Tag: eggplant

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Chicken Vegetable Stack from Livia’s Dish

Chicken Vegetable Stack from Livia's Dish on Main Street in Worcester, MA

Chicken Vegetable Stack from Livia's Dish on Main Street in Worcester, MA
Livia’s Dish is a great little find tucked away down on Main street, past Webster Square. Their hours are little odd, they don’t serve dinner on Sunday, Monday or Tuesdays, but they do serve breakfast and lunch every day. The prices are reasonable with a nice selection of Italian/Mediterranean based cuisine and the staff was both friendly and very knowledgeable about the menu.

Their twist on bread with dinner is toasted crusty bread with hummus. The bread had a great crunch but still had a nice soft center and the house made hummus was excellent.

For dinner I had the Chicken Vegetable Stack, which was grilled chicken layered with zucchini, squash, tomatoes and eggplant, topped with a lemony sauce and some pecorino cheese. I had this with a side of mixed vegetables, zucchini, squash and carrots. The presentation of this dish is excellent, the layering showing off the different colors nicely. The sauce was light and lemony and thick enough to stick to the food but not so thick it overpowered. The chicken was grilled perfectly, juicy and tender and the vegetables were also cooked perfectly, keeping enough texture to stand up to the chicken while not being undercooked. Everything tasted great individually and really worked together nicely. The portion size was excellent. Enough to be filling but not so much to leave you over stuffed, overall a great value for an excellent meal.

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The Avalanche from Rosalina’s Kitchen

The Avalanche from Rosalina's Kitchen on Hamilton Street in Worcester, MA

The Avalanche from Rosalina's Kitchen on Hamilton Street in Worcester, MA

It was a brisk Tuesday evening in April, the kind of weather where you go without a jacket but regret it. I found myself slowly cruising down a maze of one-way side streets looking for a place to park my wheels and be sure of finding them still attached when I came back. Sometimes a place gets a sense you’re looking for it and makes a spot for you. Rosalina’s Kitchen on Hamilton Street was one of those places.

I walked in through a curtain: someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make things look sophisticated in an “it’s ok to put your elbows on the table” kind of way. It was a good start, so I sat down with some folks I knew. In the dog-eat-dog world of monthly dining groups, carbs can add up quick unless you have the moxy to take a stand. Enter the Tomatoes and Feta appetizer, a scrappy dish with fresh basil, oregano, and olive oil that packs a large, delicious punch for a lightweight dish. It whet my appetite just in time the walloping I didn’t see coming.

A dish called The Avalanche should make you stop and reconsider, but I’ve always had a bull head and a food heart that have lead me down some seedy back alleys with uncomfortably full bellies. I’ve sharpened my claws and played cat and mouse with some dense gastronomical creations, but the eggplant, chicken parmesan, meatballs, and sausage over linguini left me happily licking my mousy whiskers, thankful the cat decided to let me go with a warning.

As I licked my wounded pride and tried to talk myself out of retiring my fork, I figured there’s always another day, another meal (or two, from the looks of what was left) and average Joe’s and Jane’s like me are all that stand between hunger and not knowing where to make it go away. My gut told me I’d be searching for a spot outside this kitchen again, and it wasn’t being quiet about it.