Category: Food Reviews

Mass Foodies is dedicated to consuming everything that the commonwealth has to offer. The food review portion of Mass Foodies is written by independent group of wandering consumers from different backgrounds. Foodies come together once a month at a predetermined restaurant, order off of the menu, and share their experience Learn more »

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Date Night Is Complete with Nuovo’s Mussels Fra Diavolo

Salmone Atlantico ($24)—The filet of salmon was sautéed with creamy Madeira wine sauce, fresh spinach and lobster meat served with 5 large cheese ravioli’s

If you’re from Worcester or a surrounding town, you know that nothing beats a night out on Shrewsbury Street. Whether you’re on the market for a bottle of fine wine, some delicious cocktails, light appetizers, or an authentic Italian dinner, you can find it all at Nuovo, located at 92 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester.

Nuovo is made for lovers! The brick interior, piano, elegant booths, white table cloths, tea light candles and colorful flowers take date night to a new level. Not only that, but the restaurant also has a large function room on the second level that can fit up to 120 guests – perfect for birthdays, engagement parties, baby showers, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and beyond. You name it, Nuovo can accommodate!

Mussels Fra Diavolo - sautéed mussels, fresh basil and tomato sauce.
Mussels Fra Diavolo from Nuovo Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

It was Friday night at 7PM and Nuovo was packed. I should have known better and made a reservation but luckily there was one open table for two. Upon being seated, warm bread and olive oil was brought out, followed by our $6—yes, all house martinis are $6!—dirty martinis. After browsing the appetizers I went with the Mussels Fra Diavolo – sautéed mussels, fresh basil and tomato sauce. For just $9 it was a good sized portion, plenty to share. There was a nice kick of spice from the Fra Diavolo sauce and I could have easily drank the broth at the bottom of the bowl if I knew no one would judge me – instead I soaked my bread in it.

For my entrée I went with one of “Nuovo’s Sautéed Specialties,” the Salmone Atlantico ($24) which was accompanied with a house salad. The filet of salmon was sautéed with creamy Madeira wine sauce, fresh spinach and lobster meat served with 5 large cheese ravioli’s. Madeira sauce is a rich and peppery sauce prepared with Madeira wine and peppercorns. It was plated so beautifully that I took a photo before I dug in. This entree was the perfect portion and went very well with my glass of Pinot Grigio ($7).

Top notch service goes hand in hand with top notch food. Our server was very professional, well-versed on the entire menu and knew the weekend specials to a T. What impressed me most was when a man, who appeared to be the owner, came out and asked each table how their meal was. There was a table of 6 behind me celebrating a birthday and he insisted that he bring out champagne for a complimentary toast. He then went on and did the same gesture for a couple who was celebrating their anniversary. This man went above and beyond to make sure each and every guest went home satisfied and that speaks volumes about how this family-owned restaurant is run.

Nuevo is a Shrewsbury Street staple with a well-deserved, almost perfect rating on Yelp! Start here for a romantic candle lit dinner without breaking the bank and then head over to neighbors Wormtown Brewery or Brew City to continue your night.

Bonus: Every Tuesday get any bottle of house wine for $20 and every time there is a show at the Hanover Theater receive a 10% discount off your food bill. They also offer free valet parking! Nuevo is a big “yes” from me. You just can’t go wrong here.

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Summer Means Oysters, Mussels, and White Wine

Sautéed mussels with pomme puree, crispy alliums, and herbs from deadhorse hill on Main Street in Worcester, MA

Even before deadhorse hill opened, I knew about it. MassLive, Mass Foodies, Worcester Magazine, and drink master Sean Woods. I learned that they had considered opening a restaurant in New York, but eventually decided on Worcester. Worcester! To be chosen over New York! And with a frequently changing menu that uses words like gastrique and periugeux, I added deadhorse hill to my summer to-do list. Living a solid 45 minutes from Worcester, I was not sure when I would make it to Main Street but luckily our Worcester Foodies group chose it for our August meeting.

The menu is small, divided into three sections (small, large and centerpieces) which translates to better quality and more complex dishes. Our table of four quickly ruled out centerpieces as we were there to write reviews of multiple meals and not just one, though I can easily imagine myself dumping summer truffle periugeux over either a huge dry-aged prime ribeye or a fried veal chop. Or even eating it with a spoon, though that may be frowned upon. We decided to share half a dozen Duxbury oysters to start, which means we each ate one and then the men chivalrously allowed us ladies to have seconds. No horseradish or cocktail sauce to messily add to our oysters, instead they were each delicately topped with sour cream, onion, and a house made oyster cracker. Of course the oysters were fresh and perfectly chilled, but the toppings added an even crisper, more refreshing element with a bonus crunch. We should have ordered a dozen. For my meal I selected the sautéed mussels with pomme puree, crispy alliums, and herbs. While some diners were presented with a disappointingly small portion of steak, my dish had no fewer than 20 mussels (I was going to count them all but people started to look). The mussels sat over a savory pomme puree with such complex flavors I had difficulty identifying them all. There were sweet flavors, buttery from the puree, small crunchy bites, and an element of citrus that my whole table tried to find the source of. According to the internet, allium is “one of about fifty-seven genera of flowering plants with more than 500 species” (Wikipedia). Therefore, my flavors could have come from garlic, onions, leeks, chives, shallots, or hundreds of other species! This dish was so complex with its’s flavors, with each mussel dipped in the puree tasting a little bit different, that we ended up asking for more bread so I could soak up the rest!

The service was incredible and very friendly. It sounds cliché to describe service as friendly, but with such a gourmet menu I wouldn’t have been surprised by arrogance. I felt welcome the second I walked up to the bar to find one of my table mates drinking beer out of a McDonald’s promotional glass from the 1970s. My go-to summer evening beverage may be a basic Pinot Grigio, but at deadhorse hill the drinks are also carefully selected. I pointed to the 2014 loureiro, and was promptly given a tasting first. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and when we did stump her (where was the red fish caught) she went off to find the answer for us. The wait staff were wearing vintage Worcester tee-shirts which added to the welcoming atmosphere and gave me an opportunity to learn more about Worcester (why is Worcester the Paris of the eighties?).

I was surprisingly happier with my visit to deadhorse hill than I thought I would be. I was excited for the food, yes, but sometimes upscale gourmet restaurants actually feel a bit stuffy lending them to once or twice a year visits. deadhorse hill is not like that. The decor is light, airy, and sophisticated, but the Worcester tee shirts, vintage glassware, and windows open on the street make the space fun and comfortable. The food was fresh and complex, and the enthusiasm for the restaurant could be felt emanating from the staff. I will have to head back to Main Street before the summer ends to share my experience with my husband and friends.