review: marco

marco / 253 hanover street / boston ma / 617-742-1276 / tue-thu 5-10:30pm, fri-sat 5pm-11pm, sun 4pm-9:30pm / reservations accepted / entrees moderately expensive ($15-25)

i heard about marco from being on pigalle's mailing list. after it got a bunch of good reviews, i thought it would be nice to try it out. we went on a sunday night, when they serve dinner family-style (which really means that the menu is designed so that everyone at a given table shares everything - the portions are in individual and family portions - not that everyone in the restaurant eats together). it was raining, but the place still filled up as we ate.

the restaurant is right on hanover street in the middle of the most visible part of the north end, but you could almost miss it. the sign is just the coat of arms with an M on it, and the outer glass door is blank - it's the inner glass door that says "marco" on it in small white lowercase letters. you enter, and then the restaurant is on the second floor. all of this contributes to the feeling that you're eating in somebody's house (the building inside has the dimensions of a row house). the restaurant is tiny - it seats maybe around 20ish people - and you can see out onto the street from the tables along the windows. the interior is decorated with things like ceramic plates that say "marco" on them with the coat of arms, and there's a fireplace with no fire, but lots of large flickering candles.

this is my new favorite restaurant for bread. there is this fantastic focaccia with a slightly salty, crisp exterior, and a chewy interior. the olive oil is very green, and is absolutely fantastic. it tastes as if somebody made it yesterday. they also give you a little bowl of marinated vegetables (red peppers, onions, olives, etc) that are fantastic.

so for dinner, we started with grilled vegetable antipasti - eggplant, red cabbage, mushrooms, zucchini, and a dollop of very fresh, mild goat cheese. these were fantastic - just the right amount of good balsamic vinegar. for wine we had a cannonau from sardinia - costera's cannonau di sardegna argiolas (2003) - to satisfy charles' curiosity about sardinian wines. this one, for your information, was excellent, and went well with the food.

for main courses, we shared orecchiette with homemade sausage and broccoli rabe, rigatoni with gravy and meatballs, and veal piccata. all three were excellent as well, and very filling, yet not heavy - that's a difficult balance to achieve. i am always somewhat disappointed by italian restaurants, in that it always seems that you could make whatever you have yourself at home with less effort and cost, despite any increase in quality. i wonder if it's because there are so many bad italian restaurants out there, especially the chain restaurants, or if it's just that haute couture french country food, for example, is trendier, and thus has more of an aura than italian food. what i mean is that i feel that my disappointment is a failing upon my part, rather than any failing of the restaurant, if the food is indeed good. which it is at marco. and in fact, the combination of the food and the physical restaurant itself make for a fantastic neighborhood place that i wish was in central square (although it couldn't be nearly as romantic as it is allowed to be in the north end).