Carmelina's at the Commons
96 Russell Street (Route 9), Hadley
Open Tue.-Sun. 5-10 p.m.
Entrees $14-$29
How many times do you have to drive past a restaurant's packed parking lot before taking the hint that you should really try the place? Why, after all this time, hadn't I been to Carmelina's? Truth be told, I don't particularly like going out for Italian food. It seems to me it's one of those cuisines whose dishes can be replicated at home, often with fresher ingredients than those you find in many restaurants. But once in a while, some pasta e vino just hits the spot.
Carmelina's doesn't need a good review in this publication or any other. The restaurant is undeniably popular, filled on weeknights and weekends alike with satisfied customers. And there my dining companion and I, both new to the restaurant, found ourselves feeling ashamed that it had taken us so long to see what the hype was about.
A medium-bodied Brooks Winery Pinot Noir got our meal off to a deliciously smooth start. Full of fruit and with the added whimsy of Trotsky on the label ("To the harvest!"), the organic red from the Willamette Valley in Oregon was just one of many well-considered wines on the extensive bar menu.
As we munched on crusty bread topped with a homemade tapenade bursting with garlic and olive brine, we perused our options. A range of appetizers and entr?es promised pleasing choices for any mood or preference—pastas and decadent cuts of meat, fish and poultry shared equal space on the menu, combining standards like marsala and piccata with more unusual Sicilian dishes.
An anxious waitress came back a few too many times to take our order, but was incredibly helpful when it finally came time to ask her advice on my entr?e, and appeared at just the right moment to refill our wine glasses.
Starting with a luscious brasato, a slow-braised beef short rib decorated with a handful of potato gnocchi, I began to understand what earns the restaurant its following. Deep in flavor, infused with intense aromatics, the sugar of cooked tomatoes and the assertiveness of red wine, the meat fell off the bone and into its own juices. Heavenly.
A small plate of pasta (a half portion of any of the pastas can be ordered from the dinner menu, which serves in effect as a second appetizer menu) was bland in comparison. Palermitana, our choice, was a tangle of angel hair with bitter rapi greens, a sprinkling of sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts, and ample currants. It lacked any definitive flavor other than the concentrated sugars of the dried fruit. Tasty, but unimpressive.
On to entr?es we went as food swarmed onto our intimate table. A pan-seared rib eye steak arrived substantially undercooked for our liking. But we were not deterred by the meat's near-rawness. Served atop a bed of saut?ed greens, the dish needed no adornment. A simple seasoning of olive oil, salt and pepper was enough to make the meat sing.
And then my saltimbocca. A center rib chop of veal was stuffed with the classics—provolone and tender prosciutto—then rolled in garlic and sage leaves. The whole fragrant package was served with a scattering of sweet roasted red peppers and a Chianti reduction. As those last glasses of wine drained, I happily worked through the sublime dish, unable to finish the large portion, certain I had ordered the best the chef had to offer.
Stepping out into the brisk Indian summer evening after dinner, I began to rethink my aversion to going out for Italian. It's difficult to be disappointed with the hearty, familiar cuisine, even if there could be improvements here and there. Was our first experience at Carmelina's flawless? No. But satisfied we were, to the point that, at the end of dinner, my companion (notoriously hard to please at restaurants) declared, "Good meal." And it was.
