (hopefully) update again soon.

So once again, our menu has almost completely changed since my last update.

Our salad has changed to reflect the season, and now has a base of roasted root vegetables- carrots, celery root, parsnips, and onions. On top of that is lettuce dressed in a curried buttermilk dressing, and the whole dish is finished with dried fruit and toasted hazelnuts. I never thought I’d say that a salad looked festive, but the dried cranberries and apricots give the salad a really gorgeous aesthetic.

The clam starter has also changed, and it’s one that I really enjoy plating. Flavors somewhat reminiscent of Paella, the clams are steamed in a white wine saffron broth, and served with saffron rice, roasted red peppers, chicken sausage, onions, garlic, and cilantro. The colors are bold and bright, and the scent of the dish is enough to tempt anyone it reaches.

We are serving a new ravioli starter as well- homemade ravioli filled with mozzarella and potato, served with a ragout of braised rabbit and carrots.

Then of course since we got another pig, the head cheese terrine is back, served with wild watercress, pickled cauliflower, and a mustard cream.

The pig’s contribution to our main courses can be found in the best stuffed pepper you could imagine: A poblano chili stuffed with adobo-braised pig, and then batter fried. It is served with cumin-scented toasted rice, black beans, cilantro, sour cream, and pickled jalapenos.

Our chicken dish has changed, and is now served with a creamy ricotta polenta, spinach, wild oyster mushrooms, and a garlicky chicken jus.

Of all of the new dishes on the menu, my favorite is the haddock. It is a filet of Maine haddock baked with a Thai red curry sauce, potatoes, squash, and fresh herbs (Thai basil, mint, and cilantro), and topped with a salad of wild watercress, herbs, and toasted peanuts. The flavors are bright and exciting, and I think the dish is a lovely addition to the menu.

The sirloin on the menu is once again served with sour cream whipped potatoes (why stop at butter and cream when you can add sour cream and make it that much more delicious?), roasted cauliflower, toasted pistachios, and a salad of capers, parsley, olives, and pickled peppers. The steak is then finished with a smoky Hollandaise sauce. I personally feel that Hollandaise sauce is one of the most beautiful and perfect creations on the planet, so I’m a sucker for this dish as well.

The last new dish on the dinner menu that I’ll mention is the braised lamb. I think that braising any meat makes it a thousand times more delicious. The dish is a ragu of red wine braised lamb, topped with crepes filled with a mixture of sunchoke and potato, and then finished with a salad of Persian cucumbers, red onion, and a minted yogurt dressing. It may once again be my personal preference and love of cucumbers, but I find the salad particularly hard to resist.

I will update again soon (I promise!) with updates on our lunch menu, and of course our sweet sweet desserts.

Ok, I’m finally updating about all of our new main courses. As you will see, there are quite a few…

The sirloin dish has changed, and is now served with sour cream whipped potatoes, roasted cauliflower, a salad of toasted pistachios, capers, parsley, olives, and pickled peppers, and is topped with a smoky Hollandaise. The roasted cauliflower smells like the holidays to me, although I can’t recall ever having it on a holiday. The whole dish has a lovely warm, rustic feel to it, and I think it’s perfect for the colder temperatures that have been moving in.

Although still smoked in the back room, the bluefish is now served on a completely different plate. It still has a spice crust, which now includes pumpkin seeds as well. Rather than corn risotto, which would no longer be seasonal, the bluefish now sits on a roasted sweet potato hash with poblano and red peppers and onion. It is topped with a fresh pear relish, and garnished with a maple-cranberry gastrique.

The salmon main course has changed to arctic char, and is served with a smoked pig skin risotto, creamy parsnip puree, and a slaw of celery root and apple.

Our vegetarian main course has changed from the sweet potato croquette to an incredibly festive dish, and one of my new favorites. Homemade cavatelli pasta with apples, fennel, and carrots, all cooked in a cider reduction and served inside of a roasted red Kuri squash with a celery root puree, toasted pecans, parsley and thyme, and topped with maple whipped cream.

Duck is once again on the menu, and we are serving a seared duck breast with roasted fingerling potatoes, braised celery, scallion tempura, and an orange-five spice jus.

Courtesy of our newest pig, we have a grilled pig chop served with a two potato gratin, brussels sprouts, crisp apples, and a smoky cider jus.

There is another new starter on the menu which I feel I should mention here, as I find it very exciting and fun. The dish is a Roxbury Russet apple stuffed with a smoked lamb rillette, served with dried cranberries, toasted pistachios, and a spiced cider reduction. Much like the vegetarian main course, I think that the presentation screams fall, and is visually striking.

Hopefully you all enjoy these new dishes as much as I have been, and as always I will continue to update with more changes as they occur.

Our menu has nearly completely changed since my last update, so I hope to get everyone caught up as much as possible with this post.

I’ll begin with the starters:

The first of the new starters I’ll mention is the Pierogi. Stuffed with Hubbard squash and served with duck confit, spinach, and pea greens in a sherry ginger sauce, I find the plate particularly visually appealing. Watching Russell, one of our line cooks prep and plate the dish will assure anyone watching that there is no lack of love in it.

Our soup has changed from a butternut corn chowder to a butternut squash and apple soup, which is topped with smoked goat cheese, toasted walnuts, apples, and fried sage.

Our version of ham and cheese can be found in our breaded, fried ham and cheese croquettes. These are served on top of a cauliflower puree which is drizzled in a parsley puree, and the dish is topped with an orange gremolata.

Last on my list of new starters for the day is a nest of roasted spaghetti squash (if you’ve never seen spaghetti squash before, it’s a squash that naturally takes on a spaghetti-like form when cooked and forked out of its skin. Served with white cap mushrooms, a quenelle of cloumage cheese, caramelized lamb bacon, and a poached egg.

In addition to these starters we also have a slew of new main courses, which will be the focus of my next post.

A few weeks ago, our head chef Peter had surgery on his knee and as a result has been out of commission. Recently he has been coming in to the restaurant to expedite to the best of his ability, and most recently and excitingly we got another pig, which he has been working on butchering for yet another installment of new pork dishes. Everyone at the restaurant is glad to have him back, and despite the setback he has not lost any of his enthusiasm for his work.

Coming up will be the rest of the main courses, new dishes from the pig that we just got, updates on what we’re pickling and jarring for the winter, and more general updates from behind the line at the restaurant.