8 minute read
What’s Cookin’
Stephen Lavoie (left) with cinnamon-sugar grilled pineapple, Rick Hunt (middle) with pork ribs and Juan Hernandez (right) with bacon-wrapped filet mignon.
Discovering and celebrating what’s new and exciting on New Hampshire’s cuisine scene
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KENDAL J. BUSH
In Part 3 of our Great Food Destinations series, and to help you discover what’s new around our great state, we’ve once again asked our favorite food writers on the cuisine beat to recommend some new restaurants, or new offerings from old favorites, that are designed to both satisfy your appetite for dinner and inspire your appetite for adventure on the road to fine (and fun) local dining. As our winter season is in full swing, we hearty Granite Staters look forward to comfort in food and friends.
We asked our food reviewers to share their next great dining experience. Each of our reviewers’ dining destinations can be a starting point for your own quest. We’ll continue featuring the best new restaurants around the state in upcoming issues. And, we will also continue to compile our guide to what’s new and exciting in the online version of New Hampshire Magazine at nhmagazine.com.
Come along and discover with them their latest restaurants picks. →
GREAT FOOD DESTINATION: NORTH OF CONCORD
The Little Grille at The Depot Review by Rony Camille
Hallway murals by artist and restaurant employee Rick Hunt.
Abuilding that once led travelers to and from Littleton via railway has since been repurposed to transport taste buds (and eyes) to exotic lands of flavor and color. The previous Grafton County railroad station now blends Brazilian barbecue and local American fare with a modern art exhibit lining its walls.
Owners Scott and Camila Rutherford have been operating The Little Grille at The Depot on Cottage Street in Littleton since 2011, turning it into a reliable hangout for locals and vacationers alike.
The Little Grille is rooted firmly in the remnants of an old Boston and Maine train station, but features fantastic art covering its interior walls that can only be described as a “real trip” — in the vernacular of the 1960s. Local artist and author Rick Hunt took to elevating the historic train depot’s look into a modern psychedelic art experience that, like their food, is worth absorbing at leisure but also fun just sampling. Hunt’s art (featuring lots of local personalities if you know where to look) has recently expanded to cover the exterior walls as well, inviting drivers to stop for a closer look.
“It is out of this world,” Scott Rutherford says. “It’s a mixture of how he [Rick] sees music and life as a whole ... it’s almost outer planetary — it’s amazing.”
Hunt — who has collaborated with actress (and ex-wife of a certain legendary rock star) Angie Bowie on a number of book projects — also serves as a dining host, taking the lead on weekends during the restaurant’s Brazilian-style barbecue offerings.
“We could not have done as well without Rick,” Scott says. “He’s so good to people — he makes it so interesting.”
Scott explains that Brazilian barbecue meats are cooked over a wood fire on a skewer. “Just salt and flame. The fireplace works as an oven tenderizing the meats, and woodfire adds the taste,” he says. He notes
Rick Hunt cutting the infamous Picanha, a Brazilian favorite because of its tenderness and bacon-like fat cap.
that tapioca cheese fries are suprisingly one of their more popular items (“It’s not something you can get anywhere”). He adds that sourcing local food from area farms and produce stands such as Big Papa’s in Littleton is “the life source” of their business.
“We’re not food-from-a-bag restaurant,” Scott says.
Stop for food. Enjoy the art show. Be sure to try the grilled pineapple. It will melt in your mouth. →
The Little Grille at The Depot
62 Cottage St., Littleton thelittlegrille.com / (603) 444-0395
GREAT FOOD DESTINATION: THE SEACOAST
Stages: The Kitchen & The Living Room Review by Crystal Ward Kent
When award-winning chef Evan Hennessey opened Stages: The Kitchen at 1 Washington Street in Dover in 2012, it was considered a radical concept. A handful of guests dined in his custom kitchen while he cooked a multi-course meal practically at their elbows. The cuisine showcased a range of unique concepts (think steamed custard of leeks and spinach, scallops, black garlic and caraway), and as he cooked, Hennessey shared the story of each dish.
Stages was an immediate hit, and Hennessey has kept pushing the envelope. In June of 2021, he created The Living Room, a cozy, couch-filled space filled with his personal cookbooks, board games and an easy-going ambience. Guests order custom cocktails, mocktails or wine and choose from an extensive small plates menu.
Whereas The Kitchen requires reservations, The Living Room invites you to drop in unannounced for a quick refreshment or to linger. “The Living Room was the next piece of the puzzle,” says Hennessey. “We wanted to expand that intimate experience and invite people into our home, as it were.”
Enhancing the experience is Bernadette James, Stages’ new sommelier, who creates a medley of interesting cocktails and nine to 10 mocktails with intricate, layered flavors.
The Kitchen also enlisted chef de cuisine Joseph Ganley to join the team and expand their culinary offerings. “We serve 10 to 11 courses, starting with our ‘Walk Through the Forest’ tray, featuring small tastes of a diverse array of treats,” explains Hennessey. “We serve this and our first savory course in The Living Room, as you would at home, then adjourn to The Kitchen for the rest of the meal. We take guests on an incredible cooking journey, but always end with our classic: my daughter’s handshaved chocolate cookies, which we serve with frothed lavender milk. We encourage dipping!”
The Living Room also offers game nights the first Thursday of every month. Guests compete in Trivial Pursuit, Scattergories, Scrabble, Pictionary and more, with the chance to win a gift card to The Kitchen. Hennessey’s next surprise is opening a private dining room, adjacent to his current venues, so guests can enjoy their own personal eating adventures. →
Kitchen-side dinner seating at The Kitchen.
Stages
1 Washington St., Dover stages-dining.com / (603) 842-4077
The Living Room’s lounge area for cocktails and apps.
GREAT FOOD DESTINATION: GREATER NASHUA
Rambling House Food & Gathering Review by Susan Laughlin
Fish and chips served barside.
Rambling House Food & Gathering started from just a nugget of an idea about 10 years ago. The Gleeson girls, Erin and Kerry, had just graduated from college and, after spending much time abroad, just wanted to live anywhere but Nashua. Dad Denis said, “If you don’t like it here, make it the place you want it to be.”
Wheels starting spinning and, after a few iterations of ideas, the sisters focused on a restaurant — a place for community. In times past, in their own Irish heritage, the concept of a place to gather was called a rambling house — a local home with doors open to all who wished to share stories, food and drink. Turns out their own grandfather, Maurice Gleeson, took part in this tradition in County Kerry. They had found the name for their enterprise and a mission for the entire family.
The venture mainly includes Denis Gleeson, their dad, Uncle Dave Gleeson, Denis’ brother and the Gleeson siblings. They found the Factory Street location to be a farfrom-perfect but workable space. Hands on, they made it the inviting place that exists today. Uncle Dave’s brewery, Talespinner, sits on the lower level with a small tasting room and an entrance in the back on Water Street. The main door to the restaurant faces Factory Street. The narrow façade makes it look like a small European storefront operation, but once inside the wedge-shaped building expands into a bar and dining room lined with floor-to-ceiling glass displaying the Nashua River below and the skyline beyond. Upstairs is the kitchen and passageway to a marvelous deck with great views. And if that wasn’t enough, the Gleesons expect to open a fourth-level deck by next spring.
All along, Rambling House has aimed to be as sustainable and local as possible. The family also runs a small farm where they procure grass-fed beef from Belted Galloways, lamb and fresh eggs. Kelly says they plan to grow their own produce in the near future.
Chef Jeremy Guyotte was brought in early to run the kitchen. His previous experience in Gloucester gives him boatloads
of fresh seafood training and informs his nose-to-tail butcher philosophy.
Besides the regular menu, their “Butcher Board” supplies an array of other offerings, including steak cuts from their own Claddagh Hill Farm beef that change daily.
Fall menu items also include the ground lamb kebobs, and favorites coming back from last winter’s menu range from the shepherd’s pie with lamb to a Dunk’s mushroom bisque. At the bar, find 12 rotating taps offering Talespinner brews, four of which are IPAs. The cocktail list is also memorable, each a nicely balanced and creative combination of spirits and flavors to reflect the season. “We want to put real quality into everything we serve,” Kelly says.
Desserts are homey in style, such as a chocolate bourbon bread pudding you can top off with homemade ice cream. Sister Erin has developed a passion for making this frozen concoction; she develops an array of interesting flavors each week including bourbon vanilla and cannoli, a fan favorite.
Late this past summer, they added a Sunday brunch and also hosted the first of many events to be scheduled. Thinking about it, events do foster a sense of community among participants, so cheers to that.
Now 10 years later, Kelly is no longer that wide-eyed college grad. She’s married, has a family and loves living in Nashua. “We are not done with what Rambling House will be,” she says. Stay tuned. NH
Left to right, sisters Erin and Kerry Gleeson.
Rambling House Food & Gathering
57 Factory St., Nashua ramblingtale.com / (603) 318-3220
