A taste of Little Italy in the South End (Giacomo’s)

For those who travel to Boston from other continents or other even just other towns in Massachusetts, going to the North End to sample a bit of Boston’s own Little Italy is probably the most popular activity. Hanover Street is the bustling epicenter of the garlic scented neighborhood. On Hanover you will find a plethora of restaurants. From my experience on the North End Market Tour that I blogged about a few weeks back, I remember them saying there are more restaurants per square foot in the small North End neighborhood than any other place in the world.

If you go to the North End on a Friday or Saturday night, you will see a line of people midway down Hanover Street awaiting dinner at a restaurant with a green awning named Giacomo’s. Naturally, if you came across this you’d think this place must have amazing food because these people are willing to wait out in the elements to eat at this one spot that is surrounded by other great smelling options.

So my solution, as I’m not necessarily the most patient person around, is to go to the South End location of Giacomo’s. It is only a few stops down on the orange line, it’s a less populated area and they take reservations.

The first time I went to the South End gem was back about 3-4 years ago with one of my college roommates and Deuxave companion, Andrea, and we were treated to amazing apps, wine and specials. I remember she had a butternut squash ravioli with a brown butter sauce and I believe I had the fruitti de mare pasta dish. Yep though it was years ago, it was enjoyable enough to remember. Also, the $16 bottle of red made us very happy.

Over the last couple of months, Giacomo’s has been a go-to spot for me for dinner.

For my birthday, about two months ago, I went out to dinner with my friend Dawn and we thoroughly enjoyed our meals. I got a special pasta dish and she got the fra diablo dish with penne. My special dish was homemade agnolotti pasta with spinach, asparagus, mushroom and sun dried tomatoes in a light cream sauce topped with shaved parmesan cheese. It was such a treat.

Dawn was able to combine the elements of a few dishes that struck her fancy on the menu to pair the fra diablo sauce with penne pasta, shrimp and chicken. We enjoyed yet another bottle of $16 wine, but this time it was Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc. For those who are familiar you know that Nobilo is usually at least $25-30 a bottle at a restaurant. Apparently the chef and/or owner of Giacomo’s has good relationships with a subset of the wine providers on their menu and is able to offer those around eight bottles of wine at a cheap price.

Our waitress was great. She was personable, funny and very patient with the fact that we were talking each others ears off for a while before we even looked at the menu. The only issue we had was that Dawn had her dish taken back to be wrapped up after we finished eating, but instead of getting the doggie bag there was some sort of miscommunication in the kitchen and the leftovers were thrown away.

We were then offered tiramisu and jumped on that. We didn’t finish it, but we did enjoy the bites we had. All in all it was a very fun and delicious evening.

I have since gone to Giacomo’s twice with my friend, Mackenzie. Tuesday seems to be our day. We’ve been treated to great food and wine as well. For the first visit, we both were in the mood for seafood. We went for the fruitti de mare, but we opted for two different sauces. Mackenzie went with the Fra Diablo sauce with the wonderful array of seafood pieces in the dish – scallops, calamari, mussels, clams and shrimp. I went with the scampi sauce. We had a great bottle of $16 La Linda Malbec which was a perfect addition to our meal.

On our second visit, we wanted to try new things. We began with a bottle of $16 Smoking Loon Pinot Noir and mussels as our appetizer.

One thing about Giacomo’s is that it’s a cozy space, so you do sit close to those around you. I don’t mind this, but I had no filter in terms of my staring at other people’s plates. The mother/daughter duo next to us ordered one of the appetizers that I had been contemplating, and needless to say I was extremely jealous when the dish came within arms reach. The daughter saw my wide eyes and open mouth and giggled at me. I then obviously had to acknowledge my behavior, but she understood, thankfully!

After a great deal of hemming and hawing over the menu items and the amazing special options, we went with the dishes we had a hard time choosing from in our previous visit.

Mackenzie went with squid ink papardelle with swordfish and tuna in a puttanesca style preparation. It’s always fun to get black pasta, it makes the meal seem so much more mysterious.

I went with the lemon fettuccine with shrimp and scallops that included asparagus in a tomato, white wine sauce. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and the pairing with the wine.

Another reason I love Giacomo’s because it is within a 5 minute walk of my apartment. I get a nice little walk in to help walk off the pasta meal I enjoyed and especially with unseasonably warm weather the smile on my face from a great meal doesn’t wear off by being smacked in the face with cold gusts of winter air.

So if you are from right around the corner or if you are coming from far far away, I would recommend to try and grab a reservation from Giacomo’s in the South End. If it is nice outside you can take stroll through the beautiful streets of the South End and Back Bay, and if none of the desserts on Giacomo’s menu fulfill your craving, you can take a 2 minute walk down Columbus Avenue and stop at Petit Robert for a French-themed chocolate delight.

Before you head down to Columbus to have your tasty, cheap Italian meal, be sure to stop at the ATM because Giacomo’s is cash only. If you forget to bring cash don’t worry, less than a block away is a Bank of America ATM so you or your companion can take a quick jog to grab the cash you need to cover your meal.