Sportello, an experience two years in the making

Sunday afternoon, my friend, Kathy (aka www.thirtybe4thirty.com), and I had planned to go for a lunch date. We were thinking about going to Bergamot in Somerville, but soon found out that lunch was not an option there, so we had to come up with an alternate selection. The final choices were Scampo or Sportello, two places I’ve been trying to get to for a while. The key decision-making factor was the ease of parking. Sportello was the victor due to the numerous nearby on-street meter spots (that are free on Sundays).

Back story: About two years ago, I joined my friend (who loves Adam Richman in the Aragosta post) and our now long-lost foodie friend at a new-to-me bar called Drink. My foodie friend was close with the bartenders there and the chefs upstairs at Sportello, so we were excited to go and have him choose our drinks and apps and have an amazing experience.

Quick caveat – Drink doesn’t have a “drink” menu or cocktail list. You tell the bartenders what flavors you like or what type of drink you normally choose and they then concoct a customized beverage for you to sip on. I had a gin and tonic inspired beverage that was light, clean and wonderfully tasty followed by a bloody mary inspired cocktail that had the perfect amount of spice. I was pleased by the drinks, but the experience was made incredible by the appetizers we munched on.

My memory of two of the apps is as clear as if we were there yesterday. The ham and cheese sliders that were on a biscuit with honey butter were heaven in my mouth. I learned that it is possible to be in the middle of chewing something amazing and simultaneously drool about that same thing. The other app was bacon wrapped dates. I had never had a date in my life before, and man oh man was this a high bar to set for what a date should be — by that I mean the fruit, not a night out with a strapping fellow. The mixture of salty, bacony and sweet was just not fair to my taste buds. They had no chance but to be hypnotized by these little nuggets of joy!

So as you can read from above, I am a big fan of the items that are created in the kitchen at this location. Luckily, above Drink is a full restaurant that has an expansive menu to choose from. But two years later, I still hadn’t taken the trek up that one flight of stairs. Needless to say, I’ve been so disappointed in myself that it took so long between visits. But, we broke my two-year drought when we opted for a late lunch at the Fort Point gem. It was an embarrassment of riches because we were dining at Sportello during Restaurant Week (RW) on a Sunday which meant we were given the RW lunch menu, the brunch menu and the regular restaurant menu to choose from.

When you walk into Sportello, you will immediately feel like you are at a hometown diner that is crisp, bright and clean. The Tetris-like countertop that spanned across the restaurant pulls you in and makes you feel like you are close to the action.

We sat at the far end of the counter which meant we were pretty much on top of the kitchen — which I absolutely LOVED! Our waitress was very friendly and was OK with us grabbing our own lunch and brunch menus that sat in a pile next to us. Another man, who ended up serving us as well, came by with homemade bread and a ricotta spread with fig and blackberry chutney lightly salted and a drizzle of olive oil. This ecclectic ingredient combination gave the pre-appetizer portion of our experience a very unique feel. Also, our casual discussion with him about our experiences (a day apart) at Aragosta in the North End made us feel like we were visiting someone’s home rather than a restaurant in Boston.

Next, came our order from the brunch menu – Bloody Marys, of course! These Bloodys were so good! They weren’t flashy by any means (no celery/shrimp/olives and no salt/Old Bay rimmed glasses), but the ratio of horseradish and spice to tomato juice and Worcestershire was exactly what we needed to start off our meal. Oooo, I want one now just thinking about it.

We placed an order to cover the app course for me and the entrée courses for the both of us. I stuck with the RW menu and chose the warm veal tongue salad (don’t cringe just yet) for an app and the potato gnocchi with lobster and corn for an entrée. Kathy went with the cucumber panzanella salad.

When I am given the option to go for extreme food (like cheeks, tongue, glands, brains, etc), I will choose the craziest thing on the menu 9 times out of 10. I want to try things at least once.

My veal tongue salad came with arugula and artichoke mostarda. Overall, it was just ok. The veal itself was nothing special – it had a generic meat flavor and the texture was a bit rubbery which made it chewy. The lemony arugula salad distracted from the textural issues. The artichoke mostarda was interesting because I believe it was the stem of the artichoke (very odd texture as well) marinated in a sweet, honey-like concoction. Next time, I’ll get something else.

The blah experience of the appetizer course was forgotten immediately when the entrées arrived. My potato gnocchi with lobster, corn and scallions was placed in front of me and everything else around me disappeared. The dish’s aroma engulfed my senses and I was in love. The buttery sauce with the seafood, corn and potato pasta was reminiscent of a chowder. After my eyes and nose were completely seduced by this dish, my mouth got a chance to get in on the action and things kept getting better, bite after bite. Moaning followed with an occasional “Oh my god” peppered in. This plate is something I will dream of and crave whenever I’m cold on a winter day, in need of comfort food or feeling like I deserve an indulgence.

After about five minutes, I snapped back to reality to get Kathy to try this godsend of an entrée and in exchange she passed over her cucumber panzanella salad. It was great, the acidic dressing and fresh cucumbers provided a break from the creamy flavors of the gnocchi, but honestly I was still under a spell from my gnocchi dish. I was so eager to hop back on the chowder train.

After I’d licked my bowl clean it was time for dessert. I ordered the ricotta and blueberry cheesecake and Kathy ordered a s’mores cupcake from their cupcake bar.

The cheesecake was light, fluffy and packed with flavor. It was a perfect end to the meal. I loved the crunchy graham cracker bottom. However, it was really hard to break with my fork — I guess it was a workout that I needed after all of my creamy food. The blueberry sauce underneath the cake was very fresh and complemented the ricotta wonderfully.

I had a bite of Kathy’s s’mores cupcake. The frosting was sugary and had a nice texture with a sprinkle of something on top (made of something that I can’t completely remember either cracker or cinnamon, can’t decide). The actual cake tasted like graham crackers. I feel like that surprisingly perfect flavor in the cake was what made me appreciate the cupcake more than I usually would. I’m not a huge dessert person, especially not cakey desserts, but I was happy to have a bite of this unique menu item.

I will be back to Sportello very soon. I plan to tell as many people as possible to go there and try it out. So, if we are talking about dinner, lunch or brunch and I suggest Sportello, take me up on it, you will not regret it!