5 Fairmont Ave
Hyde Park, MA 02136
617-272-3028
Info@antoniosbacaro.com
We tried dinner in Hyde Park, a suburb of Boston. Our friend, Steve O’Driscoll, is from Hyde Park originally and he and Jack are always being dragged around to our Quincy dinners as Jim, me, Carol and Jean all went to Quincy High School together. Steve took the reins after hearing about Antonio’s Bacari, a Venetian wine bar, in his hometown and made a reservation for 6 of us, Jim and me, Jean and Steve, Carol and Jack. Note – they have it spelled both ways Bacari and Bacaro on various sites, signs and menu.
Bacari means a unique place with its own atmosphere; small, warm, cheerful and inviting.
Steve and Jean live the next street over from us in Marshfield, and Steve offered to drive as he knows the area. That was very helpful because parking was a bit problematic as it is in much of Boston. Steve knew of a lot not too far away which was very helpful.
As soon as we arrived at the restaurant, we knew we were in for a good Italian meal. The atmosphere was lively, and most tables and bar seats were full. We were seated at a table in an alcove at the front window. This made for great people watching outside. Steve’s nephew walked by on his way home from work and was surprised to see him and Jean. There was a lot of waving back and forth.
Appetizers
After looking at the menu, we realized this was not all the typical Italian foods we are used to. They had some different and creative dishes on their menu. We started our dinner with bread and olive oil drizzled in balsamic glaze. For starters, we opted for calamari, arancini and fried olives. The calamari was nice and light, served with marinara sauce. The rice in the arancini was a bit mushy but tasted good. They had a bit of red sauce and parmesan on them. We ordered the fried olives because we had never heard of this before. They were, as expected, super salty and served in olive oil.
Dinner
Jack got the shrimp fettuccini that was delicious, made with grape tomatoes, basil and a lemon olio sauce. Steve got the Bolognese that looked amazing (he said it tasted so too!!). Jean got the melanzane which was a stack of fried eggplant, fontina cheese, spinach and tomato sauce, topped with romano. It looked amazing and tasted so as well. My only issue is that they leave the skin on the eggplant which I am not fond of. Jim and I both ordered the fried chicken lasagna, that was lasagna with some chicken layered throughout. It was a good lasagna. I expected a fried chicken cutlet to be layered, but instead the chicken had been cut up and put into the lasagna. The taste was what I expected, but the presentation was different. Jean and I split our two meals as neither of us could decide between the eggplant and the lasagna. Carol ordered the stuffed pork chop. The chop is breaded and fried after being stuffed with fontina cheese and sopressata. This dish was served with mashed potatoes and broccolini. Carol said the pork chop was excellent, and so big she could only eat about half of it.
Dessert
For dessert, Steve had his heart set on the Ron’s ice cream sandwich from the menu, which is a staple in the area, however, they did not have any that night. Disappointed, we found three other desserts that made us feel better. – so much better in fact we dug in (as usual) before I could get a picture! We had the tiramisu, chocolate cake and chocolate gelato. I love tiramisu and am pretty critical of tiramisu when out, but this was legit! This was on of the best tiramisus I have had. The chocolate cake had some chocolate mousse filing and chocolate ganache frosting – delicious. The gelato was bursting with chocolate goodness as well.
Cocktails
We had a variety of cocktails at our table. For dinner, we had a variety of wines by the glass, Carol and I had Casalini Pinot Grigio, Jim and Jack had Piccini Chianti and Steve and Jean had Schiava, a chilled red wine. All were very good. The girls then opted for dessert martinis while the guys continued with wine. Jean and I had a pumpkin martini that was excellent but filling. Carol got an espresso martini that she reported as being excellent. You will have to trust me that it looked decadent because I forgot to get a picture of it.
Antonio Bacari’s was definitely worth the 45 minute trek from the South Shore to Hyde Park. We had a great night filled with friendship, laughter, good food and great fun. Steve is now planning a weekend of wine-tasting in Connecticut for our group. More to come on that!
Until next time,
Patti & Jim
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