Northern Spy

4 Rolling Mill Way

Canton, MA

781-989-1850

Once a year we go to our accountant in Sharon, MA to have our taxes done. We don’t get over to this area very much so when we do, we try to find a good restaurant near Paul’s office. We had seen Northern Spy in Canton featured on a local show – we think it may have been Chronicle. It looked wonderful on the show, so we decided to give it a go. We are so happy that we remembered this special restaurant.

The experience starts when you pull up to its picturesque location next to the Neponset River. Northern Spy is set in The Paul Revere’s Heritage Site. The restaurant is set in a brick mill building the was once a copper mill and shares the space with a museum about the area’s industry upstairs. There is a large open space park in front of the restaurant, an old barn beside it and newer condo buildings alongside.

When we walked inside, we were immediately comfortable as we were greeted by a very friendly hostess and the owner. The décor was very tasteful with wood, brick, black metal and of course, copper accents. The restaurant is built around an enormous open kitchen with a large wood-fired hearth for cooking.

We chose to sit at the bar and Jim recognized the bartender that had been featured on the show for her love of “silks” which is an acrobatic skill on large pieces of silk hanging from the ceiling (not at the restaurant, but it had been tied in on the show). We had a great view of the kitchen from the bar as well as the large outdoor patio (that wasn’t open when we were there – brrrr).

We started our meal with the fried provolone appetizer. We were intrigued by this unique offering, and we were pleasantly surprised. This was a big circle of provolone that had been breaded, fried and surrounded with a spicey tomato sauce. Delicious. It was big for just two of us, but we managed to finish it. I had a glass of wine and Jim had the Northfashioned which he said was perfect.

I ordered the Day Boat Sea Scallop dish that was so yummy. It had a base of grits covered with grilled corn, smoked tomato, bacon and oyster mushrooms. It had the perfect amount of each ingredient to balance out the flavors perfectly.

Jim had the Baked Stuffed Scrod that was topped with crab, herb butter and scallops over cous cous and a lemon beurre blanc sauce. This was served with broccoli as well. He loved this meal. He gets baked scrod a lot and thought this one was special.

Even though our bellies were full, we managed to order dessert. All of the desserts on their menu sounded wonderful, but they are beginning to switch it over for the season. We settled on one of their new options that incorporated two of my favorite flavors – pistachio tiramisu. It was phenomenal and HUGE. The candied pistachios on top were so good. But we did it!!

At the front desk, the chef has many of his spices and sauces for sale so you can take home the Northern Spy tastes to try on your own. They also offer a variety of classes.

On our way out we were intrigued by the staircase to the loft at the front door, so we went exploring. There is a little museum about the history of the place including a large portrait of Paul Revere and information about his coppersmithing among other tidbits. It was fun to meander around and read up on how gunpowder was made here for the revolutionary war and the war of 1812.

If you have not tried Northern Spy, please do. You won’t be disappointed. We already are thinking about our next visit, and we will bring friends!!