Alma Nove

Address:  22 Shipyared Drive Hingham, MA 02043

Phone: 781-749-3353

Hours: Lunch Monday - Friday 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m Dinner Monday - Friday 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Website:  http://www.almanovehingham.com

Credit Cards:  American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Accessible to the handicapped

My beloved belt of thirty-five years is, alas, kaput, and I wanted to get a replacement just as good.  (I figure after another thirty-five years all I’ll need will be a safety pin to hold my garment closed in the back.)  Therefore the destination of the day was Renaissance Leather in Hingham. 

There in a barn behind a house, Patrick O’Callaghan cuts up entire cowhides and makes all sorts of items.  $32 for a custom made belt seemed reasonable compared to the prices of readymade belts I’d rejected in my search, so I placed an order. A little measuring and the choice of a buckle and I was ready to go. 

It was nearly lunch time, and we weren’t far from Alma Nove, so a decision was made.   It’s a restaurant that has received a lot of press because of its ownership by Chef Paul Wahlberg and his brothers, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg who are apparently some sort of celebrities. Mark, recognizable from his picture on the website was seated at the bar doing something on an iPad.

The many-windowed dining room is decorated in decorated in brown and cream to emphasize the views of Hingham Harbor.  Lighted globes hanging from the ceiling comprise a chandelier. Two big screen TVs over the bar are tuned to the Food Network.  If Paula Dean and Rachel Ray make you hungry, relief is readily at hand.  I don’t go to a restaurant to watch TV, but I found it a pleasant change from the ubiquitous sports.  

Annette started off with suppli, ($11) which are rice balls filled with prosciutto and melted crucolo, which is an artisanal cheese produced in small quantities from unpasteurized cows milk in northern Italy.  They were deep fried so the cheese was gooey and were served in an arrabbiata sauce made from garlic, red chilies and tomatoes cooked in olive oil.  ($11)  It was an astounding combination of flavors and textures, which delighted Annette, and taught us both that our education in food will never be complete.

We both drank a delightfully spicy Masi Brolo Valpolicella ($10) which complimented both her suppli and my mussels, which were served with Portuguese chorizo, tomatoes, white cannellini beans and lots of garlic. 

“Red wine with fish…well that should have told me something,” said James Bond to the villain in “From Russia with Love.”  Bond was contemptuous of a violation of the 1963 rule of wine parings that only white wine went with fish.  That was before the grilled salmon with Pinot Noir had become a classic combo, but I still glance around for Sean Connery look-alikes when I drink red wine with fish in a restaurant.  Nevertheless, the spicy sausage, sliced garlic and sweet tomatoes went beautifully with the lovely wine. 

For a main dish I chose wood grilled chicken on spaghettini with chopped pistachio nuts and mizuna pesto.  ($14)

“What is mizuna?” I asked the waitress.  She seemed flummoxed. 

“Leaves,” she said, “Green leaves.”

“I’ll look it up,” I reassured her.

Isn’t Google wonderful!  This information is brought to you by the modern miracle of copy and paste. Mizuna is 水菜, a Japanese vegetable. It is also called Xiu Cai, Kyona, Japanese Mustard, Potherb Mustard, Japanese Greens, California Peppergrass, and Spider Mustard.  The US Department of Agriculture lists 16 verities. As the lady said,  it’s leaves. 

I was delighted that the chicken was not the familiar chunks of breast, but small juicy bits of dark meat flavored with the kiss of the flame.  These, along with the nuts and the unusual herb, provided the second learning experience of the day. 

Having filled up on suppli, Annette had Caesar salad for her main dish. ($7) This is a challenge that most restaurants fail but Alma Nove did well. It was topped with expensive white anchovies, which are good, but I’m a traditionalist where Caesar salad is concerned and like the familiar brown ones. 

For dessert, we split a serving of banana cream pie. ($6.50) Not served in a traditional slice, it was presented in a tall ramekin. The elements, in order of our discovery of them as we dug down, were caramel sauce, whipped cream, custard, bananas and a cookie-like crust.  This serving method preserved the freshness of the ingredients.  The bananas in banana cream pie can be brown and soft by the time they get to our plate, but these seemed newly cut. 

Being a fogy, I’m apt to go to lunch at Lindsey’s in Wareham for their turkey croquets or dine at Ernie’s in Plymouth for their Tuesday night two-for-one pizza special.  Eating the food of a talented chef who can surprise me with ingenious combinations of new ingredients was a great delight.  Alma Nove has class.