Last night I got together with Tricia and Corinne, my best gals and college roommates for a little North End Restaurant Week action and some much needed catching up. I chose Bricco because both these ladies had never been and the menu had a plethora of good looking options from which to choose.
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However, I've always been content visiting the bar and I certainly liked it here enough to give the menu another try. There isn't much to complain about by way of prices when you are paying a prix fix of $33.11 for three courses. (Yes, I'd encourage a restaurant week visit!)
Their cocktail menu is so well done and while I realize this looks like a standard glass of white wine it is actually a Left Bank ($12) where Hendrick's gin and St. Germain meet dry white wine. Delightful and inventive, the sweet elderflower liqueur was balanced out by the dry white wine and potent gin. Tricia enjoyed a strong and sweet cocktail of a different nature, the Limoncello Martini ($15) with Pallini limoncello, Ketel One Citroen and Mionetto Prosecco.
For the Antipasti course Bricco offers six dishes yet we somehow all ordered the same thing; the Eggplant Bake layered with bufala mozzarella, tomato coulis and eggplant. After a few bites I was confident we had ordered the best appetizer on that menu. Obviously, I had not tasted all the others, I just had a feeling this was one of the good ones.
This was a refined eggplant lasagna if you will, with layers of paper thin al dente pasta that had been baked tender. The spongy texture of the eggplant with its mild flavors benefited from a vibrant burnt orange pool of a flavorful tomato sauce. The golden brown surface layer, bubbly and crisp was topped with olive oil soaked basil leaves.
The secondi course followed with Agnolotti al Plin. Beautiful pillows of pasta with curvy ribboned edges are stuffed with braised veal and beef that mingles with fresh ricotta cheese. This perfect portion sits in a rich velvety truffle cream sauce topped with spinach. It was certainly a pasta filled meal for me, which is just what I was craving. Bricco does pasta dishes well.
Corinne enjoyed the Veal Saltimbocca - a thinly pounded cutlet, breaded and bathing in savory juices, highlighted with crispy salty prosciutto and pungent earthy sage. That potato cake was a playful element with a crisp exterior and flaky, buttery layers. A side of spinach also accompanied.
Despite some uninspiring dessert offerings on their Restaurant Week menu, I like Bricco! Good company never hurts to maintain the fondness associated with a meal and an evening in general; but it is also the bustling urban atmosphere of this modern enoteca with a large yet intimate dining room, a sleek wine bar pouring inventive cocktails and a gorgeous open kitchen putting out solid dishes that makes it a North End destination I have come to adore and frequent.
241 Hanover St
Boston, MA 02113