Tag: fontina

Posted on by

Crisped Fontina Cheese – Small Plates at Lock 50

Crisped Fontina Cheese from Lock 50 on Water Street in Worcester, MA

Lock 50 is a fairly modern looking place, with crisp clean decor and a full wall of street facing windows. They have a medium sized room upstairs and a separate room downstairs that also serves as a function room. They also have a nice little patio with outdoor seating. Everyone seemed to be having a good time with lots of bustle and fun, but if you’re looking for a quiet dinner, this might not be the place for you.

My wife and I started with 3 “small plates.” First up was the cured meat board, which contains whatever the chef has that day. This day, it consisted of a fresh salami, speck, and another smoky cured meat I can’t remember, along with the house spreadable pepperoni and some pickled veggies. The meats were delicious and the pepperoni spread, on crostini, was a little slice of heaven with a nice amount of spice/heat. This was really a nice selection of flavors. Then came the Crisped Fontina Cheese. This was a decent sized wedge of fontina, dipped in a batter and fried to perfection. This was absolutely amazing, the flavor of the batter complimented the cheese perfectly and again, the crostini it came with was the perfect vehicle for the cheese. Lastly, the buttermilk quail. Think buttermilk fried chicken, only with little quail pieces instead. While this was perfectly nice, it’s completely overshadowed by the rest of the food and seem underwhelming compared to everything else. Once the small plates were done, we had our “Shareable Plate” of Porchetta, short rib, sausage, stewed lentils and fried polenta. This was a good size for sharing and the meats were delicious. The porchetta was flavorful and tender, the short rib was melt in your mouth fantastic and the sausage was very flavorful. The lentils provided a very nice softer counterpoint to the hard flavors of the meat and together generated a great overall taste. My only real complaint for the evening was the fried polenta. This was so salty it was inedible (I did bring this to the attention of the chef and he was thankful for the input and said he’d look into it). Otherwise, everything was really amazing.

Our server, Madison, was on point. She knew the menu up and down, made great recommendations and was quick and attentive. Her personality added to the great food made for a terrific overall experience.

Overall, I’d have to say Lock 50 is a real keeper. The small plates idea makes for a more interactive dining experience, promotes sharing and makes for a more fun and festive atmosphere. Even though the dining room as a bit on the loud side, even that fit the overall feel and the place.

Posted on by

Porchetta, Grilled Sausage, Pork rib, Stewed Lentils, Fried Polenta

Porchetta, Grilled Sausage, Pork rib, Stewed Lentils, Fried Polenta from Lock 50 on Water Street in Worcester, MA

Beautiful windows line one whole wall of Lock 50 but unfortunately they look out over a dreary street. No view to speak of but beautiful light streaming in thru a gorgeous set of windows. Another side wall showing old exposed brick really helped to make this place unique. The dining room we sat in was very loud. In fact I found it extremely hard to have a conversation with my dining companions and we sat at a table for six.

Our server explained to us how the menu worked: there were small dishes that she urged us to share so that we could try more options and told us ordering 2-3 dishes per couple was a good idea; then to finish off with a share-able dish at the end. This is exactly what my husband and I decided to do.

Our three dishes started with Crisped Fontina cheese with fresh crostini which was the single most amazing thing I put in my mouth all evening. It was truly a delight and this would be something I would order each and every time I go back to Lock 50. Our second small dish to share was the Buttermilk fried Quail in a cranberry gravy; while this wasn’t bad in any way it wasn’t anything to write home about. My husband I and both enjoyed it but we both agreed it wasn’t something we would order again. Our third small dish was the Cured meat board, which was delicious and I would order this again in a heartbeat, it came with three different cured meats and a pepperoni paste that we spread on the crostini bread that came with the board. For our “share-able” meal we ordered the “Porchetta, Grilled Sausage, Pork Rib, Stewed Lentils and Fried Polenta. With the exception of the fried polenta this share-able plate was delicious. The Polenta was so heavily salted that my no one at our table could eat it. I do believe there was a mix up in the kitchen with this. But the rest of this plate was excellent.

Our server, Madison, was very knowledgeable about the menu and was happy to share with us her favorite dishes on the menu. She was prompt and was very quick to respond to our requests throughout the night.

I was very happy with most of the food we ordered and consumed. The service was excellent. I enjoyed pretty much everything we ordered with the exception of an overly salty Fried Polenta. I would most certainly go back and recommend this to my friends and family. There was a lot of thought put into some of the dishes I had last night and I look forward to seeing more of what this chef has to offer.